Analysis of Non-Narrative Factors in"the Mood for Love" Movie with a Focus on the Visual Atmosphere

Abstract

In "the Mood for Love" Wong Kar-way narrates a love story in a special, rarely seen visual atmosphere. Non-narrative factors include filming, scene design, music, and others. This research has investigated the reasons for applying each and also examined the relationship and role of these factors in the overall structure of the film's narration. The visual atmosphere in filming has been investigated from two aspects. First is the created visual atmosphere referred to the 1960s in Hong Kong, which the filmmaker repeatedly refers to this period in intertitles. Wong Kar-way represents the social and political situation of Hong Kong by applying factors such as color, lighting, and camera traveling. On the other hand, we will also examine the atmosphere relevant to love and betrayal in the film's story. While studying both cases, it has been tried to analyze non-narrative factors in the context of their function according to the new formalism theory. The result turned out that many of these visual factors, as non-narrative ones, form a coherent whole responsible for conveying the feeling (air) of the film, and they are not along with the advancement of the story. The method of this research is descriptive-analytical, and applying the technique of visual elements in "In the Mood for Love" and their function in the total structure of the movie will be investigated.