The two sequences taken from Zhang Yimou’s movies Red Sorghum (1987) and The Road Home (1999) can be discussed as the illustrations of the director’s approach to using the theme of exchanging glances in order to emphasize the definite relations between the characters.
Thus, to demonstrate the relations between the woman and the workers and between the young man and the young woman falling in love, Zhang Yimou uses similar and different techniques. The main feature which connects both the sequences is the theme of reflecting feelings through exchanging glances, but to pay attention to the sequences’ other similarities and differences, it is necessary to focus on such formal elements as the mise-en-scene, shot number, image size, camera movement, editing, and sound.
The nature of relationships between the characters and the style of mise-en-scenes are rather different, but the fact of the relations’ existence is accentuated with references to definite techniques and the theme of exchanging glances.
Zhang Yimou uses the same technique in his two movies because of its effectiveness to provide the definite message to the audience. The helpfulness of manipulating the theme of the glance exchange depends on the successful mise-en-scenes.
A mise-en-scene is a complex picture which includes composition, sets, actors, and lighting in their combination to present the definite author’s idea. The mise-en-scenes in Red Sorghum and The Road Home are similar in relation to some specific features. Thus, the mise-en-scenes in two sequences are based on the characters’ looking at each other when one character stays rather motionless, and the other character goes forth turning around to look at the other person several times.
Moreover, the faces of the main characters are in the focus, and they are often centered, depicting from a short distance to emphasize the glance. There are presentations of the women who come forth turning back to the audience in Red Sorghum and The Road Home as rather long shots before the final shots of the sequences. The composition of the mise-en-scenes is also similar because there are groups of people presented in the scene, but they are not in the focus in comparison to the main characters.
The women in both sequences are presented alone when the male characters belong to the certain group of people depicted in the scene. However, mise-en-scenes are different in using the lighting and colors. Thus, the sequence from Red Sorghum is started in red in black colors to reflect the tension of the characters’ feelings in the mise-en-scene when the sequence from The Road Home is in vivid and sunny colors to emphasize the positive feelings of the characters.
The atmosphere of the scene and the feelings of the characters are also represented with the help of the shot number. The negative tension of the scene from Red Sorghum is presented through ten shots which are different in their length and image size. Long shots help feel the characters’ tension and worry.
Shots in The Road Home are also different in length, but this difference is intentional and the quick shift of the shots helps reflect the romantic anxiety of the characters. Thus, the shot number of the sequence from The Road Home is about fifteen shots.
The shot number in two sequences is different, but the approach to the image size is similar. The audience concentrates on the characters’ exchange of glances and the nature of this exchange with references to presenting the characters’ close-ups. Close-ups in both sequences are short in length, but they are vivid. The audience has the opportunity to guess about the characters’ feelings with the help of interpreting the emotions on their faces.
Close-ups in The Road Home present the smiling faces of the characters who have interest to each other when close-ups in Red Sorghum present the tense face of the man and the inducing face of the woman (“The Road Home”; “Red Sorghum”). These close-ups are effective to observe the difference in relations of the two pairs discussed. It is also possible to focus on the speed of the characters’ movements in shots.
The number of shots in The Road Home sequence is correlated with the tempo of the characters’ movements, and the number of shots in the sequence from Red Sorghum is smaller as well as the speed of the characters’ motions is slower. Furthermore, there are some differences in using short and long shots. Thus, long shots taken from a large distance are characteristic for the sequence in The Road Home.
As it was stated earlier, the director draws the audience’s attention to the women’s turning round while they are going forth to exchange the glances one more time. Thus, the camera follows the women’s movement in both sequences. However, the variation of the camera movement is more characteristic for the sequence from The Road Home when the camera does not only horizontal movements to follow the character but also vertical movements to emphasize the scene of giving the basket.
Therefore, the particular features of editing in both sequences depend on the shot number and their length. The director uses the combination of long shots in Red Sorghum where editing is used to determine one man among the group of the other men and accentuate the woman’s intention to exchange the glances with this man.
Editing in The Road Home is based on the combination of diverse short and long shots as well as shots presented from distance and close-ups in the complex picture. It is also important to pay attention to the specifics of editing when main characters from the sequence in The Road Home exchange glances while passing near each other. The shift of shots is quick and it helps to see the picture from both perspectives.
The combination of the sound and image is one more effective technique to represent the characters’ feelings and the nature of relations between them. The sounds associated with the sequences in Red Sorghum and The Road Home are extremely different.
The sequence in Red Sorghum is accompanied by the natural sounds and noises reflecting the surroundings of the mise-en-scene, and rare shouts of the man are heard to stress on the pressure and tension represented in the scene. The mise-en-scene from The Road Home is accompanied by light sounds of the romantic music to reflect the mood of the characters. Thus, the sound is connected with the images according to the scene’s atmosphere and main message.
The sequences from Red Sorghum and The Road Home represent the action of exchanging glances between the main characters of the movies. However, the nature of relations between these persons is different as well as the techniques used by the director to stress on this difference.
Works Cited
Red Sorghum. 1987. Video file. Web.
The Road Home. 1999. Video file. Web.