Hero- Colour Analysis

"Hero" uses colour in a very obvious way to help the storyline of the film. As the film is set through a series of flashbacks, colour is used to separate the stories and assist the audience to connect with each memory.

Red is the predominant colour in the first flashback, and of all the flashbacks this is the most intense, passionate one featuring murder and love affairs. Without realising, the audience feels much more intensely about this memory than the others, and I believe this is definitely helped by the red tones.

The second flashback is in blue, and the storyline features a tale of surrendering and almost giving up. The scenes are much slower and more peaceful, and in the fight scene I noticed that the girl’s (Snow) clothing becomes paler blue as the fight goes on, and when she surrenders herself it is almost white. This shows how she is fading back as a character, and is very different from the intense red, fiery woman in the previous flashback.

The third flashback is all white and tells a story of honour and purity, as well as a very well planned, cunning plot for the characters. Like the other flashbacks, every scene is saturated with the chosen colour, making it harder to ignore.

Green is then used in the final flashback. This flashback is different as it is not Nameless memory, but Broken Sword’s. Green fills the screen as he talks of his and Snow’s relationship, and his memory of when he had the opportunity to kill the King himself. This flashback features more reminiscing than telling a story of battle. The use of green confused me at first, as to me it brings thoughts of nature, especially the pastel greens that were used. I find it difficult to connect with colour to some scenes of this flashback- at first I thought the director was showing us how natural the relationship between Snow and Broken Sword was, but I am unsure of the meaning behind the colour when Broken Sword is fighting the king.

Between the flashbacks, the palace scenes with the army are all very grey, with the only colours being the reds in the army flags. This really helps to show off and emphasize the colours in the flashbacks.