Examining the Colour Imagery in Film - Wong Karwai's 1960s trilogy

Abstract

Wong Karwai has garnered considerable attention in the world of cinema as a 'authorial' Hong Kong director, and his singular visual style has been extensively studied by scholars. As a critical component of traditional aesthetics, imagery is rooted in extensive theoretical resources, and the term 'imagery' has been explored and used by numerous academics. Hegel, Freud, and other scholars took a more psychological approach, emphasising the psychological mechanisms at work, such as symbolism and imagination, which endow imagery with additional connotations. By contrast, film imagery is based on imagery associated with traditional aesthetics and psychology, combined with the creative characteristics of the film itself, in order to reveal the film's unique aesthetic connotation and functional value. This is why examining Wong's film imagery has multiple aesthetic, theoretical, and cultural implications. Cinema, as the seventh art form, encompasses all other forms of art. Without the creation of visual and auditory symbols, Wong Karwai's films would lack their distinct image temperament. As a psychological term, temperament is classified into four broad categories: bilious, polycystic, depressive, and mucous. According to the overall situation, Wong Karwai's image temperament is clearly depressive, i.e. more detail-oriented and emotionally rich. Cinematic imagery employs all artistic mediums - literature, painting, music, and theatre - and is replete with its own long shots, montages, and other techniques in an attempt to communicate the creator's abstract feelings through objective and concrete objects. This emphasises the fact that film imagery encompasses more than just characters, props, scenery, and other physical entities; it also encompasses the various modes of expression used in the picture, such as colour, music, light and shadow, and camera movement. These modes of film expression can be used to create a chain of associations, thereby achieving a particular artistic realm. This essay examines the colour imagery in Wong Karwai's Trilogy and demonstrates its critical role in conveying meaning and shaping image quality. By examining the imagery in three of Wong's 1960s films, we can not only explore the films' unique qualities and aesthetic connotations, but also provide a new perspective on the long-running debate over Wong's films' "content and form." On the other hand, with commercial culture in full swing, it is critical to investigate the aesthetic paradigm and cultural significance of Wong's films through the lens of colour imagery, in order to better provide new perspectives and research horizons for the author's films' personalized service and modern expression and transformation of the traditional aesthetic spirit. This will open up new perspectives and research avenues for the author in terms of creating a personalized his films as well as revamping and transforming traditional aesthetic spirit.