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103 thoughts on “Lecture 2 Discussion”
Ka HoTsang says:
From the movie 青春玫瑰, there are two scenes, namely women working hardly inside a factory while another one is a party scene with many wealthy men. The purpose is perhaps to show the unfairness of social status of women and men, as well as the enormous gap between the rich and the poor’s life.
Film: Chungking Express
There are two main stories. The contrast comes from the night scenarios full of neon lights and reflections by discs in a bar in the first story and the day scenarios mainly by natural lights in a private house. They are two fascinating and annoying features of architecture in Hong Kong. After one year of waiting for A Fei to come back, the fast-food store has been taken by the officer. The disappearance, however, didn’t take away memories. It’s the past experience and songs that made the past alive, along with emotions and love.
There was a set of photographs comparing the changes in the language of shots and architecture in Hong Kong films between the 1960s and the 21st century. Firstly because of the improvements in technology, the contrast shows a change in the language of architecture. Buildings in the 21st century have more glass and neon lights. Another significant change is the color and accuracy of the picture. Hong Kong films after the 21st century are much more colorful, and the contrast and color palette reflect the director’s thoughts. The film’s images are also shown more clearly.
in the film father and son (1981), it shows contrast between the old village and the currently new estate. It’s interesting because it shows the contrast of the new and old through the stories of the people who moved from the village, to the new estate. Shows how urbanisation affects the people’s lives, and through that, also show the contrast between their old and new lives in the new buildings.
Contrast in Hong Kong is actually quite obvious. The density of buildings now is much denser that those in 1950s-60s. Since Hong Kong is in a great growing speed, turning from a factory zone to a financial area. Also, the population is also largely increased. The buildings are thus much higher for more citizens to live. Therefore, there is a huge difference in form of architecture.
I would like to choose disappearance as the key term. During the lecture, there was a movie about bikes in Beijing that impressed me. Apparently, there were a large number of bikes crowded in the city several decades ago. However, those bikes have been significantly replaced by cars and buses these days and disappeared. In my view, that movie is like a memory of a certain generation; it recorded that specific era. Besides, the disappearance of bikes on the streets also indicates the rapidly developing city that continuously changes.
While the story of the work may align with my own analysis, in the 1960s and 2010s the contrast in my perspective is used as a way of showing the financial and commercial difference throughout the time to see how time changed the cityscape but also the technological development. However part of me sees as the director used to contrast the way foreigner sees Hong Kong from the outside and what life is actually like in reality in Hong Kong in the more literal sense.
In the screen shot of the blossom rose (青春玫瑰), there is a scene that many well-dressed elites dancing and partying in a large and glorious hall, with bright lights on. However, in the other picture, there is just one man standing alone in the same big hall. This implies a strong contrast between lonely and accompanied. Also, from those dedicated suits we can know that the main character owns great social success. Hence this two pictures also implies a strong contrast between the success in social life and the loneliness (somehow failure) in family life.
In Forsaken Love, there is a strong contrast between the workplace (factory) and the mansion, and this contrast illustrates the class distinction between the working class and the rich. For example, in the factory, much uniformity is observed with regard to the workers’ duty and position, all of them sitting in the same position and working at the same thing. However, in the mansion, people (most of them rich) are positioned in widely different ways. Also, they are seen to be doing various things, which shows that they are much more at leisure to do whatever they want to do. This contrasts demonstrates how people belonging to different classes occupy different spaces in one city.
Through the images extract from films in 1960s and 2010s, contrast is shown in architecture and people’s lifestyles. In 1960s films, it capture industrial buildings mainly built in concrete while in 2010s film, it captures high-rise buildings that its facade is mainly glass and steel. It creates a great contrast showing the technological improvement. It also shows change of labour from secondary to tertiary industry in Hong Kong.
In the 1995 anime film Ghost in the Shell a futuristic modern city combines the architectures of Bangkok, Hong Kong and Tokyo. The character “Major” explores the different levels of this futuristic city. Her base of operations is located in the advanced urbanized sector of the city similar to Tokyo. While “Major” mostly does her investigative work and engages in combat within the less pristine and less advanced Hong Kong or Bangkok settings. This contrasts represents how the safety of “Major’s” advanced base, is undermined by the danger and non conformity of the streets portrayed by the other 2 cities.
As mentioned in the lecture, ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’ (2011) shows contrast in filming.
First, is about density. There are scenes with city view which is very packed while there is a scene only two people standing from the high and looking at the city view.
Second, is about the colour tone. There are scenes showing a daytime modern city that is bright while the film also shows the night-time city which is dark but glamourous. This contrast shows the beauty of Hong Kong in different ways and perspectives.
Finally, is about the shooting angels. The bird-eye angle have contrast with the horizontal, flat and eye-level angle.
In the movie Breaking News, contrast is presented through different uses of perspectives. The scene is framed from eye level, looking upwards at the massive building; the first way of presenting contrast is done by comparing what is near the ground and what is not. Moreover, by carefully planning the imagery, the building extends beyond the frame as well as takes up almost the entire width; the sheer scale contrasts with the size of the human in the middle of the screen, taking up much less screen space.
Beijing Bicycle used different transportation means to show the different social status for the characters. From the left photo, I found that some people had already owned private vehicles as main transportation. In contrast, the photo at right side showed there were still lots of people moved using their bicycles. Beijing at that time was a very busy city. However, some people used bicycle as a mean to make a living but some people just took the bicycle as entertainment (shown in the first picture at the right column). All of these design may show the inequality in Beijing.
There is a contrast in HongKong between Victoria Harbour and Kowloon walled city.
We can see the density of buildings through the camera above the Kowloon walled city which shows us the poor life quality of people living in it. In contrast, when it comes to Victoria Harbour, there is a concrete jungle with hundreds of billboards on the top. You can feel the hustle and bustle of a national city which is completely different from Kowloon walled city. I think we can feel the contrast through different camera angles and different color styles while filming.
The example I will like to use is The Blossoming Rose. I think it shows clearly how the built environment helps present information from the films. For instance, the interior spaces of the one in a party and the factory, have a similar mass of people, however, the design of the interior, as well as the density of columns, show about the plot that characters are in different classes.
Besides the movie also shows the contrast of levels of loneliness. While a dame built environment, the one in neon light shows dark and lonely and others show the vibrancy of Hong Kong. This shows that a built environment can show mental feelings contrast.
In Forsaken Love, contrasts are seen evidently in differently scenes. In exterior spaces, scenes were focused on the modernized buildings and transportations, which conveys ideas of industrialization. In the interior, however, subjects were more concentrated on human’s activities, with more individualistic components and decorations in the rooms. The cooler atmosphere in the exterior contrasts with the more humanistic, relaxed environment in the characters’ houses. From another angle, the scene of party also contrasts with the scene in the factory, with the former one portraying more diverse individuals and the later one showing uniformity of the mass labour. This contrast in montage shows the dynamicity of the activities taken place in an industrialized city that is prospering rapidly.
I am interested in the contrasts in the Asian city in the film. And the contrasts were different among different periods. For example, 香车美人 shows a time when HongKong was still developing and there were not so much tall buildings and the contrasts were not so huge among the house of the poor and the rich. Then 青春玫瑰 shows the time when HongKong has developed for a time and still developing quickly. The tall buildings were quite obvious from the other buildings and the contrasts were huge especilally at night since there were many places without lights and some places had many lights. Then the recent 单身男女 shows that Hong Kong has developed a lot and almost to an end and the contrasts are not so huge since most on the buildings in Hong Kong are high and modern and at night the whole city is full of lights.
The exterior design of the building is very old in black-and-white film, however, the design of building in modern film is new like skyscrapers. It shows that the living condition of people in different eras and the architectural development of society.
Contrast is really the crux of many modern movies depicting urban life. Tradition and progress, the day and the night scenery, the density of crowded streets and isolation of the hearts. In Slumdog Millionaire, India’s modernization but backwardness was clearly depicted. Though the country embraces western culture, shows, and technology; kidnapping, cruel customs, religious fanaticism, and wooden toilets were just as present.
Disappearance of the modern city is in some ways similar to a phenomenon called Flanderization, in which the character Flander’s personality was exaggerated so much that he doesn’t feel like a real character anymore. Hollywood often has a fetish for oriental mysticism and depicts Asian cities with a focus on cyberpunk stereotypes, as seen in Transformers: Age of Extinction, which makes them terrible indicators of actual modern life in these cities.
In Father and Son (1981), it shows the contrast of public housing demand of HK before and then with the reference of Shek Kip Mei Estate. Since the estate is the first batch of public housing, as known as Mark I, its performance in mass housing perfectly manifested the the high demand of public housing, but now public housing is rather in smaller scale, that shows public housing’s demand has been dropping by then despite the fact that its demand is rather still high.
Fallen Angels is an amazing film that show strong contrast of the filming angles and also the color tones and brightness. There is one scene that the killer’s agent played by Michelle lying on the disco machine which sharp bright warm golden color shedding on her pale hopeless skin, which reflects her strong affection and possesion towards the killer she is serving for and how much she wants for his love back, but in reality the relationship is just her own imagination.
In the movie Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,we can see a contrast in the luminance of photos and the colour temperature. The director tend to reflect the change of time by comparing daytime and night time, revealing different appearances of the city. As for the colour temperature, the director chose a warm tone to show the theme of human and a cold tone to show the coldness of metropolis.
In the movie of Blossoming Rose and Don’t Go Breaking Heart, there are many obvious contrasts, such as the quality of the buildings, colors and so on. These changes show the development of the city, but also witness the vanishment or the disappearance. The development of architecture needs reconstruction, so that the memory and culture reserved by the old buildings may disappear. Although there are some symbolic things remaining, the history we can touch disappeared.
Shanghai is a famous city in many cinematic shots and is where lots of stories happened. Through the years, Shanghai’s image has changed dramatically. The contrast of old and new Shanghai has shown the development of this metropolis in many film creations. The old Shanghai had a industrial image with the small shops, plain roads, trucks and industries in the backgrounds, while the modern Shanghai is usually more beautifully lit. More fashionable elements (recreational places, malls, business, and huge glass skyscrapers) are presented to show the vibe of this fast-developing city.
I would like to discuss the disappearance. In the film Father and Son, indeed it shows the contrast of the past and now, I think it also shows the disappearance. As we can see, the old and small village was replaced by the city, with high buildings and modified road, it is actually a city built on the disappearance of the village. Village might only be one of the signifiers of the history but could be a powerful one, so my understanding is that even though the style of life and the appearance of city changes, something traditional or worth to memorize is forgotten along with the replacement and disappearance of the village.
In the example of making a contrast between urban life in the 1960s and 2010s, there is a clear difference between the camera shots. In the 1960s it was more focused on people’s life routine and the industries, whereas in the 2010s, the camera shots are more focused on the city itself, the view and skyscrapers. Also when showcasing the interior of the building in the 1960s, the scene is some people in a suit discussing something. I guess the purpose of this contrast is to prove how we advanced from the past.
I would like to reflect on the idea of contrast. What impressed me was the scenes of the movie The Blossoming Rose. The modernized appearance of the city, the working people by the machines on the day, and the lonely person in his home at night form a stark contrast in many dimensions, which plays a role in enhancing the visual impact and is provocative.
For contrasts, modern buildings or buildings in prosperous areas are cleaner and have more white space in the picture. Cool colors are usually used to express a sense of modernity and order. In backward areas, such slums, the pictures are crowded, and warm colors are usually used to show a sense of desolation and disorder.
In contrast, following the example from the film “Don’t go breaking my heart” in 2011 which represents the contrast between day and night in Hong Kong, the warm orange morning glow contrasts with the bright and vibrant neon-lit night streets of Hong Kong reflecting the notion of how Hong Kong is the city that never sleeps. The various bright colors of night showcase the exhilarating nature of hong kong contrasts with the warm colors of the morning which presents a more relaxing and comforting feeling.
Don’t go breaking my Heart (2011) uses mise-en-scene to contrasts the scenes of the film. As the colour of the scene changes when the relationship is changing between the two lovers. When the relationship is going well the colour of the scene is often warmer, while during conflicts, the scene is often represented as colder, which shows the contrast with the mise-en-scene. Cinematography can be seen as an element, the cinematographer uses different camera techniques to portray the emotional status of characters. Such as zooming in to show the facial expressions, or zooming out to leave the character emotions mysterious
In the film Dont Go Breaking My Heart 2011, the different buildings and scenes in Hong Kong show the post-modern architectural style of Hong Kong, The cultural system of Hong Kong architecture is “Western + Eastern”, the environmental form is “sea + land”, the cultural context is “traditional + modern + British system”, the landscape level is “international + regional”, and the social surface is diverse and international
By using contrast in showing the differences between a city and a countryside, audiences could be able to see clearly what are the characteristic of their build environment. For example, a city would have skyscrapers while a rural area would have short buildings.
The density of the buildings can reflect the contrast between urban and rural areas. The neat and staggered tall buildings will give a feeling of high urbanization when photographed from high up. While short and disorganized and crowded clusters of buildings represent places where the poor live, such as the scenes from Slumdog Millionaire. In addition, the overall color of the building can also distinguish the poor from the rich.Yellowish colors or browns can have a feeling of pollution and backwardness, while in contrast, cool colors can have a sense of cleanliness and advancement.
I think different contrasts can change the mood of a scene. The movie The Blossoming Rose uses quite high contrasts in the working space to make the scene tenser to show that their work is quite stressful and they are all quite busy. Besides, the scene of the modern city at night contrasts the neon and lightning with the really dark sky, which highlights the working of the modern city.
The screenshots of Breaking News and Slumdog Millionaire can reflect the high-density building planning in the city, but in contrast, the color of buildings in Breaking News is colder, and there is a more quiet and elegant atmosphere as a whole, showing the superb economic and technological level of a big city, while the color of Slumdog Millionaire is warmer and the objects are denser, suggesting a lively and messy life, and the struggle of the poor.
There are stark contrast shown in movie Dabbawalas about people delivering meals from different places. The rural and urban landscape looks really different. The urban setting (streets) looks much advanced than unhygienic, dense rural district, slums and train. This can allow the movie to reflect social issues and alert the public or the globe of the poverty problem in underdeveloped countries. So, movies do pick up roles to speak the truth and raise awareness of audiences on certain issue.
Contrast in the film stands out by the timeline. Contrast is coming from difference. To find the difference, things have to change, and this change needs time. Therefore, contrast through the built environment and spaces of the Asian City in the film should be happening as the time past. In our lecture we discussed about the contrast between a black and white film and a colored film and how they are differently filmed. First, looking at the black and white film and the colored film, they contrast the technology devices that were available during that timeline. In order to this limited technology, most of the black and white films were taken inside the buildings to clearly deliver the site. However, in colored ones, they are taken by drowns that they entirely shows the buildings and the city in one shot, and this is possible since colors can deliver more information that zooming in wasn’t really to show the site. Plus, the buildings shown in the films were contrasting by how modernized they were.
The contrast between Mr cinema and the private eye make in depth on the view of the close shots of the streets and the housing rooftop in Hong Kong in the 70s. One focus on the moving traffic and people on the street to make a feeling of moving, busy city. On the other hand, mr cinema focus on the details on housing which show the living environment and might represent the social status of the characters.
For don’t go breaking my heart, it focus on the alley on the side of the streets. The signs and maybe the side of the building, also illustrate the lifestyle in 2000 hong kong
I would like to choose the theme contrast. The pictures we discussed in the first breakout room show a great contrast between the appearance of Hong Kong decades ago and nowadays. The previous one is all black and white, which gives limited information about the appearance of Hong Kong, while the recent one is colorful, which not only gives us a better experience to fully enjoy the movie ,but also helps to set off the atmosphere of the scene and express the emotion that the director is trying to show to the audience.
The two set of photographs displaying shots of Hong Kong buildings from 1960s and the modern 21st century, not only highlights the technological and economical advancements, but also changes in architectural style and movement. In the 1960s, Hong Kong comprised of various buildings inspired from colonial, Edwardian architecture, but later on the influence of modernism has led to the emergence of high rise glass skyscrapers. Therefore, this contrast and design paradigm shift between the architectural styles also led to difference in aesthetics in the Hong Kong city life and way of life.
I’d like to talk about contrast. Films could use this method to show the difference in background information and told the audiences that these changes may effect character’s life. In the movie father and son, the director use the contrast between architectures, from villages to estates. It shows the changes in background, possibly urbanization, and drop a hint to the audiences that the background may have effects to the characters’ life.
I want to briefly show some ideas about disappearance of culture and lifestyle when the architectures change in one place. For example, the film Myriads of lights Directed by Shen Fu, as mentioned in this lecture, successfully shows the audience what was the life of common people like Shanghai in the 1940s. As the name of this film, it exhibits various lives which is totally different from today’s under the architecture style in that particular time. Thus, I consider film is an essential method to record and memorize the disappearing culture and architectures.
CONTRAST
In movies, directors often use top view/long shot to highlight the contrast between large buildings and characters in the film. Through this way of shooting, the small people and the huge buildings in the film can create a strong contrast to highlight the emotions of the characters. For example, in the scene of the crowded railway, by shooting the backs of the crowded characters in the play and the huge urban transportation system, the insignificance of the characters in the play and the powerlessness of the characters in this huge social system can be reflected.
Contrast between the perception of different city
The movie Slumsdog Millionaire (2008) have muddy colour slum short that contrast with the clean well planned concrete forest of Hong Kong in the movie Breaking News (2004), show the contrast of the asian city in Mumbai and Hong Kong, that Hong Kong is perceived as a cold morden concrete forest with very compacted and well planned concrete buildings and Mumbai is a place that full of pollution and poor organic slums. This show the perception of people towards different city.
I remember there was a discussion in class about a group of photos about the changes in Hong Kong films and architecture in the 1960s and 21st century. The contrasting aspects of the two films reflect modern City’s transformation. In addition to changes in the building itself, such as Windows. Another change is the overall color tone. Modern Hong Kong movies are more colorful which reflect the busy life of the Hong Kong city, and the shadow reflected on the window also describe the development of city towards a more flourishing zone.
From the film describing the railway crowd, the left button picture shows the dense popularity in that city. Only form a small portion of the picture, depicts the people on the railway but the majority of the picture is something else, this makes the feeling that it is crowded. In addition, the film is taken from a certain angle which gives an illusion that there are infinite people on the railway.
Film depictions of slums are often crowded, chaotic and noisy. People live in high-density areas where many people share a small room and bright lights rarely appear. The slums live in low shacks, the cities are brightly lit skyscrapers. By contrast, the city is spacious and bright, and the difference in comfort can be felt just by looking at it. As well as the fast pace of slum life, in contrast to the slower pace of the city.
Film: Chung King Express/Falling Angel
In the screenshots of Wong Kar-Wai’s film, the scenes are mostly concentrated on the underneath of the city, which is a great contrast compared to those mainly focused on showing the cityscape in other films. It is believed to show the stories of normal citizens in the reality that might be covered by the luxuriant appearance of the city.
The film Ghost In the Shell (1995) featuring on the theme of global asian city Hong Kong in the future is an example which employs the idea of contrast between the futuristic, shining modern buildings and messy, old buildings areas or narrow valleys. Such contrast also exists in the color and lightening of different spacial environments as futuristic sites are with colder lightening and old roads with warm colors in the film. Hence to imply an inherent paradox within the city’s development, – between the high-rise technological advancement and remaining past cultures and lifestyles.
I want to share a type of contrast in one movie about Shanghai. In the ” Myriad of lights”, we can find that there are a lot of scenes about the modern industrialized city such as the modern apartment building, some factories and busy streets with ground-level shops. This is a big difference between the Asian economic centre — Shanghai today and the industrialized one, therefore, the gap is a kind of development in the city both in the economy and standard equipment.
In the slides showing the density of buildings, the idea of contrast is shown. In one of the film photos showing the crowded train station, the train and the surrounding infrastructure is filmed in warm colours giving a sense of vibrancy and movement. While in contrast the crowd of people are wearing mostly in cold colours which in my opinion reflects the working class’ frustrations in life.
Contrast: in the 1960s black and white movies, the space (chairs, tables, and people) occupy almost all on the scene. for nowadays movie, more spaces are provided and individuals only occupy small proportion. which gives the viewers a felling that the density of the scene decreased with no elements being eliminated. the technique improved while the density of the movie as well as the background city remain similar.
Based on the comparison between the two Asian cities – Mumbai and Hong Kong, the height of buildiing in cities can be expressed through angles. Also, although I forgot the name of the movies, I remembered the two scences- party and working. In these scence, I can observe the ambivalence of cities based on whether they sat and stood in a oranized way. In my opinon, contrast refers to ambivalence.
I think contrast made a great impression on me. As mentioned in the discussion, buildings in movies always showed a clear contrast between density. Narrow, crowded alleyways and warmer colors give the impression of crowding. Take a picture of the slums of Burma as an instance; different shooting angles can make the same scene have different densities. When the camera is overhead, the picture includes more buildings and moving people, creating a sense of being crowded and busy. However, if the camera is horizontal, the density of the exact location will be lower than the camera is on an aerial perspective.
I choose to comment on the ‘contrast’ mentioned during the lecture. For example, there is a shot for high-rise building in To Kwa Wan in Transformer that has used the CGI technique. While the size of Transformer is compared to that of building, the former is smaller. This shot has given a contrast of size in the movie and an impresson of the intense development or urbanization in Hong Kong building indirectly.
As the examples in the density, the different shooting angles will represent the different density styles. For instance, in the movie Breaking News, which shows the height and density in Hong Kong-style buildings, the director uses the low angle view and horizontal to make it more obvious. Meanwhile, Slumdog Millionaire (not sure the name) uses vertical shots to represent the how density between the houses and how many houses are in the slum, which makes the image more vivid.
Some films were showing the contrast moment when a few modern high rise buildings started to appear among traditional low rise houses. The contrast of new and old, high and low draw people’s attention. Last but not least, using light and shadow is also a way to present a contrast of two different condition. An example was shown in Manhattan, dir. Woody Allen (1979). The B&W film was showing the urban life, and a moment was showing dressed well people walked in the sun and passed by black rubbish bags aside the road. In other case, the contrast is presented when looking at films of different times, for example, there are architectures built in the 1960s and 2010 have different appearance. The change of main stream building materials creates varies visual effects, i.e. concrete and glass, which shows a contrast of blocked sight and transparent view, also the feeling of light and heavy.
I want to choose the example of BEIJING BICYCLE. I remembered that I saw lots of people were commuting by bicycles and the bicycles were as many as the cars. It creates a specific environment at the end of 20th century in the urban city. It is said that throughout these scenes, we could see the cultural, economic, and social history behind it. Even though I’m not familiar with the Chinese history at that time, I could clearly know that what kind of lives people in Beijing were having at that time. I believe, these moving objects and the ordinary spaces are the “disappearance” of Beijing at that time.
In the slumdog millionaire（2008）, both the population and the density of buildings have changed, and the density of buildings has become larger. The previous architectural style was mostly bungalows, but later it was replaced with high-rise buildings. The materials of bungalows were mostly iron sheets, while the building materials of high-rise buildings were mostly concrete.
In the movie Mr. Cinema, there is a scene shooting an airplane flying under the blue sky in between and right above the dilapidated buildings. It creates a strong contrast between the “old, poor Hong Kong with crowded neighbourhood” and the “new, international Hong Kong with nice and expensive airplanes”.
In the movie of ” Don’t go breaking my heart”, the film shows the contrasts of those modern Asian city. Those skyscrapers in a crowded city are usually bright and white to reflect the modernity of the Asian city. Meanwhile, the film shoots the Victoria Harbour at night as well, showing the modern led-lighting scattered by high-rise buildings. This ‘contrasts’ characterizes the development of the urban area and the growing population leads to forming a dense city.
Buildings are printed in the same kind of color in 1960s, so do people, they wear in the same kind of color, because of the backward technology, only black and white, this way can create a kind of contrast and rich the picture. However, buildings and customers are more colorful in 2010s and different tones can creat different atmospheric.
For the movie about bicycles, a contrast has been made by the new type of bicycles with the young and old type of bicycles with the old, it reflects different lifestyles between the young and the old in this particular city. We can find that bicycles for the old are just used as a kind of vehicle, but it is a form of entertainment for the young age group.
Additionally, the heavy traffic and the light and flexible bicycles construct a contrasts. But both of them reflect how crowded the city is.
The examples of screen shots in Forsaken Love and Don’t go breaking my heart show the contrast the differences of two times, 1960s and 2010s. The most obvious part is that the scenes in 2010s are brighter than that in 1960 due to different level of development of technology on filming. Also, the darker one in 1960s represent the history, and the past, while those brighter shots in 2010s represent a brighter future we towards as more well infrastructure and buildings and we will pursue a better life.
In the film Slumdog . The film magnifies the gap between rich and poor by contrasting urban and residential buildings and slums.And the film prodominantes not only the environmental problems brought about by population growth, but the visual impact of the slum-born hero’s transformation into a millionaire is also exaggerated.
I would like to use Chungking Express as an example to elaborate a bit on the concept of “disappearance.” Wong Kar-Wai adopts highly saturated filters and characteristic operation on the shots of characters’ motion to create the sense of illusion and a “flowing city.” In these sequences, the characters appear to be visually inconsistent with their flitter surroundings.
The visually dramatized encounter between persons and the city presents the subjects‘ perplexity and isolation from the exterior when they attempt to locate themselves in the city, and thus the difficulty in their self-existence in the city, which I considered as an externalization of the disappearance of Hong Kong’s history and identity.
I would like to use Chungking Express as an example to elaborate a bit on the concept of “disappearance.” Wong Kar-Wai adopts highly saturated filters and characteristic operation on the shots of characters’ motion to create the sense of illusion and a “flowing city.” In these sequences, the characters appear to be visually inconsistent with their flitter surroundings.
The visually dramatized encounter between persons and the city presents the subjects‘ perplexity and isolation from the exterior when they attempt to locate themselves in the city, and thus the difficulty in their self-existence in the city, which I considered as an embodiment of the disappearance of Hong Kong’s history and identity.
I think the concept of Disappearance is very interesting, and film is one of the ways that can capture the changing spaces around us. Whilst the contrast of daily life is captured such as what is old and new as well as the fast paced urbanity is captured by the bright visuals and color grading of ChungKing Express, I also think that the film is a good snapshot of locations of Hong Kong as a record of that time period. Looking at the photos, I recognise locations like the Mid-Levels escalator and the Graham Street and see how urban renewal has changed the functionality of the space from what it was in the original film. The almost kinetic shots of Chung King express can be compared to those of the films of the industrial 1960s which inherently shows contrast as we can see the change in scale, priorities and the life led by individuals as time passes.
I’m goning to illustarte the way directors expressed the emotion of the film in 1960s(青春玫瑰) and 2010s（don’t go breaking my heart）. From the perspective of colors in the film, it is obvious that the black and white movies did not present various colors and tones, while the modern films present various colors and alter the tones of the film by computer, making the images on the film become more ’emotional’. Thus, in terms of the colors and tones, the modern films like don’t go breaking my heart can allow audience to feel more about the emotion behind the film than the movie in 1960s.
In the film ‘Breaking news’ and ‘Slumdog millionaire’ I see that there is contrast between the density of different cities. In HK, the buildings are big and sparseness, while in the other one, houses are crowded and dense. It shows that HK is more rich and bustling than the other city. Besides, the color is different in the two movie, it also creat different atmosphere, I guess. Thank you for reading.
Hong Kong’s architecture is very stylish among Asian cities. We can often see obvious contrasts in movies and TV shows set in Hong Kong. Don’t Go Breaking My Heart. In this film we can find the contrast between Hong Kong’s dense high-rise buildings (like the city center) and the old residential areas. Hong Kong’s tall buildings stand for cosmopolitanism and prosperity, in contrast to the old city that stands for clutter.
For contrast, there is a significant difference between city and countryside. Modern buildings in cities like skyscrapers look cleaner with cool colors, which express a sense of order. However, in rural area, there are only short buildings such as slums. It looks crowded, which express a sense of disorder.
Reflecting on the idea of contrast, I would like to discuss about how the temperature of colours help differentiate the qualities of different spaces within the film shown. For example, a cooler tone was used for shots depicting building-centered urban areas, which is likely used to highlight the theme of modernity. On the other hand, a warmer tone was used for human-centered areas, such as slums.
For the contrast of density showing the film of ‘Slumdog millionaire’, it vividly reflect the density of city in 3 ways at least. Firstly, showing the direct outlay of the urbanized building outlays directly reflect the intensive and crowded characteristics for the place. Secondly, the color of the houses are somehow different compare with other linear places and more close to the land color for which reflect the density by compare with nearby color distinctions . Finally, the population density also demonstrate the density as more crowed places cause such narrow which is a instinct from audiences head.
Contrast and disappearance are covered in many topics in this lecture such as urban space, mobility, and density. I would like to mention the contrast concerning bright and white. For example, in the movie Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, huge contrast is found between the view of shiny and beautiful high-rise city space which is full of dense skyscrapers and the view of interior office which is peaceful and openly. Though I haven’t watched the movie, I can get a sense of the switch of different modes, from silence and seriousness to warmth and romance. Thus, Contrast helps a lot~
Reflecting on the idea of contrast, I would like to discuss about how the temperature of colours help differentiate the qualities of different spaces within the film shown. For example, a cooler tone was used for shots depicting building-centered urban areas, which is likely used to highlight the theme of modernity. On the other hand, a warmer tone was used for human-centered areas, such as slums and other areas that are less developed.
Contrast – the kowloon city
To show the contract of the city in the movie, in many old hong kong movies, the character is working in the bright and gorgeous buildings in Central but live in the poor area in the Kowloon Walled City. The movie scene shows this contrast through moving scenes on the main character, for example how he comes back home after work, leaving the modern cities and entering the old buildings with messy cables, polluted water and dark color.
The Taipei story is very typical in contrast. The director shows the contrast between the old and new values through the characters. The contrast of past and future also represent the changes of Taipei. The scenes of Taipei in the character’s childhood is old and also show the feel of escaping the past. This shows the traditional Taipei society.
By contrasting the images between 1964 and 2011 modern city, it presented the change of the lifestyle and working environment within a same place. For example, in the scene of living and leisure, the narrative on the 1964’s one tends to focus explicitly to the actual place and show what the working-class are doing in the hermetically sealed industrial building. Whereas the narrative in 2011’s one capture and focus more on the outline of the many skyscrapers where the audience can peep though the window glass of the business office and observe what the people is doing inside while guide by the camera in a relatively macro way. As the result, I think the contrast here not only shows how the lifestyle and environment change throughout different times, it also brings a contrast on different shooting method can contribute different feelings.
The discussion in this session got me thinking about the interactive relationship between architecture and film. The city is a dynamic organism constantly metabolizing, in which architecture is constantly disappearing and reappearing. The film, by contrast, is static, like a reconstruction of the city within two dimensions. When the city disappears, the film becomes the ghost of the city, haunting in eternal collective memory. And furthermore, the film’s two-dimensional recreation of the city may do not require a real physical basis, as in the case of the Ghost in the Shell, a thoroughly illusional and imaginative representation of Hong Kong that miraculously creates a memory and imagery of the city that does not ever exist. On this level, the city in the film is of course disappeared and shall never appear as they only live in illusions.
From the movie Happy Together that directed by Wong Kar Wai in 1990s. The movie is taken place from Argentina, Buenos Aires. The contrast from the movie is that the black and white footage and the
colour slide film that processing in color negative chemicals (C41)( make a unique saturation and tint colour)to emphasis and differentiate the mood of the characters that can readily make the audience in to a intoxicating exploration of displacement and desire that swoons with the ache and exhilaration of love at its heart-tearing extreme .
the movie SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE uses contrast to show the difference between the past and now. the movie uses Jamal Malik’s perspective to show the difference between the city in his memory and the city nowadays in Mumbai. Jamal Malik used to live in the Juhu slum of Mumbai and the architecture there in his childhood time is quite different from what it is now. the building described in the movie is crowded and covered in dust.
Urban development in Hong Kong contrasts significantly on a small scale. This global city is described as futuristic on the high rise, and cultural on the low rise. Such tenacity of Hong Kong is further reflected in ‘Chungking express’ dir. Wong Kar-Wai. The plot itself focuses on finding love, romance and emotion in a big, industrial and global city highlighting contrast. Such socialization in economization is further exaggerated through the use of camera: Doyle’s cinematography highlights natural yet dramatic camera movement while it follows the protagonist’s dance-like movements. The slow pan camera shots we receive highlight the contrast furthermore. Besides this, the neon lights also play a major role in showing contrast. Neon lights are a symbol of economisation and development, when contrasted with our protagonist’s nature we receive a great movie that is based around contrast.
I would like to talk about the contrast. We can see from the 1980s to the 2010s. The previous picture of the film was more black and white, relatively simple and dark. Also, the images are more focused on what people are doing rather than building. By the 2010s, the images of building were more saturated and taller. The color and height of the building can well reflect the progress of the modern city.
The concept of contrast was demonstrated in the movie Breaking News and Slumdog Millionaire. Both two movies present the density of the city. In Slumdog Millionaire, it has a view of the slum in India from the sky; and a look-up view of the building in HK. The view difference is due to the different structures of the architecture. The slum is almost flat to the ground while the building is vertical. Thus, movies use different perspectives to show the audience the density of the Asian city. This type of contrast also reflects the arrangement of the city. Hong Kong does not have much land, thus tall/compacted buildings are often seen. On the other hand, this type of architecture is not necessarily needed in India.
As an international city with traditional and modern, Western and Eastern elements, Hong Kong is a blend of various cultures, shaping its varied landscapes and infrastructures with contrasting architectural styles. In the movie Chungking Express, Wong Kar-Wai displayed diversity of Hong Kong and amplified the contrast of different parts of it through filming techniques. For instance, neon lights and colorful nightlife at Lan Kwai Fong and Central–Mid-Levels Escalator with vibrant and bright lightings emphasized the modern and well-developed side of Hong Kong, which contrasts with the dark and small apartments that the protagonists live in, displaying the dark, depressing and suffocating daily lives when they return home. The contrast of both scenes was effective in conveying Hong Kong’s dense population, yet stressing protagonists’ lonely and alienated inner emotions despite living in such a crowded metropolis.
For contrast, in the film Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, there is a use of this technique. In the film, we can see different scenes of the same city: bright and dark, high and low. By showing the different scenes in daytime and at night, this film shows the whole beauty of Hong Kong. Meanwhile, as the shot gets higher, we can have a different view of the city. Different from the secene seen on the background, in the film the high shot offers us a more splendid Hong Kong.
In the film Don’t go breaking my heart, there are contrast between the scene, cause by the lighting. Changing of time bring totally difference feeling. Lighting is a very important part in film to affect mood.
The idea of contrast is used in the film The Blossoming Rose. In one scene, many workers are working in the factory, and the colour of the picture is very bright. Another scene shows the night view of a street in Hong Kong, and there are many neon signs in that picture, and the colour of the picture is mainly dark. The contrast in colour shows that Hong Kong is a very prosperous city, but at the same time, many grassroots are still working hard to earn a living.
In the film Dont Go Breaking My Heart 2011, the different buildings and scenes in Hong Kong show the post-modern architectural style of Hong Kong, The cultural system of Hong Kong architecture is “Western + Eastern”, the environmental form is “sea + land”, the cultural context is “traditional + modern + British system”, the landscape level is “international + regional”, and the social surface is diverse and international
In the movie Don’t Go Breaking My Heart we can see that the heroine and the two men have stories in different scenes, and the contrast of light in the scene implies the change of the heroine’s mood, as well as the passage of time. With three years as an interval, different scene effects are used to show the changes of the three years, implying the progress of the city and the change of the mood of the characters. Contrast is used to highlight the emotions of the characters, and different colors and location styles are used to indicate the emotional experience that the film wants to convey to the audience.
In the film Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (2011), there are two scenes both showing the overview of Hong Kong. One of them is an overlook of the bright city from a high platform, where the architect can show the lady with the position of the company. Looking down at the city from their views also provides the audience with an understanding of their life and work surroundings. Another scene shows the whole city at night from a distance. The led-lit modern city can show the bustling and prosperity of Hong Kong while it can also deliver the coldness and loneliness of living in the big city. Which of these two different feelings is felt from this scene depending on the storyline.
The filming of the slums, waste and the railway crowds shows the background that the young man is from a poor family, which shows great contrast with the young man finally becoming a millionaire.
The contrast in Hong Kong movies between the 1960s and 21 century: With the development of the city and society, the focus in movies was also changing. In the past, the city looks more decaying and contained various types of building, However, skyscrapers become more common and movie techniques have also improved. The cine frame looks more colorful, bright, and energetic.
Among all of the screenshots, the one in blossom rose (青春玫瑰) impressed me the most. The bright scene on the left shows that many people are gathering and socializing in a magnificent hall. However, on the right one with the same hall, there is only a man standing in the center. There is a massive contrast between these two pictures. My suspicion is that, although the character plays a successful role in front of his colleagues and friends, he may not be spiritually-enriched, which means he does not satisfied with his personal life. Reflecting on the people around me including myself, everyone may feel the same as him. People try to show their best and optimistic appearance among the public and hide the true self.
We have discussed contrasts in the first breakout. In the 1960s movie, the scenes mainly focus on the indoor environment (of a factory and social life), while in the 2010s, we see the working(office) life of people through the perspective of the outer sight. Moreover, the two movies have distinctive characteristics in the usage of colors.
In the second breakout, we have discussed the illustration of density. It could be illustrated by using the distant view of the area, usage of the same type of color, comparison between people and the buildings, as well as the masses of people or wastes.
(not quite sure: The reading has discussed the disappearance in two senses, one is in relation to the cultural and political mood, and the second one concerns representation. The main question behind is not only about the preservation but also focuses on its meaning to the generation and city in this ever-developing era. e.g., how to keep history ‘in sight’ not only ‘in site’)
In the screen shot of the blossom rose (青春玫瑰), the scene in the middle impressed me a lot, which is a large number of people gathering and dancing in a magnificent hall. The scene is quite bright. However, in the picture on the right, there is also the hall, but only one man standing alone. Also, the hall, at that time, seems fairly dark. From the two different pictures, the man may a lot of achievements in his social life but he may be mentally empty.
In the film《Chungking Express》, I am interested in the contrast between the shaky camera when the killer shuttle through the narrow and crowded lane and the calm camera when filming the city sky.This brings out a sense of human indifference in the city.
In the movie , the woman experiences two states, which are before getting the superpower and after getting the superpower. Before getting the superpower, she was sent to Taiwan and restricted into a very small room. The room is really dirty, and the environment is dark and horrible. However, after getting the superpower, the environment changed completely, which is corresponding to the changing of power.
In the film slumdog Millionaire, it uses contrast, the shot of the slum is in sharp contrast to the rich neighborhood next to it. Rubbish piles up in the slums and houses are crammed close together, while the rich neighbourhoods next door are gilded. The contrast between slum buildings and rich district buildings also reflects the real scene of Indian social life. Such as mumbai’s extreme inequality and blatant class discrimination.
I would like to discuss about the contrast between “rich” and “poor” in the film Slumdog Millionaire. For people living in the slum, their living conditions are not guaranteed. No enough food or clothes, and lack of healthy sanitary conditions. However, there is a different picture outside the slum, people live in luxurious villa instead, and there lives are also be full of entertainment. The contrast also a representation of inequality and discrimination.
I want to talk about contrast. Compared with the black and white films of decades ago and the color films of today, it is easier to express the emotions of characters in color. In addition, different angles of view also reflect different feelings. For example, when the camera position is high, the figure will appear small, and the height of the building will be more prominent. When the camera is low, the main character is more obvious.
From the movie 青春玫瑰, there are two scenes, namely women working hardly inside a factory while another one is a party scene with many wealthy men. The purpose is perhaps to show the unfairness of social status of women and men, as well as the enormous gap between the rich and the poor’s life.
Film: Chungking Express
There are two main stories. The contrast comes from the night scenarios full of neon lights and reflections by discs in a bar in the first story and the day scenarios mainly by natural lights in a private house. They are two fascinating and annoying features of architecture in Hong Kong. After one year of waiting for A Fei to come back, the fast-food store has been taken by the officer. The disappearance, however, didn’t take away memories. It’s the past experience and songs that made the past alive, along with emotions and love.
There was a set of photographs comparing the changes in the language of shots and architecture in Hong Kong films between the 1960s and the 21st century. Firstly because of the improvements in technology, the contrast shows a change in the language of architecture. Buildings in the 21st century have more glass and neon lights. Another significant change is the color and accuracy of the picture. Hong Kong films after the 21st century are much more colorful, and the contrast and color palette reflect the director’s thoughts. The film’s images are also shown more clearly.
in the film father and son (1981), it shows contrast between the old village and the currently new estate. It’s interesting because it shows the contrast of the new and old through the stories of the people who moved from the village, to the new estate. Shows how urbanisation affects the people’s lives, and through that, also show the contrast between their old and new lives in the new buildings.
Contrast in Hong Kong is actually quite obvious. The density of buildings now is much denser that those in 1950s-60s. Since Hong Kong is in a great growing speed, turning from a factory zone to a financial area. Also, the population is also largely increased. The buildings are thus much higher for more citizens to live. Therefore, there is a huge difference in form of architecture.
I would like to choose disappearance as the key term. During the lecture, there was a movie about bikes in Beijing that impressed me. Apparently, there were a large number of bikes crowded in the city several decades ago. However, those bikes have been significantly replaced by cars and buses these days and disappeared. In my view, that movie is like a memory of a certain generation; it recorded that specific era. Besides, the disappearance of bikes on the streets also indicates the rapidly developing city that continuously changes.
While the story of the work may align with my own analysis, in the 1960s and 2010s the contrast in my perspective is used as a way of showing the financial and commercial difference throughout the time to see how time changed the cityscape but also the technological development. However part of me sees as the director used to contrast the way foreigner sees Hong Kong from the outside and what life is actually like in reality in Hong Kong in the more literal sense.
Meant to reference both the 1960s and 2010s and also the modern city bright and white
In the screen shot of the blossom rose (青春玫瑰), there is a scene that many well-dressed elites dancing and partying in a large and glorious hall, with bright lights on. However, in the other picture, there is just one man standing alone in the same big hall. This implies a strong contrast between lonely and accompanied. Also, from those dedicated suits we can know that the main character owns great social success. Hence this two pictures also implies a strong contrast between the success in social life and the loneliness (somehow failure) in family life.
In Forsaken Love, there is a strong contrast between the workplace (factory) and the mansion, and this contrast illustrates the class distinction between the working class and the rich. For example, in the factory, much uniformity is observed with regard to the workers’ duty and position, all of them sitting in the same position and working at the same thing. However, in the mansion, people (most of them rich) are positioned in widely different ways. Also, they are seen to be doing various things, which shows that they are much more at leisure to do whatever they want to do. This contrasts demonstrates how people belonging to different classes occupy different spaces in one city.
Through the images extract from films in 1960s and 2010s, contrast is shown in architecture and people’s lifestyles. In 1960s films, it capture industrial buildings mainly built in concrete while in 2010s film, it captures high-rise buildings that its facade is mainly glass and steel. It creates a great contrast showing the technological improvement. It also shows change of labour from secondary to tertiary industry in Hong Kong.
In the 1995 anime film Ghost in the Shell a futuristic modern city combines the architectures of Bangkok, Hong Kong and Tokyo. The character “Major” explores the different levels of this futuristic city. Her base of operations is located in the advanced urbanized sector of the city similar to Tokyo. While “Major” mostly does her investigative work and engages in combat within the less pristine and less advanced Hong Kong or Bangkok settings. This contrasts represents how the safety of “Major’s” advanced base, is undermined by the danger and non conformity of the streets portrayed by the other 2 cities.
As mentioned in the lecture, ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’ (2011) shows contrast in filming.
First, is about density. There are scenes with city view which is very packed while there is a scene only two people standing from the high and looking at the city view.
Second, is about the colour tone. There are scenes showing a daytime modern city that is bright while the film also shows the night-time city which is dark but glamourous. This contrast shows the beauty of Hong Kong in different ways and perspectives.
Finally, is about the shooting angels. The bird-eye angle have contrast with the horizontal, flat and eye-level angle.
In the movie Breaking News, contrast is presented through different uses of perspectives. The scene is framed from eye level, looking upwards at the massive building; the first way of presenting contrast is done by comparing what is near the ground and what is not. Moreover, by carefully planning the imagery, the building extends beyond the frame as well as takes up almost the entire width; the sheer scale contrasts with the size of the human in the middle of the screen, taking up much less screen space.
Beijing Bicycle used different transportation means to show the different social status for the characters. From the left photo, I found that some people had already owned private vehicles as main transportation. In contrast, the photo at right side showed there were still lots of people moved using their bicycles. Beijing at that time was a very busy city. However, some people used bicycle as a mean to make a living but some people just took the bicycle as entertainment (shown in the first picture at the right column). All of these design may show the inequality in Beijing.
There is a contrast in HongKong between Victoria Harbour and Kowloon walled city.
We can see the density of buildings through the camera above the Kowloon walled city which shows us the poor life quality of people living in it. In contrast, when it comes to Victoria Harbour, there is a concrete jungle with hundreds of billboards on the top. You can feel the hustle and bustle of a national city which is completely different from Kowloon walled city. I think we can feel the contrast through different camera angles and different color styles while filming.
Contrast
The example I will like to use is The Blossoming Rose. I think it shows clearly how the built environment helps present information from the films. For instance, the interior spaces of the one in a party and the factory, have a similar mass of people, however, the design of the interior, as well as the density of columns, show about the plot that characters are in different classes.
Besides the movie also shows the contrast of levels of loneliness. While a dame built environment, the one in neon light shows dark and lonely and others show the vibrancy of Hong Kong. This shows that a built environment can show mental feelings contrast.
In Forsaken Love, contrasts are seen evidently in differently scenes. In exterior spaces, scenes were focused on the modernized buildings and transportations, which conveys ideas of industrialization. In the interior, however, subjects were more concentrated on human’s activities, with more individualistic components and decorations in the rooms. The cooler atmosphere in the exterior contrasts with the more humanistic, relaxed environment in the characters’ houses. From another angle, the scene of party also contrasts with the scene in the factory, with the former one portraying more diverse individuals and the later one showing uniformity of the mass labour. This contrast in montage shows the dynamicity of the activities taken place in an industrialized city that is prospering rapidly.
I am interested in the contrasts in the Asian city in the film. And the contrasts were different among different periods. For example, 香车美人 shows a time when HongKong was still developing and there were not so much tall buildings and the contrasts were not so huge among the house of the poor and the rich. Then 青春玫瑰 shows the time when HongKong has developed for a time and still developing quickly. The tall buildings were quite obvious from the other buildings and the contrasts were huge especilally at night since there were many places without lights and some places had many lights. Then the recent 单身男女 shows that Hong Kong has developed a lot and almost to an end and the contrasts are not so huge since most on the buildings in Hong Kong are high and modern and at night the whole city is full of lights.
The exterior design of the building is very old in black-and-white film, however, the design of building in modern film is new like skyscrapers. It shows that the living condition of people in different eras and the architectural development of society.
Contrast is really the crux of many modern movies depicting urban life. Tradition and progress, the day and the night scenery, the density of crowded streets and isolation of the hearts. In Slumdog Millionaire, India’s modernization but backwardness was clearly depicted. Though the country embraces western culture, shows, and technology; kidnapping, cruel customs, religious fanaticism, and wooden toilets were just as present.
Disappearance of the modern city is in some ways similar to a phenomenon called Flanderization, in which the character Flander’s personality was exaggerated so much that he doesn’t feel like a real character anymore. Hollywood often has a fetish for oriental mysticism and depicts Asian cities with a focus on cyberpunk stereotypes, as seen in Transformers: Age of Extinction, which makes them terrible indicators of actual modern life in these cities.
In Father and Son (1981), it shows the contrast of public housing demand of HK before and then with the reference of Shek Kip Mei Estate. Since the estate is the first batch of public housing, as known as Mark I, its performance in mass housing perfectly manifested the the high demand of public housing, but now public housing is rather in smaller scale, that shows public housing’s demand has been dropping by then despite the fact that its demand is rather still high.
Fallen Angels is an amazing film that show strong contrast of the filming angles and also the color tones and brightness. There is one scene that the killer’s agent played by Michelle lying on the disco machine which sharp bright warm golden color shedding on her pale hopeless skin, which reflects her strong affection and possesion towards the killer she is serving for and how much she wants for his love back, but in reality the relationship is just her own imagination.
In the movie Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,we can see a contrast in the luminance of photos and the colour temperature. The director tend to reflect the change of time by comparing daytime and night time, revealing different appearances of the city. As for the colour temperature, the director chose a warm tone to show the theme of human and a cold tone to show the coldness of metropolis.
In the movie of Blossoming Rose and Don’t Go Breaking Heart, there are many obvious contrasts, such as the quality of the buildings, colors and so on. These changes show the development of the city, but also witness the vanishment or the disappearance. The development of architecture needs reconstruction, so that the memory and culture reserved by the old buildings may disappear. Although there are some symbolic things remaining, the history we can touch disappeared.
Shanghai is a famous city in many cinematic shots and is where lots of stories happened. Through the years, Shanghai’s image has changed dramatically. The contrast of old and new Shanghai has shown the development of this metropolis in many film creations. The old Shanghai had a industrial image with the small shops, plain roads, trucks and industries in the backgrounds, while the modern Shanghai is usually more beautifully lit. More fashionable elements (recreational places, malls, business, and huge glass skyscrapers) are presented to show the vibe of this fast-developing city.
I would like to discuss the disappearance. In the film Father and Son, indeed it shows the contrast of the past and now, I think it also shows the disappearance. As we can see, the old and small village was replaced by the city, with high buildings and modified road, it is actually a city built on the disappearance of the village. Village might only be one of the signifiers of the history but could be a powerful one, so my understanding is that even though the style of life and the appearance of city changes, something traditional or worth to memorize is forgotten along with the replacement and disappearance of the village.
In the example of making a contrast between urban life in the 1960s and 2010s, there is a clear difference between the camera shots. In the 1960s it was more focused on people’s life routine and the industries, whereas in the 2010s, the camera shots are more focused on the city itself, the view and skyscrapers. Also when showcasing the interior of the building in the 1960s, the scene is some people in a suit discussing something. I guess the purpose of this contrast is to prove how we advanced from the past.
I would like to reflect on the idea of contrast. What impressed me was the scenes of the movie The Blossoming Rose. The modernized appearance of the city, the working people by the machines on the day, and the lonely person in his home at night form a stark contrast in many dimensions, which plays a role in enhancing the visual impact and is provocative.
For contrasts, modern buildings or buildings in prosperous areas are cleaner and have more white space in the picture. Cool colors are usually used to express a sense of modernity and order. In backward areas, such slums, the pictures are crowded, and warm colors are usually used to show a sense of desolation and disorder.
In contrast, following the example from the film “Don’t go breaking my heart” in 2011 which represents the contrast between day and night in Hong Kong, the warm orange morning glow contrasts with the bright and vibrant neon-lit night streets of Hong Kong reflecting the notion of how Hong Kong is the city that never sleeps. The various bright colors of night showcase the exhilarating nature of hong kong contrasts with the warm colors of the morning which presents a more relaxing and comforting feeling.
Don’t go breaking my Heart (2011) uses mise-en-scene to contrasts the scenes of the film. As the colour of the scene changes when the relationship is changing between the two lovers. When the relationship is going well the colour of the scene is often warmer, while during conflicts, the scene is often represented as colder, which shows the contrast with the mise-en-scene. Cinematography can be seen as an element, the cinematographer uses different camera techniques to portray the emotional status of characters. Such as zooming in to show the facial expressions, or zooming out to leave the character emotions mysterious
In the film Dont Go Breaking My Heart 2011, the different buildings and scenes in Hong Kong show the post-modern architectural style of Hong Kong, The cultural system of Hong Kong architecture is “Western + Eastern”, the environmental form is “sea + land”, the cultural context is “traditional + modern + British system”, the landscape level is “international + regional”, and the social surface is diverse and international
By using contrast in showing the differences between a city and a countryside, audiences could be able to see clearly what are the characteristic of their build environment. For example, a city would have skyscrapers while a rural area would have short buildings.
The density of the buildings can reflect the contrast between urban and rural areas. The neat and staggered tall buildings will give a feeling of high urbanization when photographed from high up. While short and disorganized and crowded clusters of buildings represent places where the poor live, such as the scenes from Slumdog Millionaire. In addition, the overall color of the building can also distinguish the poor from the rich.Yellowish colors or browns can have a feeling of pollution and backwardness, while in contrast, cool colors can have a sense of cleanliness and advancement.
I think different contrasts can change the mood of a scene. The movie The Blossoming Rose uses quite high contrasts in the working space to make the scene tenser to show that their work is quite stressful and they are all quite busy. Besides, the scene of the modern city at night contrasts the neon and lightning with the really dark sky, which highlights the working of the modern city.
The screenshots of Breaking News and Slumdog Millionaire can reflect the high-density building planning in the city, but in contrast, the color of buildings in Breaking News is colder, and there is a more quiet and elegant atmosphere as a whole, showing the superb economic and technological level of a big city, while the color of Slumdog Millionaire is warmer and the objects are denser, suggesting a lively and messy life, and the struggle of the poor.
There are stark contrast shown in movie Dabbawalas about people delivering meals from different places. The rural and urban landscape looks really different. The urban setting (streets) looks much advanced than unhygienic, dense rural district, slums and train. This can allow the movie to reflect social issues and alert the public or the globe of the poverty problem in underdeveloped countries. So, movies do pick up roles to speak the truth and raise awareness of audiences on certain issue.
Contrast in the film stands out by the timeline. Contrast is coming from difference. To find the difference, things have to change, and this change needs time. Therefore, contrast through the built environment and spaces of the Asian City in the film should be happening as the time past. In our lecture we discussed about the contrast between a black and white film and a colored film and how they are differently filmed. First, looking at the black and white film and the colored film, they contrast the technology devices that were available during that timeline. In order to this limited technology, most of the black and white films were taken inside the buildings to clearly deliver the site. However, in colored ones, they are taken by drowns that they entirely shows the buildings and the city in one shot, and this is possible since colors can deliver more information that zooming in wasn’t really to show the site. Plus, the buildings shown in the films were contrasting by how modernized they were.
The contrast between Mr cinema and the private eye make in depth on the view of the close shots of the streets and the housing rooftop in Hong Kong in the 70s. One focus on the moving traffic and people on the street to make a feeling of moving, busy city. On the other hand, mr cinema focus on the details on housing which show the living environment and might represent the social status of the characters.
For don’t go breaking my heart, it focus on the alley on the side of the streets. The signs and maybe the side of the building, also illustrate the lifestyle in 2000 hong kong
I would like to choose the theme contrast. The pictures we discussed in the first breakout room show a great contrast between the appearance of Hong Kong decades ago and nowadays. The previous one is all black and white, which gives limited information about the appearance of Hong Kong, while the recent one is colorful, which not only gives us a better experience to fully enjoy the movie ,but also helps to set off the atmosphere of the scene and express the emotion that the director is trying to show to the audience.
The two set of photographs displaying shots of Hong Kong buildings from 1960s and the modern 21st century, not only highlights the technological and economical advancements, but also changes in architectural style and movement. In the 1960s, Hong Kong comprised of various buildings inspired from colonial, Edwardian architecture, but later on the influence of modernism has led to the emergence of high rise glass skyscrapers. Therefore, this contrast and design paradigm shift between the architectural styles also led to difference in aesthetics in the Hong Kong city life and way of life.
I’d like to talk about contrast. Films could use this method to show the difference in background information and told the audiences that these changes may effect character’s life. In the movie father and son, the director use the contrast between architectures, from villages to estates. It shows the changes in background, possibly urbanization, and drop a hint to the audiences that the background may have effects to the characters’ life.
I want to briefly show some ideas about disappearance of culture and lifestyle when the architectures change in one place. For example, the film Myriads of lights Directed by Shen Fu, as mentioned in this lecture, successfully shows the audience what was the life of common people like Shanghai in the 1940s. As the name of this film, it exhibits various lives which is totally different from today’s under the architecture style in that particular time. Thus, I consider film is an essential method to record and memorize the disappearing culture and architectures.
CONTRAST
In movies, directors often use top view/long shot to highlight the contrast between large buildings and characters in the film. Through this way of shooting, the small people and the huge buildings in the film can create a strong contrast to highlight the emotions of the characters. For example, in the scene of the crowded railway, by shooting the backs of the crowded characters in the play and the huge urban transportation system, the insignificance of the characters in the play and the powerlessness of the characters in this huge social system can be reflected.
Contrast between the perception of different city
The movie Slumsdog Millionaire (2008) have muddy colour slum short that contrast with the clean well planned concrete forest of Hong Kong in the movie Breaking News (2004), show the contrast of the asian city in Mumbai and Hong Kong, that Hong Kong is perceived as a cold morden concrete forest with very compacted and well planned concrete buildings and Mumbai is a place that full of pollution and poor organic slums. This show the perception of people towards different city.
I remember there was a discussion in class about a group of photos about the changes in Hong Kong films and architecture in the 1960s and 21st century. The contrasting aspects of the two films reflect modern City’s transformation. In addition to changes in the building itself, such as Windows. Another change is the overall color tone. Modern Hong Kong movies are more colorful which reflect the busy life of the Hong Kong city, and the shadow reflected on the window also describe the development of city towards a more flourishing zone.
From the film describing the railway crowd, the left button picture shows the dense popularity in that city. Only form a small portion of the picture, depicts the people on the railway but the majority of the picture is something else, this makes the feeling that it is crowded. In addition, the film is taken from a certain angle which gives an illusion that there are infinite people on the railway.
Film depictions of slums are often crowded, chaotic and noisy. People live in high-density areas where many people share a small room and bright lights rarely appear. The slums live in low shacks, the cities are brightly lit skyscrapers. By contrast, the city is spacious and bright, and the difference in comfort can be felt just by looking at it. As well as the fast pace of slum life, in contrast to the slower pace of the city.
Film: Chung King Express/Falling Angel
In the screenshots of Wong Kar-Wai’s film, the scenes are mostly concentrated on the underneath of the city, which is a great contrast compared to those mainly focused on showing the cityscape in other films. It is believed to show the stories of normal citizens in the reality that might be covered by the luxuriant appearance of the city.
The film Ghost In the Shell (1995) featuring on the theme of global asian city Hong Kong in the future is an example which employs the idea of contrast between the futuristic, shining modern buildings and messy, old buildings areas or narrow valleys. Such contrast also exists in the color and lightening of different spacial environments as futuristic sites are with colder lightening and old roads with warm colors in the film. Hence to imply an inherent paradox within the city’s development, – between the high-rise technological advancement and remaining past cultures and lifestyles.
I want to share a type of contrast in one movie about Shanghai. In the ” Myriad of lights”, we can find that there are a lot of scenes about the modern industrialized city such as the modern apartment building, some factories and busy streets with ground-level shops. This is a big difference between the Asian economic centre — Shanghai today and the industrialized one, therefore, the gap is a kind of development in the city both in the economy and standard equipment.
In the slides showing the density of buildings, the idea of contrast is shown. In one of the film photos showing the crowded train station, the train and the surrounding infrastructure is filmed in warm colours giving a sense of vibrancy and movement. While in contrast the crowd of people are wearing mostly in cold colours which in my opinion reflects the working class’ frustrations in life.
Contrast: in the 1960s black and white movies, the space (chairs, tables, and people) occupy almost all on the scene. for nowadays movie, more spaces are provided and individuals only occupy small proportion. which gives the viewers a felling that the density of the scene decreased with no elements being eliminated. the technique improved while the density of the movie as well as the background city remain similar.
Based on the comparison between the two Asian cities – Mumbai and Hong Kong, the height of buildiing in cities can be expressed through angles. Also, although I forgot the name of the movies, I remembered the two scences- party and working. In these scence, I can observe the ambivalence of cities based on whether they sat and stood in a oranized way. In my opinon, contrast refers to ambivalence.
I think contrast made a great impression on me. As mentioned in the discussion, buildings in movies always showed a clear contrast between density. Narrow, crowded alleyways and warmer colors give the impression of crowding. Take a picture of the slums of Burma as an instance; different shooting angles can make the same scene have different densities. When the camera is overhead, the picture includes more buildings and moving people, creating a sense of being crowded and busy. However, if the camera is horizontal, the density of the exact location will be lower than the camera is on an aerial perspective.
I choose to comment on the ‘contrast’ mentioned during the lecture. For example, there is a shot for high-rise building in To Kwa Wan in Transformer that has used the CGI technique. While the size of Transformer is compared to that of building, the former is smaller. This shot has given a contrast of size in the movie and an impresson of the intense development or urbanization in Hong Kong building indirectly.
As the examples in the density, the different shooting angles will represent the different density styles. For instance, in the movie Breaking News, which shows the height and density in Hong Kong-style buildings, the director uses the low angle view and horizontal to make it more obvious. Meanwhile, Slumdog Millionaire (not sure the name) uses vertical shots to represent the how density between the houses and how many houses are in the slum, which makes the image more vivid.
Some films were showing the contrast moment when a few modern high rise buildings started to appear among traditional low rise houses. The contrast of new and old, high and low draw people’s attention. Last but not least, using light and shadow is also a way to present a contrast of two different condition. An example was shown in Manhattan, dir. Woody Allen (1979). The B&W film was showing the urban life, and a moment was showing dressed well people walked in the sun and passed by black rubbish bags aside the road. In other case, the contrast is presented when looking at films of different times, for example, there are architectures built in the 1960s and 2010 have different appearance. The change of main stream building materials creates varies visual effects, i.e. concrete and glass, which shows a contrast of blocked sight and transparent view, also the feeling of light and heavy.
I want to choose the example of BEIJING BICYCLE. I remembered that I saw lots of people were commuting by bicycles and the bicycles were as many as the cars. It creates a specific environment at the end of 20th century in the urban city. It is said that throughout these scenes, we could see the cultural, economic, and social history behind it. Even though I’m not familiar with the Chinese history at that time, I could clearly know that what kind of lives people in Beijing were having at that time. I believe, these moving objects and the ordinary spaces are the “disappearance” of Beijing at that time.
In the slumdog millionaire（2008）, both the population and the density of buildings have changed, and the density of buildings has become larger. The previous architectural style was mostly bungalows, but later it was replaced with high-rise buildings. The materials of bungalows were mostly iron sheets, while the building materials of high-rise buildings were mostly concrete.
In the movie Mr. Cinema, there is a scene shooting an airplane flying under the blue sky in between and right above the dilapidated buildings. It creates a strong contrast between the “old, poor Hong Kong with crowded neighbourhood” and the “new, international Hong Kong with nice and expensive airplanes”.
In the movie of ” Don’t go breaking my heart”, the film shows the contrasts of those modern Asian city. Those skyscrapers in a crowded city are usually bright and white to reflect the modernity of the Asian city. Meanwhile, the film shoots the Victoria Harbour at night as well, showing the modern led-lighting scattered by high-rise buildings. This ‘contrasts’ characterizes the development of the urban area and the growing population leads to forming a dense city.
Buildings are printed in the same kind of color in 1960s, so do people, they wear in the same kind of color, because of the backward technology, only black and white, this way can create a kind of contrast and rich the picture. However, buildings and customers are more colorful in 2010s and different tones can creat different atmospheric.
For the movie about bicycles, a contrast has been made by the new type of bicycles with the young and old type of bicycles with the old, it reflects different lifestyles between the young and the old in this particular city. We can find that bicycles for the old are just used as a kind of vehicle, but it is a form of entertainment for the young age group.
Additionally, the heavy traffic and the light and flexible bicycles construct a contrasts. But both of them reflect how crowded the city is.
The examples of screen shots in Forsaken Love and Don’t go breaking my heart show the contrast the differences of two times, 1960s and 2010s. The most obvious part is that the scenes in 2010s are brighter than that in 1960 due to different level of development of technology on filming. Also, the darker one in 1960s represent the history, and the past, while those brighter shots in 2010s represent a brighter future we towards as more well infrastructure and buildings and we will pursue a better life.
In the film Slumdog . The film magnifies the gap between rich and poor by contrasting urban and residential buildings and slums.And the film prodominantes not only the environmental problems brought about by population growth, but the visual impact of the slum-born hero’s transformation into a millionaire is also exaggerated.
I would like to use Chungking Express as an example to elaborate a bit on the concept of “disappearance.” Wong Kar-Wai adopts highly saturated filters and characteristic operation on the shots of characters’ motion to create the sense of illusion and a “flowing city.” In these sequences, the characters appear to be visually inconsistent with their flitter surroundings.
The visually dramatized encounter between persons and the city presents the subjects‘ perplexity and isolation from the exterior when they attempt to locate themselves in the city, and thus the difficulty in their self-existence in the city, which I considered as an externalization of the disappearance of Hong Kong’s history and identity.
I would like to use Chungking Express as an example to elaborate a bit on the concept of “disappearance.” Wong Kar-Wai adopts highly saturated filters and characteristic operation on the shots of characters’ motion to create the sense of illusion and a “flowing city.” In these sequences, the characters appear to be visually inconsistent with their flitter surroundings.
The visually dramatized encounter between persons and the city presents the subjects‘ perplexity and isolation from the exterior when they attempt to locate themselves in the city, and thus the difficulty in their self-existence in the city, which I considered as an embodiment of the disappearance of Hong Kong’s history and identity.
I think the concept of Disappearance is very interesting, and film is one of the ways that can capture the changing spaces around us. Whilst the contrast of daily life is captured such as what is old and new as well as the fast paced urbanity is captured by the bright visuals and color grading of ChungKing Express, I also think that the film is a good snapshot of locations of Hong Kong as a record of that time period. Looking at the photos, I recognise locations like the Mid-Levels escalator and the Graham Street and see how urban renewal has changed the functionality of the space from what it was in the original film. The almost kinetic shots of Chung King express can be compared to those of the films of the industrial 1960s which inherently shows contrast as we can see the change in scale, priorities and the life led by individuals as time passes.
I’m goning to illustarte the way directors expressed the emotion of the film in 1960s(青春玫瑰) and 2010s（don’t go breaking my heart）. From the perspective of colors in the film, it is obvious that the black and white movies did not present various colors and tones, while the modern films present various colors and alter the tones of the film by computer, making the images on the film become more ’emotional’. Thus, in terms of the colors and tones, the modern films like don’t go breaking my heart can allow audience to feel more about the emotion behind the film than the movie in 1960s.
In the film ‘Breaking news’ and ‘Slumdog millionaire’ I see that there is contrast between the density of different cities. In HK, the buildings are big and sparseness, while in the other one, houses are crowded and dense. It shows that HK is more rich and bustling than the other city. Besides, the color is different in the two movie, it also creat different atmosphere, I guess. Thank you for reading.
Hong Kong’s architecture is very stylish among Asian cities. We can often see obvious contrasts in movies and TV shows set in Hong Kong. Don’t Go Breaking My Heart. In this film we can find the contrast between Hong Kong’s dense high-rise buildings (like the city center) and the old residential areas. Hong Kong’s tall buildings stand for cosmopolitanism and prosperity, in contrast to the old city that stands for clutter.
For contrast, there is a significant difference between city and countryside. Modern buildings in cities like skyscrapers look cleaner with cool colors, which express a sense of order. However, in rural area, there are only short buildings such as slums. It looks crowded, which express a sense of disorder.
Reflecting on the idea of contrast, I would like to discuss about how the temperature of colours help differentiate the qualities of different spaces within the film shown. For example, a cooler tone was used for shots depicting building-centered urban areas, which is likely used to highlight the theme of modernity. On the other hand, a warmer tone was used for human-centered areas, such as slums.
For the contrast of density showing the film of ‘Slumdog millionaire’, it vividly reflect the density of city in 3 ways at least. Firstly, showing the direct outlay of the urbanized building outlays directly reflect the intensive and crowded characteristics for the place. Secondly, the color of the houses are somehow different compare with other linear places and more close to the land color for which reflect the density by compare with nearby color distinctions . Finally, the population density also demonstrate the density as more crowed places cause such narrow which is a instinct from audiences head.
Contrast and disappearance are covered in many topics in this lecture such as urban space, mobility, and density. I would like to mention the contrast concerning bright and white. For example, in the movie Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, huge contrast is found between the view of shiny and beautiful high-rise city space which is full of dense skyscrapers and the view of interior office which is peaceful and openly. Though I haven’t watched the movie, I can get a sense of the switch of different modes, from silence and seriousness to warmth and romance. Thus, Contrast helps a lot~
Reflecting on the idea of contrast, I would like to discuss about how the temperature of colours help differentiate the qualities of different spaces within the film shown. For example, a cooler tone was used for shots depicting building-centered urban areas, which is likely used to highlight the theme of modernity. On the other hand, a warmer tone was used for human-centered areas, such as slums and other areas that are less developed.
Contrast – the kowloon city
To show the contract of the city in the movie, in many old hong kong movies, the character is working in the bright and gorgeous buildings in Central but live in the poor area in the Kowloon Walled City. The movie scene shows this contrast through moving scenes on the main character, for example how he comes back home after work, leaving the modern cities and entering the old buildings with messy cables, polluted water and dark color.
The Taipei story is very typical in contrast. The director shows the contrast between the old and new values through the characters. The contrast of past and future also represent the changes of Taipei. The scenes of Taipei in the character’s childhood is old and also show the feel of escaping the past. This shows the traditional Taipei society.
By contrasting the images between 1964 and 2011 modern city, it presented the change of the lifestyle and working environment within a same place. For example, in the scene of living and leisure, the narrative on the 1964’s one tends to focus explicitly to the actual place and show what the working-class are doing in the hermetically sealed industrial building. Whereas the narrative in 2011’s one capture and focus more on the outline of the many skyscrapers where the audience can peep though the window glass of the business office and observe what the people is doing inside while guide by the camera in a relatively macro way. As the result, I think the contrast here not only shows how the lifestyle and environment change throughout different times, it also brings a contrast on different shooting method can contribute different feelings.
The discussion in this session got me thinking about the interactive relationship between architecture and film. The city is a dynamic organism constantly metabolizing, in which architecture is constantly disappearing and reappearing. The film, by contrast, is static, like a reconstruction of the city within two dimensions. When the city disappears, the film becomes the ghost of the city, haunting in eternal collective memory. And furthermore, the film’s two-dimensional recreation of the city may do not require a real physical basis, as in the case of the Ghost in the Shell, a thoroughly illusional and imaginative representation of Hong Kong that miraculously creates a memory and imagery of the city that does not ever exist. On this level, the city in the film is of course disappeared and shall never appear as they only live in illusions.
From the movie Happy Together that directed by Wong Kar Wai in 1990s. The movie is taken place from Argentina, Buenos Aires. The contrast from the movie is that the black and white footage and the
colour slide film that processing in color negative chemicals (C41)( make a unique saturation and tint colour)to emphasis and differentiate the mood of the characters that can readily make the audience in to a intoxicating exploration of displacement and desire that swoons with the ache and exhilaration of love at its heart-tearing extreme .
the movie SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE uses contrast to show the difference between the past and now. the movie uses Jamal Malik’s perspective to show the difference between the city in his memory and the city nowadays in Mumbai. Jamal Malik used to live in the Juhu slum of Mumbai and the architecture there in his childhood time is quite different from what it is now. the building described in the movie is crowded and covered in dust.
Urban development in Hong Kong contrasts significantly on a small scale. This global city is described as futuristic on the high rise, and cultural on the low rise. Such tenacity of Hong Kong is further reflected in ‘Chungking express’ dir. Wong Kar-Wai. The plot itself focuses on finding love, romance and emotion in a big, industrial and global city highlighting contrast. Such socialization in economization is further exaggerated through the use of camera: Doyle’s cinematography highlights natural yet dramatic camera movement while it follows the protagonist’s dance-like movements. The slow pan camera shots we receive highlight the contrast furthermore. Besides this, the neon lights also play a major role in showing contrast. Neon lights are a symbol of economisation and development, when contrasted with our protagonist’s nature we receive a great movie that is based around contrast.
I would like to talk about the contrast. We can see from the 1980s to the 2010s. The previous picture of the film was more black and white, relatively simple and dark. Also, the images are more focused on what people are doing rather than building. By the 2010s, the images of building were more saturated and taller. The color and height of the building can well reflect the progress of the modern city.
The concept of contrast was demonstrated in the movie Breaking News and Slumdog Millionaire. Both two movies present the density of the city. In Slumdog Millionaire, it has a view of the slum in India from the sky; and a look-up view of the building in HK. The view difference is due to the different structures of the architecture. The slum is almost flat to the ground while the building is vertical. Thus, movies use different perspectives to show the audience the density of the Asian city. This type of contrast also reflects the arrangement of the city. Hong Kong does not have much land, thus tall/compacted buildings are often seen. On the other hand, this type of architecture is not necessarily needed in India.
As an international city with traditional and modern, Western and Eastern elements, Hong Kong is a blend of various cultures, shaping its varied landscapes and infrastructures with contrasting architectural styles. In the movie Chungking Express, Wong Kar-Wai displayed diversity of Hong Kong and amplified the contrast of different parts of it through filming techniques. For instance, neon lights and colorful nightlife at Lan Kwai Fong and Central–Mid-Levels Escalator with vibrant and bright lightings emphasized the modern and well-developed side of Hong Kong, which contrasts with the dark and small apartments that the protagonists live in, displaying the dark, depressing and suffocating daily lives when they return home. The contrast of both scenes was effective in conveying Hong Kong’s dense population, yet stressing protagonists’ lonely and alienated inner emotions despite living in such a crowded metropolis.
For contrast, in the film Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, there is a use of this technique. In the film, we can see different scenes of the same city: bright and dark, high and low. By showing the different scenes in daytime and at night, this film shows the whole beauty of Hong Kong. Meanwhile, as the shot gets higher, we can have a different view of the city. Different from the secene seen on the background, in the film the high shot offers us a more splendid Hong Kong.
In the film Don’t go breaking my heart, there are contrast between the scene, cause by the lighting. Changing of time bring totally difference feeling. Lighting is a very important part in film to affect mood.
The idea of contrast is used in the film The Blossoming Rose. In one scene, many workers are working in the factory, and the colour of the picture is very bright. Another scene shows the night view of a street in Hong Kong, and there are many neon signs in that picture, and the colour of the picture is mainly dark. The contrast in colour shows that Hong Kong is a very prosperous city, but at the same time, many grassroots are still working hard to earn a living.
In the film Dont Go Breaking My Heart 2011, the different buildings and scenes in Hong Kong show the post-modern architectural style of Hong Kong, The cultural system of Hong Kong architecture is “Western + Eastern”, the environmental form is “sea + land”, the cultural context is “traditional + modern + British system”, the landscape level is “international + regional”, and the social surface is diverse and international
In the movie Don’t Go Breaking My Heart we can see that the heroine and the two men have stories in different scenes, and the contrast of light in the scene implies the change of the heroine’s mood, as well as the passage of time. With three years as an interval, different scene effects are used to show the changes of the three years, implying the progress of the city and the change of the mood of the characters. Contrast is used to highlight the emotions of the characters, and different colors and location styles are used to indicate the emotional experience that the film wants to convey to the audience.
In the film Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (2011), there are two scenes both showing the overview of Hong Kong. One of them is an overlook of the bright city from a high platform, where the architect can show the lady with the position of the company. Looking down at the city from their views also provides the audience with an understanding of their life and work surroundings. Another scene shows the whole city at night from a distance. The led-lit modern city can show the bustling and prosperity of Hong Kong while it can also deliver the coldness and loneliness of living in the big city. Which of these two different feelings is felt from this scene depending on the storyline.
The filming of the slums, waste and the railway crowds shows the background that the young man is from a poor family, which shows great contrast with the young man finally becoming a millionaire.
The contrast in Hong Kong movies between the 1960s and 21 century: With the development of the city and society, the focus in movies was also changing. In the past, the city looks more decaying and contained various types of building, However, skyscrapers become more common and movie techniques have also improved. The cine frame looks more colorful, bright, and energetic.
Among all of the screenshots, the one in blossom rose (青春玫瑰) impressed me the most. The bright scene on the left shows that many people are gathering and socializing in a magnificent hall. However, on the right one with the same hall, there is only a man standing in the center. There is a massive contrast between these two pictures. My suspicion is that, although the character plays a successful role in front of his colleagues and friends, he may not be spiritually-enriched, which means he does not satisfied with his personal life. Reflecting on the people around me including myself, everyone may feel the same as him. People try to show their best and optimistic appearance among the public and hide the true self.
We have discussed contrasts in the first breakout. In the 1960s movie, the scenes mainly focus on the indoor environment (of a factory and social life), while in the 2010s, we see the working(office) life of people through the perspective of the outer sight. Moreover, the two movies have distinctive characteristics in the usage of colors.
In the second breakout, we have discussed the illustration of density. It could be illustrated by using the distant view of the area, usage of the same type of color, comparison between people and the buildings, as well as the masses of people or wastes.
(not quite sure: The reading has discussed the disappearance in two senses, one is in relation to the cultural and political mood, and the second one concerns representation. The main question behind is not only about the preservation but also focuses on its meaning to the generation and city in this ever-developing era. e.g., how to keep history ‘in sight’ not only ‘in site’)
In the screen shot of the blossom rose (青春玫瑰), the scene in the middle impressed me a lot, which is a large number of people gathering and dancing in a magnificent hall. The scene is quite bright. However, in the picture on the right, there is also the hall, but only one man standing alone. Also, the hall, at that time, seems fairly dark. From the two different pictures, the man may a lot of achievements in his social life but he may be mentally empty.
In the film《Chungking Express》, I am interested in the contrast between the shaky camera when the killer shuttle through the narrow and crowded lane and the calm camera when filming the city sky.This brings out a sense of human indifference in the city.
In the movie , the woman experiences two states, which are before getting the superpower and after getting the superpower. Before getting the superpower, she was sent to Taiwan and restricted into a very small room. The room is really dirty, and the environment is dark and horrible. However, after getting the superpower, the environment changed completely, which is corresponding to the changing of power.
The moive is
In the film slumdog Millionaire, it uses contrast, the shot of the slum is in sharp contrast to the rich neighborhood next to it. Rubbish piles up in the slums and houses are crammed close together, while the rich neighbourhoods next door are gilded. The contrast between slum buildings and rich district buildings also reflects the real scene of Indian social life. Such as mumbai’s extreme inequality and blatant class discrimination.
I would like to discuss about the contrast between “rich” and “poor” in the film Slumdog Millionaire. For people living in the slum, their living conditions are not guaranteed. No enough food or clothes, and lack of healthy sanitary conditions. However, there is a different picture outside the slum, people live in luxurious villa instead, and there lives are also be full of entertainment. The contrast also a representation of inequality and discrimination.
I want to talk about contrast. Compared with the black and white films of decades ago and the color films of today, it is easier to express the emotions of characters in color. In addition, different angles of view also reflect different feelings. For example, when the camera position is high, the figure will appear small, and the height of the building will be more prominent. When the camera is low, the main character is more obvious.