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Yimou Zhang's Hero

Decent Essays

In late 2002 the Oscar nominated Chinese Wuxia film ‘Hero’ directed by Yimou Zhang hit cinemas all over China before spreading internationally over the next few years. Yimou Zhang presented this tale that presents the legendary reign of the Qin Emperor and a nameless hero played by Jet Li tasked to assassinate the emperor. Zhang is known for creating films that present the rich Chinese history. This film is no exception. The film presents the culture of China during the Qin Dynasty through many different components. The costume, setting and music present the time period perfectly. Yimou also uses colour as symbolism in the film to present major plot points. As well as symbolising a part of a scene, for instance pink for love during the sex scene and red later on as death. As shown throughout the film, two of the characters Broken Sword and Flying Snow are both dressed in red hanfu robes which are a rich component in the progression of …show more content…

Their traditional instruments create the mood of the film, having some of the best musical scores that I’ve heard in a film. Zhangs use of instrumental music throughout his scenes create a sense of intensity and mood. At the beginning of the scene the music starts with a soft tune and slowly increase in volume as Broken Sword walked through the hall ways. The scene used more of a strings melody that created a calmer, more intimate scene. This is then followed by a dynamic transition into the following fighting scene. As the film progresses though the fighting scenes, the score evolves into a more epic and intense melody which uses the sounds of objects in movement, accompanied by a percussion that creates an intense mood, and the soft vocals of a female to create a more elegant melody. Dun Tan, the composer of the score used more traditional forms of instruments to create a feeling of immersion in the time period chosen. The music is one of the strongest elements in the film really creating the

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