[Video Essay] ALAMORT

 

Text in video:

The pandemic started with no signs and is spreading continuously all around the world. Both of our physical and mental health   are being threatened, the distance between people is widened and relationships are being ruined – like our hands getting more crappy after endless housework.

  

Isolation starts, we seem to have the same life as before, we still have lessons and work, the only difference is all things were finished within a single, repeated area – home. We enjoyed to have such experience at first, we even treated self-isolation as a “present” in a monotonous and busy life in Hong Kong.

 

However, It lasted for an unpredictable period, dramatic falling of emotions begin. Streets remain empty, no cheerful laughing sound from the park, no communication among neighbors, no light to soften the sky at night, nowhere to go. The updated news reported number of infected people in Hong Kong everyday, with the non stop climbing number, we stop all physical contact with people. And, electronic devices become the only means for us to connect with the outside world. 

 

We wash hands frequently to keep yourself away from virus, the running water goes down through the tape, slip away from our hands – it is like our close connections and bondings with people are slipping away secretly.With the fear of getting sick, we clean our home many times a day, day after day, our hands start to fester, bleeding, and rankle. The changes in the condition of our hands symbolize our connections with people in the society, now, after endless self-isolation, we hesitate to take with people,    

 

The end of a pandemic does not equal to the end of everything, we need time to recover, not only for our economy but more about is our “explicit and implicit connections with people”.

 

Bibliography

“Centre for Health Protection, Department of Health – Frequently Asked Questions on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).” Centre for Health Protection, www.chp.gov.hk/en/features/102624.html.

“Coronavirus Can Travel Twice as Far as Official ‘Safe Distance’, Study Says.” South China Morning Post, 11 Mar. 2020, www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3074351/coronavirus-can-travel-twice-far-official-safe-distance-and-stay.

“Coronavirus.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019.

García-Hodges, Ahiza, et al. “Dating during Coronavirus Turned Upside down since Everything Is a Long-Distance Relationship.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 23 Apr. 2020, www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/dating-during-coronavirus-turned-upside-everything-long-distance-relationship-n1175741.

“How to Maintain Relationships in Self-Isolation.” BBC Future, BBC, 15 Apr. 2020, www.bbc.com/future/article/20200414-how-to-maintain-relationships-in-self-isolation.

Kaplan, Sarah. “Human Connection Bolsters the Immune System. That’s Why It’s More Important than Ever to Be Kind.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 31 Mar. 2020, www.washingtonpost.com/science/2020/03/31/coronavirus-human-connection-social-distancing/.

Leung, Hillary. “H.K. Sees Record Rise in Coronavirus Cases as New Wave Hits Asia.” Time, Time, 20 Mar. 2020, time.com/5807097/coronavirus-hong-kong-second-wave/.

Pandey, Manish. “Coronavirus: ‘My Housemate Refuses to Social Distance’.” BBC News, BBC, 17 Apr. 2020, www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-52281443.

Wright, Robin, et al. “Finding Connection and Resilience During the Coronavirus Pandemic.” The New Yorker, www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/coping-camaraderie-and-human-evolution-amid-the-coronavirus-crisis.

Chick Kar Yi Priscilla

3035703704

3 thoughts on “[Video Essay] ALAMORT

  1. Chan Hiu Yan says:

    I really enjoy your video. For the visual design, I love how you choose white and black as the major tone of color in the video, yielding a great contrast between the objects. It also makes the items more stand out. Besides, the symbol of the hands in your video is a creative idea, leaving a strong impression on audiences like me.

    Reply
  2. Gao Ningling says:

    Comments:
    To Chick Kar Yi Priscilla?
    Strength:
    a) All contents revolve around a well-identified topic: Alamort.
    b) The contents are well organized and analyzed. Explanation is clear and easy to understand. Control of organization of the form/content and narration is excellent.
    c) Excellent control of film techniques: zoom, first-person… Scene transfer is subtle, flexible and innovative.
    Weakness:
    a) Some explanation are not clear enough and not that reasonable(personal idea),like why hands are getting red and hurt day by day?
    Overall:
    Well done! It is a good video for me to learn from. I really appreciate film techniques you used (they are amazing!) and the topic you chose which may reflect the emotions of most of us.
    by Gao Ningling 3035638894

    Reply
  3. Annie Lye says:

    As an allegorical piece, your video is an intriguing approach to visualizing emotional strain brought on by the pandemic scarce, by only showing the hands. There is a consistently dark and minimalistic style throughout that successfully evokes an emotional response from audiences. Fantastic use of chiaroscuro in the beginning shots (when lighting the candle and opening the fridge), as well as a mixture of camera and editing techniques. The close-up shot of the raking hand is extremely well done, especially in combination with the repeated montage of cleaning motions of the communal spaces in the home. To improve this further, you could have developed deeper insights from your research on human –relations/ connections from your citations of The New Yorker, NBCNews, and BBC Future.

    Spelling error: “TAP” not “TAPE”

    Reply

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