Raise The Red Lantern tells a story of an educated 19-year-old woman Songlian married to the rich Chen family as the fourth concubine, faced a series of entanglements with other people in the family and finally went mad under the feudalistic family traditions. According to the rules of Chen family, the house which the master decides to sleep at night would be decorated with big red lanterns and the concubine of the house would enjoy the most prestige. The film is based on a novel called Wives and Concubines by Su Tong and the director of the film is Zhang Yimou.
Raise The Red Lantern was shot at Qiao Family Courtyard in Shanxi. There is big difference between how the courtyard is presented in the film and how it is seen and experienced by real people in recent days. The real shooting site, Qiao Family Courtyard was built in 1756 and it is an enclosed castle type complex. The courtyard covers an area of 10642 square meters and it contains 313 rooms. Nowadays, it has been commercialized and become a national museum.
In the film, the tones of colors are usually unified. Most of scenes shooting the courtyard are in the colors of yellow, brown, and grey, especially in the summer and fall. When winters come, more cold tones of colors are used. The red lanterns, as the main subject through the film, always appear with the buildings, becoming so conspicuous in these unified colors of background. However, when visitors go to the real shooting site, much more colors on the buildings could be observed. Lots of eaves and windows in smaller buildings are repainted in green and black, which never appeared in the film.
It would be a perfect site to shoot the stories of a rich family in the old Chinese feudalistic society in which the master of the family had the most right. In the film, lots of high angle shot scenes are shown, so that the spectacular size and the complex structure of the building could be better represented. Symmetrical scenes are also frequently used from different angles and different distances. While the building is experienced by the tourists, little details such as delicate carvings on the eaves rather than the whole structure would be more noticed.
The purpose of representing the courtyard as described above would be profound. The unified tones of colors with darkness gives audience senses of depress, oppress, and despair under these strict feudalism family rules, so that when red lanterns are lit in the Songlian’s house, the audience are empathized with her to feel that enjoyment, hope, and prestige. As the high-angle and symmetrical scenes represents the wealth and tradition of the family, these well-planed, complex, and regular buildings are just like these feudalistic family rules, binding the women at that time. In these high-angle scenes, every scene contains lots of buildings, making the character a very small figure with no other characters around. Through the lens, the audience could feel the inability and loneliness of these concubines, whose only thing could do was the mind games and competitions to gain more care from the master. These buildings were their homes, but also their chains. These red lanterns were their missions and signs, but also their hopes and desire.
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You have analyzed the space and the use of various film techniques like coloring, and camera angle in a detailed manner. You have also found photos of the set in reality. I wonder if you could also contrast it with its representation in the film? Are there specific scenes that you could use to further your analysis with regard to the plot instead of analyzing the space in an overall manner? Lastly, you are reminded to properly cite all the sources you have used for reference.