Month: November 2021

Film analysis———<Ash is Purest White>

<Ash is Purest White> a film directed by Zhangke Jia, 2018

Story Arc Breakdown

• You——-a character is in a zone of comfort

Qiaoqiao is the lover of Bingbing (the head of the local underworld), so that she has always been Bingbing’s good assistant and got along extremely well with Bingbing’s brother. She has always believed that Bingbing’s worldview that the world is based on righteousness and always defend the justice in his heart, even if using violence.

• Need——-They want something

She has always hoped to build a family with Bingbing and stay together forever. But Bingbing as the gang leader, he is worried that he will put Qiaoqiao in a dangerous situation so he has not promised Qiaoqiao.

• Go——-they enter an unfamiliar situation

Once they run to a party together, they are attacked by a group of hooligans driving motorbikes on the way. Bingbing has no other helpers around and is beaten up and bleeding. Qiaoqiao picked up and fired a shot, scaring everyone away. After that, Qiaoqiao goes to jail and loses the man who meant the most to her.

• Search——-Adapt to it

In prison, Qiaoqiao’s most precious years of youth were lost and she aged rapidly. But Bin Bin never visited her once. Five years passed, and after her release from prison, Qiaoqiao found that the whole world had changed forever, but the only thing that remained the same was her sincere feelings for Bingbing. When she heard that Bingbing was in Chongqing, Qiaoqiao went to look for him. During the journey, Qiaoqiao still believes in the worldview that Bingbing used to believe in in the old days and uses it to support her in her quest to find Bingbing.

• Find——-get what they wanted

When Qiaoqiao finally finds Bingbing, who by now has a new girlfriend, Qiaoqiao’s persistence over the past ten years or so finally caves in. Penniless Qiaoqiao relies on her own survival wits to fend for herself and prepares to return home to continue her small business.

• Take——-pay a heavy price for it

On the return train, Qiaoqiao meets a man from Xinjiang who falls in love with Qiaoqiao at first sight and manages to attract her, but when he hears that Qiaoqiao has just been released from prison, he pays little attention to her. Qiaoqiao gets off the train and heads back to her hometown.

• Return——-then return to their familiar situation

Meanwhile Bingbing is left with a permanent disability in the lower half of her body due to cerebral palsy caused by excessive alcohol consumption. Qiaoqiao picks up Bingbing and they live together again but after everything they’ve been through, they don’t have the same relationship as before.

• Change——-having changes

The world has changed, Bingbing’s former minions are all doing well, some give him respects, more do not and give him a hard time. Only Qiaoqiao is unfailingly loyal to him, pushing him around and giving Bingbing respect in front of the others. One day, Bingbing found he could stand up. He sent a message to Qiaoqiao and left on his own.

Characters Archetypes Breakdown

• Hero

Qiaoqiao is the hero of this film, no matter how things and people around her change, she is always alone in her belief in her original values and can still face and accept her future life with grace after the betrayal of Bing Bing and the way people around her treat her. The film revolves around righteousness, but only Qiaoqiao holds on to this belief throughout. When she sees the distressed Bingbing, she chooses to accept him and show him respect and at this point she is more like the Bingbing of old.

• Mentor
• Threshold Guardian
• Herald
• Shapeshifter
• Shadow
• Trickster
• Allies(sidekicks)

Notes for this week

Three kinds of story curves by Kurt Vonnegut:

1. A protagonist who lives better than the average person encountered a predicament, he broke free from the predicament, and finally got something better than the original.
2. An ordinary person encountered a good thing, but then encountered a predicament. After he solved the problem, things changed for the better.
3. A person with a bad life encounters many good things at different stages, everything seems to be getting better, suddenly encounters a predicament, and then becomes better again.

Story Arc

1. Exposition: Introduction of setting, characters, problems.
2. Rising action: Characters struggling with problems
3. Climax: Tense moment of crisis.
4. Falling action: Movement toward an ending.
5. Resolution: Final outcome.

Story Circle

1. You: A character is in a zone of comfort.
2. Need: They want something.
3. Go: They enter an unfamiliar situation.
4. Search: Adapt to it.
5. Find: Get what they wanted.
6. Take: Pay a heavy price for it.
7. Return: Then return to their familiar situation.
8. Change: Having change.

Terminologies and definitions Character types

• Protagonist: Main character, the hero or story driver (good or bad).
• Antagonist/s: Stand against/challenge the protagonist but can have something to learn or redeem.

• Dynamic: Experiences inner growth/ change and learns.
• Static: No growth or change, repeats actions no lessons learnt.
• Round: Developed, understood, life like, deep relatability.
• Flat: Undeveloped, one dimensional, minimum insight.

Research Activity 1

• Settings & Props

Firstly we could clearly find out that the whole scene was set in a chemistry or biology lab because of these test tubes containing reagents of various colors，and it also reveal to the audience that the identity of the character in the play would be a teacher, student who major in chemistry or biology because of the class information was put on the door in the beginning.

• Costume, Hair & Make Up

The fox who always foucused on his experiment always wearing a bright color uniform all over besides he put a white cover outside of the uniform. Although he was wearing bright color clothes all over, he still did not get any stains during the experiments. It tells audience he is a reliable person and got enough patience furthermore he should did well on his experiment. All of these facts make enough contrast to other 2 characters the female fox dressing casually shows she was careless and the other one wearing a T-shirt was same.

• Facial Expressions & Body Language

• Lighting and Colour

First it would be natural lighting and the main color is a warm color with mainly orange, and the main character wearing a more cold color uniform, this setting highlight his action.

• Positioning of characters/objects within the frame

This is a parallel composition. The fox doing his experiment stand on one side another two characters share another side both. This is a good for the narrative, because of that it is equivalent to telling the audience that he has a dominant position in the narrative of this scene.

• What role does the shot choice (Cinematography) play in the scene.

It is a mid-shot could show the character’s actions in the scene.

Research Activity 2

• The mise-en-scene in this picture

From the neat white quilt and the small stall at the end of the bed, it can be seen that this scene should take place in a hotel. The men and the women lie on both sides of the middle line of the screen. The creator should want to break this absolute balance of the middle composition, so deliberately lift the quilt on one side to break the middle line of the frame, increasing the story of the frame and creating a sense of anxiety. Besides the light of this frame uses warm colors, the overall brightness and purity are not high, but it brings a sense of strangeness.

• The characters placed in the frame

The arms of both of them are embracing, which is an insecure posture. Although the man only slightly completely completes his left hand, this is still enough to reflect the guard mood of the two.

Research Activity 3

• Can you describe the relationship between the characters?

The relationship between hostess and housekeeper. The lefthand side women is the hostess, another side women is the housekeeper.

• How do we know what the relationship is?

The woman on the left is more relaxed and leisurely, and her expressions and movements give people a sense of unfettered freedom in this environment. On the contrary, the color of the woman on the right is monotonous and solemn. She should be wearing uniforms and her hands clasped on her chest. It could be found that she should be working in a polite manner.

• Can you describe how the mise-en-scene works together to tell us what the relationship is?

On the side of the hostess, the lighting of the whole scene is much more brighter, and her dressing set off the innocence and kindness of the hostess. The scene on the side of the housekeeper is dark, and the housekeeper’s black uniform also blends her silhouette with the dim background, symbolizing the darkness of the housekeeper’s soul. The two formed a sharp contrast and laid the groundwork for the conflict.

Research Activity 4

• Can you describe the mise-en-scene in this picture?

This frame is based on central composition. The girl is in the center of the frame and vision, and the surrounding scenes fade away behind the girl. The overall tone is cold although there are more warm colors in the scene because of that the purity of the colors is not high, but the colors on the girl have deliberately increased the purity, which could more highlight the protagonist and attract the attention of the audience. The girl’s movements seemed to indicate that she wanted to hide something, perhaps her identity or her face.

• What type of shot is it?

Mid-shot.

• What is the camera angle?

The angle would be eye level.

• Where is the character located in the frame?

She stands in the mid of this frame

• What is she wearing?

Brown robe and red headscarf.

• What is the depth-of-field?

Deep focus.

• Describe the colour palette?

The overall tone is cold although there are more warm colors in the scene because of that the purity of the colors is not high, but the colors on the girl have deliberately increased the purity, which could more highlight the protagonist and attract the attention of the audience.

• Describe the lighting?

It’s more like high key lighting. The whole scene is bright but cold, and maybe uses more filler lights to form the dark side of the girl’s face, she does not want to be discovered.

Notes for this week

The elements of Mise-en-Scène

• Setting & props
  • Build from scratch or find a setting which already exists.
• Costume, Hair & Make Up
  • As an instant indicator to audience of a character’s personality, status and job.
• Facial Expressions & Body Language
  • Provide a clear indicator of how someone is feeling/ reflect the state of relationship.
• Lighting and Colour
  • Different lighting to achieve different effects. Relate with the colour of emotion.
• Positioning of characters/objects within the frame
  • Draw audience’s attention to the important object/ indicate relationship.