From clothing, scenery, to the use of light, almost all the elements in "White Tiger" contain strong colors. In some scenes, color is closely related to the status of a particular character; in other scenes, color is a concrete expression of the character's mood and personality.
The first set of accent colors used in this film are yellow and blue. As a pair of complementary colors, the two colors are in opposite positions on the color wheel. In the first 20 minutes of the film, the director used a lot of yellow and blue clothing to closely bind this pair of complementary colors with the two classes of low caste and high caste, thus laying the foundation for the subsequent plot and character transformation.
Let's first look at the first appearance of Grandma Kusu. In this scene, she is in the shadows with her back to the sun, wearing an inconspicuous dark saree, and the saree is wearing a high saturation yellow short sleeve.
In the second appearance, Kusu changed to another saree, but under the dark blue and red saree, she still wore the yellow short sleeves in the first scene.
In different scenes of the film, although the color and style of the sarees are constantly changing, the audience can always see the ever-changing yellow short sleeves on Kusu. As a result, in Kusu's last appearance, although the yellow in the center of the picture only occupies a small part, it is so eye-catching against the green saree that it cannot be ignored.
Also as a low-caste person, the male protagonist Baram also contains a lot of yellow clothes in the first half of the film. Unlike Granny Kusu, who appeared alone, the yellow on Baram was often used to contrast with the blue dress of high-caste figures in the same scene.
For example, in the following scene where Baram met Ashuk for the first time, the audience first saw Baram wearing a yellow vest symbolizing low caste, and behind him were two yellow walls.
In the next shot, the landlord walks off his private car wearing a blue kurta, behind him is a driver who also wears a blue shirt.
Perhaps it was because this first sighted scene took place in Baram’s impoverished hometown. Under the dusty low-caste filter, the contrast between blue and yellow was not conspicuous. In order to strengthen the contrast between yellow and blue, the director used similar costume colors in the second set of scenes where Baram and Ashuk met.
In this conversation around the iron gate, Baram’s clothes are still made up of yellow, which symbolizes low caste. At this time, the landlord’s janitor, who is in the same shot as Baram, is also wearing yellow clothes of low status.
In the reverse shot that followed, Baram saw through the iron gate Ashuk and the landlord A stork standing in the distance. They were unsurprisingly dressed in blue clothes.
In the next three-person dialogue, the director put Ashuk in blue and the landlord of Astork standing on the left and right sides of the close-up shot, while Baram in yellow was in the middle position of being weak and frustrated. Through the well-designed composition, the status of the characters in the play is projected onto the color of the clothes, and a strong contrast is formed. When Baram pronounced flattering lines, the yellow on his body was equated with "low", and in contrast, blue naturally became synonymous with "noble".
As the film unfolds, Baram enters Ashuk's home as a servant to work. At this time, blue is no longer only on clothes, but gradually spreads to every part of the scene. For example, in this scene, Baram is wearing light blue overalls, which matches his status as a landlord and servant. Ashuk's hoodie has blue elements, and Pingji's vest is also blue. In addition, what is really eye-catching is the blue water glass in Hirahime’s hands, the blue cushions on the seats, and the various blue shirts in Ashok’s wardrobe, the ubiquitous blue The color will be surrounded by Baram, which symbolizes that he finally escaped from the dusty yellow hometown and got the job he dreamed of.
In fact, the relationship between color, clothes and the status of the characters is so close that any change in the color of the clothes in this film will remind the audience of the changes in the identity and psychological changes of the characters.
For example, in the following dialogue, color completely dominates the scene scheduling. Baram is standing on one side of the iron gate in blue overalls, while his brother is standing on the other side in a yellow shirt. Even if the director did not express it directly in his lines, just two pieces of clothes of different colors and an iron door were enough to make the audience feel the identity gap and emotional break between Baram, who became a domestic servant, and his brother.
For example, in the crucial conversation between Ping Ji and Baram, when Ping Ji accused Baram of dirty uniforms, she was obviously not only accusing her of clothes, but she was also accusing this shit and unreasonable caste at the same time. system.
Ping Ji is the only character in the film who regards Baram as a "person" rather than a servant. She sincerely hopes that Baram can break free from the shackles of caste, get rid of servility, and become an independent capitalized "person". Because of this, Hirahime became the only character in the film who reminded Baram to change clothes.
Baram was obviously moved by Pinhime's words. On Ping Ji's birthday, he finally took off his blue uniform and put on a dark blue-green dress of the same color as Ping Ji. The change in the color of the clothes in this scene is a concrete manifestation of Baram’s mental state and emotions. At this moment, he seemed to have transcended the caste bondage of yellow and blue, and became a person equal to Ping Ji. But it is a pity that this is the only time Baram wore this dress, and it was also the moment he was closest to "person" in this film.
In addition to yellow and blue, the film also introduces a third mixed color that expresses the state of the characters-green. In the color circle, yellow and blue are mixed to produce green; in this film, green is exclusively for lower caste slaves. They are servants of people of high caste. They have long been accustomed to being exploited and enslaved, feel numb to pain, and have formed a set of tricks to deceive their masters.
For Baram, there is almost no green around him in the first half of the film. This is because although he is full of servility at this time, he is loyal to Ashuk and even longs for the trust of his master.
The following shot is selected from the first time Baram came to the underground garage. The strong green light in the screen encroached on the entire space, and even the character's face was also glowing green. In sharp contrast is the blue room belonging to Baram in the distant view. Even in such a strong green environment, Baram's room still retains blue. This blue-green contrast formed by lighting is not only a symbolic representation of the character's environment, but it also conveys the psychological state of Baram that is quite different from other low-caste servants.
However, when Baram's disillusionment with his master Ashuk was disillusioned, the space around him was assimilated by green. This means that Baram has finally begun to see his status as a servant, no longer delusional to become Ashuk's loyal friend, and green has also become an external manifestation of Baram's emotions such as pain, despair, and anger.
In fact, in the second half of the film, green has almost become Baram’s exclusive color at night. During the day, Baram was a loyal servant dressed in blue; at night, he was dressed in green to do all the shameful deeds.
At the end of the film, Baram made up his mind to break with Grandma Kusu and killed his master Ashuk with a glass bottle. In Baram's own opinion, he was awakened, and he finally managed to escape from the chicken coop and get rid of the shackles of the caste. In order to distinguish Baram’s mental state at this time, the director used a fourth color other than yellow, green, and blue-red.
Red symbolizes violence, power, and strong emotions in the visual tradition. These qualities are undoubtedly highly consistent with Baram, whose hands are stained with blood. In the multiple scenes after the rebirth, the visual style of the film has reached a high degree of uniformity, with red almost occupying an overwhelming position. The bag that Baram used to pay bribes was red; the neon lights of the Baihu car dealership were red; even the homepage of his website was red.
In the ocean of red, Baram was completely awakened. He realized that he was neither a low caste nor a high caste, let alone Ashuk. He is a person, an animal, a "white tiger". And behind him, there seemed to be thousands of white tigers standing.
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