Okay so the lightning in the reunion scene is so interesting and truly helps conveying the message of the scene.
Before that we saw that Changyu was mainly in dark/medium lighted frames, as it is reflecting her state of mind as she lost people, is in the middle of war, had lost Changning and searching for Yan Zheng.
Then when she finds Changning and reunites with her, her frames are more clear.
It's a sign that she is gaining for hope, confidence in the situation.
Thenn scene. It's emotional, its raw, they havent seen each other in 2 months at this point.
And they are each other light.
Look at the lightning behind Zheng, it is coming from behind him which highlights him in the room. It's like an apparition.
But look at Changyu, the light is coming from the side of her face.
And it is something that is reinforced with the next frames.
Again, the light is coming from behind and from the side.
It shows that not only did Zheng put light again in Changyu's frames, so in her life, she is doing the same to him.
Because remember, Zheng is also most of the time in frames which are dark.
But as they see each other, the light, so hope and love, is coming back. And it is coming directly from one another.
Another thing which is interesting is that Zheng knows Changyu identity as the butcher, his wife etc and he doesn't know the other part of her identity which is probably the daughter of a general.
So her face has light on one side of her face, one side of her, one side of her identity. And the other side is kept in the dark. As it is the part of her which is still mysterious.
And look at Zheng now. As we said the light is coming from behind and highlighting him as a whole. With only a ray of light on a part of his cheekbone, nose.
It is representing what she knows of him. She only knows a part of him, his identity as Yan Zheng, her husband. But, the biggest part of his identity, aka being the marquis of yu'an, Xie Zheng, she is not aware of it.
She is being kept in the dark about it. And so its shows in the way the light comes on him, it only a part, a fragment of him.
And now when the camera is panning, and we see both of them in the same frame, light is coming from both of their sides and meeting in the middle.
It is a representation as to how they complete each other, even if there is a part of the other of the other they are not aware of.
And its is especially interesting as well that in the frame there is the uniform of a soldier that is shining brightly. And where is it ? Between them, especially close to Zheng.
It is another symbolic element that shows, that even if there is light and hope again, there is an obstactle which is the army, and the whole general identity.
There is a gap between them even if they are each other lights.
jacobvanloon
theartofmadeline
jbbartram-illu
tangentwithtanner
kaledo-art
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