Under the COVID 19 pandemic, people are now under more control as regulations are imposed on the lives of Hong Kong citizens, such as needing to wear a mask when going out, needing to maintain social distance etc. The surveillance which surrounds the enforcement of these regulations are becoming more and more strict. This situation is present in Hong Kong everywhere, and the MTR passage is no exception, with signs made on the walls and announcements telling people to “fight the virus”. I believe that the city is not only made out of the buildings, but also the people who move around it the building and the city. Therefore, in this video essay, I hypothesized that People are under more control while in MTR passages because of the pandemic, and I explored the issue from the people in MTR passages’ actions and motions. by going to different MTR stations to observe people in MTR passages.
After my research, I found out my hypothesis is not entirely correct. While it is true that people need to follow more rules under the pandemic, it does not mean that people are under more control. The people who travel in the passages have different motions and actions. Some may go buy snacks, some sit down to take a rest. While people are under surveillance and need to follow rules, they still move in the passage by their own will, with different intentions and destinations, which in my opinion, defines the city of Hong Kong.
Script
People’s actions and motions define a city. For my hypothesis, I wrote that people are under more control while in MTR passages because of the pandemic. I felt that people need to follow more rules, such as keeping social distance and wearing masks. In these passages, we can often see cameras and hear announcements, telling people what they should do and what they shouldn’t, and this makes me feel that what people see, hear, and how they move in the city are controlled. But after my research, I found out that this is not entirely true. The people who travel in the passages have different motions and actions. Some may go buy snacks, some sit down to take a rest, and some take a detour to get sanitized. I realized that while people are under surveillance and need to follow rules, they still move in the passage by their own will, with different intentions and destinations. and it is these uncontrolled motions and actions on the people.
References
Tuan, Yi-Fu. Space and Place: the Perspective of Experience. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2018.
Yung Woon Ting 3035762293
The video creatively captures many significant symbols of “control” in the MTR space to argue its hypothesis. But because it first argue that the passenger might become more controlled during the pandemic, so audience might expect more pandemic-related “anti-control” motions other than rest and buying snacks. The overall organization is clear and the idea can be mastered through the narration. The method of montage is good, but probably other movable forms might also be considered to make the video more diverse and interesting. Just wondering, as you mentioned that after research you find out people actually have individual intentions, are the research method mainly observation or other quantitative study?