'Hero' creates visual style
Razorback Runway
Natalie Johnson
Issue date: 2/4/09 Section: Lifestyles
Since its release in 2002, the Chinese martial arts film "Hero" has been praised with awards and honor for its exciting visual beauty. Christopher Doyle's cinematography defines the story's style so well with its vibrant color expression and dramatic wardrobes, which are are an extremely fashionable work of art.
The story of four assassins on a mission to kill the King of Qin is divided into three segments, each characterized by a distinct color and perspective. The first story uses red and accounts the tale of the protagonist, Nameless, played by Jet Li. The color blue tells the story of the King of Qin, and the final account is death and is completely white. Throughout the story, there are also flashbacks colored in green and bits of black.
In many interviews, Doyle and director Zhang Yimou said the colors were not created for symbolism, but to divide the story into its three parts.
The colors do, however, emphasize the unique accounts represented and are essential to the visual effects of the film. The three stories take place in different brilliant-colored settings, but each segment has exaggerated and mystical fight scenes.
The characters fight with extreme technique, but the battles look like dances because of the way the combatants fly through the air and twist and turn. Li tells the love affair, represented in lavish reds, of two of his rivals, revealing a vital piece to his story.
The main fight scene takes place between the leading ladies, Zhang Ziyi from the fashion-focused movie "Memoirs of a Geisha" and Maggie Cheung. They are in a red maple forest with long sheer red dresses, and their long sleeves and trains wave through the air and brush leaves as they fight. The garments give them a soft, delicate look to preserve their beauty in the midst of violence.
As one of the women is defeated, the entire scene bleeds into an even deeper, dramatic red. After a black intermission, the next account takes place on water and flushes the whole scene to blue. The water, mountains, sky and wardrobes accentuate the slight softness of this version of the story. The King of Qin insisted that something is untold in Li's account, so a cold blue hue reveals his strong opinion.
Finally, in white, the truth and deaths are revealed. The white, sheer costumes confuse the lines between the pure dedication two of the characters have for each other and the doomed fate of the story. Angelic white costumes, white horses and light painted deserts opposite green memories and flashbacks blur the truth of the story.
Then, the unraveled ending reveals the whole colorful truth.
Natalie Johnson is a staff columnist for The Arkansas Traveler. Her column appears every other Wednesday.
The story of four assassins on a mission to kill the King of Qin is divided into three segments, each characterized by a distinct color and perspective. The first story uses red and accounts the tale of the protagonist, Nameless, played by Jet Li. The color blue tells the story of the King of Qin, and the final account is death and is completely white. Throughout the story, there are also flashbacks colored in green and bits of black.
In many interviews, Doyle and director Zhang Yimou said the colors were not created for symbolism, but to divide the story into its three parts.
The colors do, however, emphasize the unique accounts represented and are essential to the visual effects of the film. The three stories take place in different brilliant-colored settings, but each segment has exaggerated and mystical fight scenes.
The characters fight with extreme technique, but the battles look like dances because of the way the combatants fly through the air and twist and turn. Li tells the love affair, represented in lavish reds, of two of his rivals, revealing a vital piece to his story.
The main fight scene takes place between the leading ladies, Zhang Ziyi from the fashion-focused movie "Memoirs of a Geisha" and Maggie Cheung. They are in a red maple forest with long sheer red dresses, and their long sleeves and trains wave through the air and brush leaves as they fight. The garments give them a soft, delicate look to preserve their beauty in the midst of violence.
As one of the women is defeated, the entire scene bleeds into an even deeper, dramatic red. After a black intermission, the next account takes place on water and flushes the whole scene to blue. The water, mountains, sky and wardrobes accentuate the slight softness of this version of the story. The King of Qin insisted that something is untold in Li's account, so a cold blue hue reveals his strong opinion.
Finally, in white, the truth and deaths are revealed. The white, sheer costumes confuse the lines between the pure dedication two of the characters have for each other and the doomed fate of the story. Angelic white costumes, white horses and light painted deserts opposite green memories and flashbacks blur the truth of the story.
Then, the unraveled ending reveals the whole colorful truth.
Natalie Johnson is a staff columnist for The Arkansas Traveler. Her column appears every other Wednesday.
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