The next thing the audience is given is also a wide shot. This however, shows the first male character, Jin, who has been betrayed by Mei, standing along on his horse. The strings in the classical piece of music are still being played throughout this shot and the audience is provoked with a dramatic sense of sympathy towards the character. This is stressed further by the lack of any diegetic sound used during this shot.
The previously mentioned music is still playing through the next shot, which is a slow motion close up of the Mei riding to catch up to Jin. The slow motion is used here to further accent the dramatic sense of urgency that Yhimou has already established and to clearly define the depression that the character is feeling. The use of the close up shot is used to underline the aforementioned emotion.
The scene continues with a wide shot of the Mei riding across a field. The colour used here is accented greatly with vivid vibrant colours on the right of the shot, to the saturated, bleak emptiness of colours on the left. This is done to lay emphasis on the change of seasons, and with it, the emotions felt by the characters. The previously mentioned slow motion continues through this shot, again, to allow the dramatic sense of emotion and urgency to sink in with the audience. The use of sound during the shot is similar to the ones previous, with the use of diegetic galloping to enhance the intensity of the scene.
As the scene pushes on, a wide tracking shot of Mei heading towards the camera is used to show her inferiority. In this shot she and the horse are by far the smallest element and as she continues a slow motion close up of a dagger hurling towards her enters the shot. This provokes the audience with elements of fear as it shows the dominance of the dagger when compared the lesser element, being her. The dagger hurling towards her is emphasised greatly with the use of a ‘swishing’ sound. This diegetic sound pans from the right to the left as well, following the dagger as it rushes towards Mei. The classical, emotional piece stops, abruptly, here to emphasise the sense of danger.
Another close up shot is used here to enhance the notion of fear as she spots the dagger. The quick use of a diegetic gasp from Mei underlines this fear further into the audience, along with the continuous use of the horse’s galloping.
A slow motion tracking shot is then used to follow the dagger before it hits her. Emphasis is put on the dagger, again, but this time to show that there is not in fact one, but two daggers side by side heading for her. The previously stated is done to evoke fear in the audience further by showing that she will, inevitably, be hit by one of the daggers.
The dagger hits her and the camera pans up. This is done to show her inferiority when she is hit by the dagger. The sound used here is levelled so that the impact of the dagger on her chest is greatly underlined. And as the horse gallops out of shot, all sound is faded leaving a quiet, diegetic footsteps of the horse, disappearing out of the scene. The aforementioned use of sound is done to ask the question in the audience’s mind, ‘Who has hit her?’, create questions over why she has been stricken and asks the audience, ‘Is she now alone?’.
The second male character, Leo, is introduced to the scene by the use of a wide, panning shot from the ground to his silhouette. A well-known camera angle to portray notions of dominance, he takes up a large portion of the shot and is centred to express this. This is done to answer the question ‘Who has hit her?’ and continue the sense of fear expressed in the previous shots. Quiet, ominous footsteps are used as the diegetic sound here, alongside the sound of crickets chirping and the tall grass brushing against itself.
The scene quickly switches to the female lying on the floor. This is a mid-angle shot in which she is placed in the middle. It is done to make the audience worry about her and transfer the emphasis of our concentration back on to her as she tries to stand up. The only sounds heard here are the footsteps of Leo walking towards Mei, the crickets chirping in the background and the gasping breaths being taken by her. The breathing is used by Yhimou to underline the previously established notion of fear that we have for this character.
The next few shots are relayed back to back to show the emotion of the two characters. The sense of shock is portrayed by the use of a close up shot, when Mei finds out that her previous love is the one that has wounded her. The sense of shock is mirrored in the audience by use of this technique. These relay of shots also contains two mid-angle shots of Leo, centred and walking towards Mei, greatly expressing the jealousy he feels towards Jin, Mei’s true love.
The next shot is a close up of Leo’s face. Consequently, we, as the audience, see the emotion that he is feeling and begin to sympathise with him. This is done to make the next few shots less of a ‘one sided’ battle and makes us less likely to predict the outcome. The sound here is dominated by Leo’s words to Mei, ‘Are you going with him?’ , ‘You’re the love of my life.’ And ‘You don’t have to love me, but you can never go with him.’ yes, this continues the narrative, but the words are expressed with such fear and jealousy that these notions are felt by the audience as well. Mei’s breathing continues in the background to begin to create a sense of urgency and her beckoning death, which begins to make the audience crave quicker action. However, Yhimou does the exact opposite and prolongs this sequence to enhance that idea of urgency. At this stage, non-diegetic flute is used to symbolise the heart-warming emotion of Leo’s words.
As the scene continues, Leo runs towards Mei in a wide angle shot. They are both centred in the middle of the shot at roughly the same height, to portray equality. The scene switches quickly to a close up of Leo’s face to give express the anger, fear and jealousy that he is feeling. This coupled with the diegetic shouting of ‘Why did you go? Why?!’, really brings these notions into light and, as the audience, we are left feeling these intense emotions.
The penultimate shot is a close up of Mei’s face, dripping with contrasted red blood from her mouth; she barely manages to say ‘To be free like the wind.’ Mei’s close up facial shot is to show that she seems content with her death and we as an audience begin to worry that she is about to die. At this stage, there is minimal diegetic of her dropping to the floor sound and Mei’s words dominate what we hear.
Finally, the camera pans upwards to a close up of Leo’s face, which shows devastation in what he has done. As he steps backwards, the camera tracks him to keep the focus on his face. This is done to multiply the established emotions and further heighten the sense of sadness that he is feeling. As the scene comes to an end, the scream of Jin is the only sound we are left with.
Chris Saganic Micro Essay
by
saganic (student)
