[Video Essay] Disappearing City

Title: Disappearing City

Credits: Directed and narrated by YIQUN FANG (Music: White Cloud）

Storyboard & Script：

The Theme of the Video:

In the days of the virus, people were confined to their homes and not allowed to go out. Without human activity, a city breathes feebly, its prosperity vanishes, and its flame vanishes. Suzhou is a beautiful city, which is located in Jiangsu Province. The city was hit with a pause button by the pandemic. All recreational facilities are closed, and all restaurants are closed. Home to 13 million permanent residents, Suzhou has been under a two-month quarantine policy. Almost everyone has experienced the days when their communities are blocked. People started as just a haven for home, but the pandemic forced them to work from home, have all three meals at home, and even have outdoor activities at home. Our community was like oases in a dead desert. They are acting as the workings of the city. It is as if the passage of time and the people who live there give the blocks extra meaning and some extra responsibility in a fixed space. Every day children play in the community instead of in the amusement park. This piece of open space has become their paradise. Moreover, some older people are dancing in the community square instead every evening. Superficially, they transfer the space they want to the square. However, it is the square that plays an additional role, and these roles are precisely what we residents give. The city is the same; without people’s activities, the city will disappear and lose its meaning. So the square in residential areas is the best place to see the epidemic’s impact on the city. This video will prove whether the epidemic can make a city disappear by capturing the lives of people living in residential areas.

Research method:

Since the place I investigate is downstairs where I live, the research will mainly focus on observation and an interview on how people’s lives will change under the pandemic. First of all, I conducted my observation by visiting neighbors about how they were working from home to earn their income and keep their jobs. Then I observed how the delivery man (Mei Tuan) delivered the food when most community gates were closed. I’ll also interview kids about how their studies and lives have changed under restrictions because kids tend to see the truth. The observation will mainly be conducted on the square where most people go downstairs.

Making of the video:

The film begins with an introduction to the impact of the epidemic policy on the city. The first picture is shot on the bridge. I specifically chose the time of sunset to create a Chiaroscuro effect with gradually lit street lights. I accelerate the video to reflect the still light traffic during the evening rush hour, which shows epidemic has made our prosperous cities disappear. I added a wrap stabilizer to the accelerated video due to camera shaking. After showing the background through several fragments, I began to photograph the square under the housing complex. To observe how the epidemic situation changed the meaning of this space. I put three pieces, mainly observing human activities. In the video of the delivery man delivering food [1:22], I took a low Angle to eulogize the great hard workers in the epidemic situation. To make the video feel more like a documentary, I also included an interview with the child in the square and restored her original voice. Bring authenticity to the audience. At the end of the video, I showed a video of residents walking in the community at night to lead to the end of a day, which played an inclusio pattern and echoed the neighbor’s action of opening the curtain during the day [0:32].

Objective and reflections:

In the age that everyone is blocked in-home and isolated. Some people go through long quarantine periods and become depressed and even have psychological problems in the community. They are as eager as we are to go to the outside world like the cinema and the amusement parks. This short video aims to remind us that it is we who make this space meaningful. I saw adults working, children playing, and elders wandering by photographing the community’s square. Everyone is working hard to make a living. Wherever there are people, there are small cities operating, and they don’t disappear. I hope we all have hope to live our lives and overcome the epidemic. As kids say in interviews, we should find the beauty around us. Through this video production, I have a better understanding of how the epidemic affects our lives. The shooting and production of the video is also a big challenge for me.

Word Count: 774

Reference:

Ben Gurion U Egev. (n.d.). Retrieved May 7, 2022, from http://aranne5.bgu.ac.il/others/ChapmanAnthony.pdf

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Chiaroscuro. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved May 7, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/art/chiaroscuro

苏州疫情防控最新政策（持续更新）– 苏州本地宝. (n.d.). Retrieved May 7, 2022, from http://suzhou.bendibao.com/news/2020615/77617.shtm

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