Script:
What is home? A peaceful resort.
What is home? The feeling of longing, a sacred retreat, the place you would always return from a long day’s work. Those who fought in war would always dream to come home, kiss their wives, taste the finest wine. That’s funny.
If home is such a wonderful place to be, why would we want to get outside? Why do we hate our home? Boredom? Monotony?Claustrophobia? What makes us hate our home? The time we spent with it? The people inside it? The environment? Should we hate our home? I don’t know, does it matter? Well yes, it does, because I have been staying here for more than a year.
What is home? A place free from viruses, a safehouse from external hazards. Safe? Oh yes, I feel safe, safe from all dirty people.
What is home? A shelter with a humble roof. A chamber for you to lie in, a cell for you to live in. A place you can mold your own idiosyncratic life. Become the finest zoom master, a professional typewriter, a sleeping beauty.
Peace? There’s your peace.
What is home? Or how about, what should home be?
You define what your home is. Pay more attention to the positive things. Focus on the bits you like. Look at the people you admire, talk to them. Cherish the good moments in life, you won’t get them often. Cherish your home.
You will stay here for a while, so get used to it.
I’m home.
Soundtrack:
Rossington, Gary Robert, et al. Lynyrd Skynyrd – Sweet Home Alabama . Al Kooper, 1974, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye5BuYf8q4o.
Bibliography:
“鏗鏘集：活在疫下.” RTHK 香港電台, 2 Mar. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKOJ9gmANEY.
Herrick, Robert. “A Thanksgiving to God, for His House.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47333/a-thanksgiving-to-god-for-his-house.
Kirsten, Dirksen, director. Extreme Transformer Home in Hong Kong: Gary Chang’s 24 Rooms in 1. 12 May 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB2-2j9e4co.
P King. “Representations of Home: Photos and Film.” In International Encyclopedia of Housing and Home, 119-23. Edited by Glasser I. Elsevier, 2012.
Wesley Wong Ting Fai 3035664740
In my opinion, the visual of the video is consistent. With the repeated use of close-ups and POVs, viewers are able to enter the world of the protagonist. The use of blue and yellow in the beginning and end successfully conveys the transformation of the character. From the floor-plan storyboard, it is a rational decision to use the bedroom and toilet (private space), as well as the living room (communal space), to present isolation and reconnection respectively.
The film explores concepts related to time and home through the events within the apartment. The film opens up with a POV, first focusing on the body, then, the clock, and finally the sunlight. It is a strong POV that it conveys the longing to leave home. To further present the indifference towards time, close-ups of countdown, clocks and calendar reappear on the screen. Instead of focusing on a certain date and time, the camera moves to resemble a POV shoot, suggesting the failure to stay aware of time.
As the video continues, the protagonist becomes more and more aware of the long duration of quarantine, therefore, suggesting the need to cherish each moment (The meaning of birthday and the passage of time). In particular, I was quite intrigued by the reappearance of water throughout the video that it can be a motif to present time within the architecture. From the raindrops, to the shower, the reappearance of water resembles the fluidity of time. Instead of showing the noises of machines, the objects within home, if time is one of the important elements for this video, I would suggest using water as a motif to form a relationship to you, the family and the architecture. For instance, a medium shot of the protagonist taking shower, sitting behind the camera and window, may present the suppression of the architecture and passage of time. In my opinion, this might further stylise your film, creating a more interesting visual.
The start of the video was very attractive as showed the ‘home’ in a third person perspective allowing to see the home that is defined within the video. Not only that the texts that you have used was also interesting; you defined what is home at the start, which conveyed message of how you perceived the home and the home in 2021 city. Your content of the video itself was well explored throughout the video. You showed how people are perceiving life in home and why not to choose to cherish their home; and went deeper as you kept this in mind as you have directly dialogued why people might resist to stay home.
I thought the clever implementation of multiple close ups and crops of everyday objects really made the film seem very professional. I particularity thought the voice over script was compelling and really showed personal thoughts about the situation right now, having said that, the birthday cake scene was also made with rich emotions. The dark shadows and film tones really made me think that I was watching an RTHK production, great work!
I personally like the way this was put together. You started with a question, and took the question along as the video proceeded. This I think made your work look more unified and put together as a piece. Also, you came up with a different and more positive answer for the question, which was a slight change that aligned parallel with previous answer. Also, the employment of question did a good job as an attention-grabber.
The clips you employed were quite interesting, with a few shots of what seems to be a protagonist, and rather, more shots in perspectives, zoomed. Because it was zoomed, it created a movie-like feeling and an emphasis on small movements in the house that usually would not be of a big consideration. Personally, I think these shots help emphasize the situation and the perspective of this person who has been locked in the room for a long time. You usually don’t look at clock ticking unless you are as free and bored and empty like the mood of the narration in the middle of the clip. The lighting and the setting of the clips indicated that it was an interior, not too large. Even with the close-up shots, same mood was able to be applied. The architectural elements seen in the video well-complied with the overall tone and message of your work.