An Aesthetic Exploration On The Color Application In Zhang Yimou’s Films

With the development of social economy, and advancement of science and technology, the world’s film industry has made unprecedented progress. The color application has been increasingly mature in both Hollywood films and Asian films including films of Japan, India and Korea. As to the exploration and contributions that Chinese films have made in terms of color application, Zhang Yimou’s films undoubtedly play a key role and are an important representative.As one of representatives of China’s 5th Generation Directors and Chinese contemporary directors, Zhang Yimou plays a crucial role in the film circle of China and the world at large. In ZHANG’s films, color has almost become the most important element for the photography styling, the expression of emotions, the creation of scene atmosphere, the rendering of the film themes and the setting-off of the characters’ personality. It not only brings a perfect visual enjoyment to audiences, but also improves the artistic and aesthetic value of his films, and endows his films with unique aesthetic feeling and artistic temperament.This paper divides ZHANG’s films into the “Red Sorghum Era” and the “Hero Era” with Hero as the boundary. In other words, the film creation period before Hero is called the “Red Sorghum Era;” while after Hero it is called the “Hero Era.” This paper adopts the aesthetic characteristics of color application in the “Hero Era” as the major research object, and the color representation and demonstration in ZHANG’s films as the research focus and basis. By discussing the aesthetic functions of color in the film styling and the characteristics and functions of color application in ZHAHNG’s films, this paper conducts a comparative study of the color representation and demonstration in ZHANG’s films, and the practical significance of color application in ZHANG’s films in the early period and that in the contemporary period. ZHANG’s films in the “Hero Era” and the “Red Sorghum Era,” the domestic and foreign films in the same period and of the same type are analyzed comparatively so as to explore the artistic value of color styling in ZHANG’s films.