SPECIAL IDENTITY, DIR. FOK YIU-LEUNG (2013)
Di Wang Building, Luohu District, Shenzhen
secret talk
“Special Identity”, directed by Fok Yiu-Leung, is a modern action movie released in 2013. The film tells about a undercover police man(acted by Donnie Yen) who concealed himself in the mobdom for a long time and looked forward to get rid of this. He secretly collected the criminal intelligence for the police and successfully disintegrate the criminal organization at the end. The above picture shows the undercover agent communicating with a police on the rooftop. It is undoubtedly the scene of Shenzhen by the strong evidence of the architecture “Di Wang Building”. “Di Wang Building”, built in March 1996, is a super high-rise comprehensive building integrating office and commerce in Luohu District. It is one of the most significant landmarks in Shenzhen which indicate it as a Special Economic Zone since “Di Wang Building” was the tallest building in China at that time.
To compare and contrast “Di Wang Building” in the film and reality. It can be seen that “Di Wang Building” is one of most conspicuous architectures due to it’s unique modern design and appearance no matter from the view of film or reality. The shape is absolutely individual and coordinated which illustates the beauty of geometry. From the perspective of film, it presents a broaden vision from the rooftop so that we can see very far and wide with no obstacles. Everything seems to be diminished from the building house, shops, walking district, moving cars to pedestrains. Everything seems to be so quiet and still that we can barely hear much noise from the movie since it’s far away from the ground. Return to the reality, it’s really much the same as the film when I took pictures at a higher altitude with all that facinating scenery. However, the major difference is when I took picture at the ground level. The surrounding noise and moving objects broke the comfortable atmosphere in the film. It’s very crowded and cramped. Nevertheless, the building design can be observed more clearly without distance and filter in the film. You can never tell how shocked it is when you stand right next to it. It have pale green walls and windows with simple vertical and horizontal division. Its body shape is very slender like a baskestball player.
There are three reasons why the scene is presented in that way in the film. First of all, it can provide good view to facilitate the aesthetic perception of the film. Secondly, it can show the landmark of the filming place to record the scenery. Otherwise, I cannot recognize this place as Shenzhen. Most importantly, it’s about the particularity of the undercover policeman. The environment must be completely secret and safe so that the mission will not divulge and it can ensure the process of undercover. The rooftop is the most commonly seen place in various movies with undercover plot.
close look at the ground level
pictures from higher altitude
-Xiao Di fei, 3035687950
Good observation of the fieldwork. There are 2 points you have noted in the report to discuss in depth – the inclusion of Di Wang Building as an identifiable landmark of Shenzhen in the movie and rooftop as common meet up location for undercover operations. Why do you think the movie is set in Shenzhen? Shenzhen is one of the first Special Economic Zones in 1980 which marked the 1979-policy of “reforming and opening up” – does this significance of the metropolis related to the storyline? It would also be great to discuss further on the rooftops – you may wish to refer to the texts from L4 – AlSayyad’s Voyeuristic Modernity : the Lens, the Screen and the City on voyeurism and surveillance or de Certeau’s Walking in the City where he discussed the optical effects from World Trade Centre.