MAZE CITY
SITE: CAMPUS
Mao Yue Yang Lesley 3035770549
Description
The film is inspired by a word from my senior before I enter university. He introduced HKU to me by saying that ‘HKU is a 3D maze’. So I put my focus on HKU campus, making it the epitome of this city. The film’s theme is how to deal with the maze-like urban life in this maze-like terrain city. The film not only discusses the personal plight but also implicitly reflects how the city responds to the plight of the epidemic.
What is maze?
I want to explain the “maze” from two aspects. Concretely speaking, the “maze” refers to the complex circulation created by the mountainous terrain of Hong Kong. Abstractly speaking, the “maze” refers to the confusion and difficulties encountered in urban life, such as “have to make a choice” and “stay at the starting point no matter how much effort you have made ” and so on.
Connection to the pandemic?
I did not directly specify the “epidemic” in the movie because the scenes I shot were all in the context of the epidemic. The “staircase” in the movie is a metaphor for countless choices. In urban life, we always inevitably arrive at some intersections and then make choices. For cities, it is the intersection of “how to deal with the epidemic” pushed by life. In the movie “Climbed, several layers are GF” metaphors that “stick at the origin after making many efforts”. For cities, this is the process of hitting a wall in the epidemic. After introducing large and small epidemic prevention policies, the number of new infections still rebounds repeatedly.
What I want to emphasize is that the city remains its energy during the epidemic. Many things didn’t change. The Elderly still do morning exercise on the campus, and the campus constructor carries on their work. Through the epidemic brings lots of troubles, our life still goes on.
Theme
How to deal with the lonely life in the maze city? My answer is to change a perspective and to enjoy the loneliness. Take “Public space” in the film as an example. In HKU, there are many public spaces. But do public spaces increase the interaction between people? Maybe yes. But sometimes, loneliness is even more vital in public spaces. This may not be a negative thing because this gives people a chance to see their surroundings carefully. As De Certeau says, “In short, space is a practiced place. Thus the street geometrically defined by urban planning is transformed into space by walkers.” Space is “walking into your life.” Loneliness makes people calm down to feel the space, walk into space, observe surroundings as Georges Perec did: “slowing down your pace and writing down all the details of the street, to imagining and recalling memories of the street.” And during this process, people meet “crooked roots” & “flying birds,” which correspond to one sentence I love: “It is the eyes of the earth, and people looking at it can measure the depth of their nature (Thoreau, 1854).”
Director: Mao Yue Yang Lesley
Animation: Mao Yue Yang Lesley
*All the video clips are original content
Background Music: 3055– Ólafur Arnalds(*edited by Mao Yue Yang Lesley)
Site List: HKU campus
Script:
Maze City
It is said that the city is a maze.
[1]
Countless stairs point to unknown places.
Like countless choices in my life lead to unknown results.
[2]
No matter how many layers I climb, I seem to be at G floor all the time.
Like no matter how much effort I have made, I seem to be stick at the bottom.
[3]
Public spaces everywhere, but the sense of ‘distance’ is even more vital.
But how about change a perspective?
[3]
Sense of distance can create a calm and peaceful mind apart from the busy surroundings.
[2]
Through always being at the G Floor, I can always have a starting point on a higher level and have a chance to enjoy the different scenery.
[1]
If I have to make a choice, take a firm step will be better than never.
On the journey, I may bump into…
Crooked roots
Flying birds
Or another way out of trouble.
This is a lonely journey in a maze.
Not only for me but also for everyone in the maze city.
But during the lonely journey, We may meet new, exciting things and people.
Life goes on
And we remain alive.
Change a perspective.
We may learn how to live with loneliness and enjoy the moment
If loneliness is man, hug him.
Reference
Benjamin, W., Jennings, M., Doherty, B., Levin, T., & Jephcott, E. (2008). The work of art in the age of its technological reproducibility and other writings on media (pp. 19-55). Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
De Certeau, M. (1984). Walking in the City. In The Practice of Everyday Life (pp. 91-110), translated by Steven Randall. Berkeley: University of California Press.
HKU Centennial Campus. (2011). Hong Kong University’s vision: the origin of the centennial campus. https://www4.hku.hk/cecampus/chi/our/evolution.php.
HKMS2.0. https://www.hkmapservice.gov.hk/OneStopSystem/home.
Huang, R, & Yu, B. (2018). Riding real carriage with unreal horses: selected readings of Kafka. Shanghai Oriental Publishing.
Perec, G. (1998).Species of spaces and other pieces. Penguin Classics.
Thoreau, H. (1854). The Pond in Winter. Walden. Shanghai Translation Publishing.
I really enjoy your concept. Taking use of staircases on campus, you give us a strong feeling of maze through your lens language. The campus is the epitome of the whole city. Your explanation of the maze is interesting. You have found out the problem caused by maze city, and you tried to give a solution. What’s interesting is that the solution also comes from the outer city. You take the outer image of the city as a metaphor or a reflection of city life and the mental state inside it. This is the technique that films always use, and that’s why films include architecture. I really appreciate your thoughts. From your video, people may get the answer to why the identity of the city is important, or why we need architecture and city planners. ———-Liu Yichu Chelsea
Congratulations on making a good video. First, the effective combination of pictures and text makes the entire video profound and artistic and makes the video have a good sense of narrative. Second, the choice of the soundtrack is very appropriate, and the transition from fast to full is closely matched with the transition of meaning. Third, the viewpoint is novel but thought-provoking. Throughout the video, architecture and city appear alternately. The author has cleverly found the common ground between the two. Based on this analysis, he draws a conclusion-whether it is a “maze building” or a “maze city”, it is important We are alive.
Very appreciate your way of researching the city and editing the video! The most impressive thing for me to reflect is that you not only shape the “maze city” but also relate it to yourself, your daily life. In this video, you are recording, but you are more likely thinking, about the city and about your life.
Although you do not mention the covid -19 pandemic expressly, you describe it in a more implied and wiser way —- the loneliness felt by people. It makes the video insightful and drives people to think more and feel more.
Your change of “perspective” also leaves a deep impression on me. The current loneliness is tough, but it also gives us more chance to cherish and enjoy our life, to expect a better future.
—- Song Yang, 3035772781
Good job in tension building through all the different shots, angles, and tempo in your video! I also loved your opening scenes!! The stairs shots were cool.
I see how you are intentionally keep the “maze” as a metaphor in your narrative. Although, you could tie your video and your essay (text) more closely through some small filler shots and bring the metaphor to a more tangible realm. These filler shots could be a collage of announcement from the campus/government regarding the pandemic; something that may have caused confusion and resembled the “maze” of pandemic life. That way, your audience could immediately catch your argument through the video. Then, you could continue to narrate how you would suggest them (us?) to embrace the loneliness/maze/confusion. Good job, all and all.