RAN

Chairunnisa Adelia Meisie 13WJC13

What I noted the most from this movie is how Akira Kurosawa plays
with the colors and symbols. Not only it helps us to identify some
characters, but also deepening the emotions of one scene. Most of
the audience would realize the usage of specific colors for each son
of the Great Lord, including their helpers and the armies of each
son. It helps a lot during the movie to identify who belongs to whom.
Next, is when Jiro and Taro attacked the third castle; there is a sense
of gloominess represented by the dark sky (although the war
supposed to be starting early in the morning). The deaths and
horrors of the Great Lords loyal servants and samurais are captured
with the number of blood shown in this scene. Akira does not only
use colors as identifier of each son, he also differentiate each with
the number of stripes use in the flag and the moon in the back of
each sons soldier.
Another example is the scene when the Great Lord encounters
Tsutsumaru, which reminds him of what he did in the past. It was
quite mystical and the lighting helps to get more emotion from that
scene. During the Great Lords being frightened of what he had
done, it seems that the Great Lord is blending with his background.
His hakama is dirty with dust and it blends with Tsutsumarus wall. It
emphasize how invisible the Lord has become.
The greatest color usage to emphasize the emotion in this film, in
my opinion is when the Great Lord lost his rationality and walked out
of the third castle. He walked under a dark cloud and dark ground
color to somewhere unknown gives an impression that he is all
alone, feel betrayed, and he has nowhere to go. Furthermore, the
wide angle gives more loneliness to this scene. This is the best
scene for me, because the composition of the sound effect, colors,
and angles are perfect and those elements creates a sad, lonely
scene.
I also recognized the details use in this movie. One is the stripes and
moon symbols for each sons symbol. Second, the sound of Lady
Kaedes kimono every time she walks. Whenever she is coming in or
out of the frame, it is always noticeable because of this sound effect
Akira uses. Lastly, the angle of arrow, amount of smokes and every
other details Akira uses during the war.