Cinematography: 

• Mid-shot/long-shot of her standing in-front of Jin, then after a reaction, a close-up of Mei
• She’s framed in the centre, giving her more of a presence than the other girls
• high key lighting, low contrast
• Crane shot – tug of war
• Zoomed in to wide – tracking shot of women entering. Also happens later with Mei
• central framing

Mise en Scene:

• text to set up the plot and the historical context
• Green and red outfits
• Peony Pavilion: colourful, stylised, elaborate
• Colourful outfits (Peony Pavilion)
• Blue dress – blue can be seen as a military colour BUT it’s more to do with feelings than a symbolic meaning
• Specially made flooring
• During the opening titles – red art on a white background – foreshadowing the ending with the blood on the snow
• military/police base has dull colours/lack of colour especially when compared to the Peony Pavillion
• Saturated colours
• Bits of blue on the carpet – butterflies – and Mei’s dress is blue (high angle shot)
• Red lipstick and paint separates her from the other women (and she said she was unlike them) and a possible link to the red associated with the soldiers/police

Editing:

• Long take of her dancing (then it starts cutting – still her dancing)
• Slow motion of her robe falling down after Jin cuts it
• Cross fade of red lines to…….
• Action reaction shots – conversation

Performance:

• Mei is walking cautiously – deceiving us that she is blind
• Jin is drunk
• Leo is polishing his sword and sitting upright, contrasting to Jin who is slouched and drinking (but they are of equal rank)
• Picking up swords compared to the women and instruments (similar/same shot) – representation of men and women
• Repetition of men picking up the swords and the repetition of the women carrying the instruments.
• Although everyone is lying – Leo true emotions are technically revealed as he feels jealous due to be in love with her
• ‘Why can’t a blind girl work here?’ – Mei stands up for herself which Jin likes

Sound:

• Opens with classical Chinese orchestra
• Song lyrics that Mei sings
• Distant sounds of laughter
• Magical treatment to the sound one instrument echoes but not the rest – highly stylised sound scape
• diegetic music
• talking sets up the deception
• “A second glance leaves the whole nation in ruins”

Messages/Meanings/Response:

• Aesthetics: set (auteur), colour, elaborateness
• Aesthetics: dedicates 3-4 minutes to a dance sequence

Representation – Gender:

• women laughing as they lose tug of war against a single man (Jin)
• He undresses Mei with his sword
• Women all try and tear Jin away form hurting Mei
• She’s arrested for being indecently dresses, but it’s not her fault – plan to arrest her then to ‘save’ her??
• women are giggling, frivolous, named after flowers
• women scared of the men
• women falling over Jin

Contexts:

• Tang Dynasty – Peony Pavilion  may seem over the top and stylised, but it has an element of truth. Correct representation.
• Actress is in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon