Final video-essay
Student: Lam Chun Wai (UID: 3036050556)
Site: 1 Canal Road East, Causeway Bay (Tong Lau)
Theme: Changing city
URL: https://youtu.be/ktdXR40iOQ8
Why are those who built this city unable to rest in it?
The Zeitgeist
The film is titled The Zeitgeist, a Hegelian term that refers to the defining spirit or mood of that particular era. The theme of the film is to prompt reflection on working poverty, a term that refers to people who work yet still live below the poverty line. This film was shot on a Tong Lau rooftop on 1 Canal Road East in Causeway Bay.
In the film, the Zeitgeist is embodied by the local labourers of the last century, where Hong Kong was experiencing an economic boom and residential infrastructure were hence in high demand. Yet, after the boom subsided, the labourer finds himself trapped in a poorly maintained Tong Lau, which symbolises the poor living environments in Hong Kong. He is trapped in there, due to his inability to improve his living environment as a labourer.
One day, he’s allowed up to the rooftop to see the city, in which he finds that it has grown into a modern metropolis. Diverging away from industrialisation and transforming into a knowledge economy, where labour is less valued. He exclaims at how the city has changed beyond his recognition and understanding. Yet reminded the city not to forget where it came from. He asked where the reward for his labour is, in which the city responds by pointing to the streets below. Indicating that at least he has shelter.
Research Methodology
I decided to focus on working poverty. According to a government report (LegCo, 2006). As of 2005, there are 170,400 households who earn below the 50% median household income. In which most of them are labourers and manufacturing workers, who are low-earning due to the relative decrease in value of labour-intensive work in Hong Kong. Yet, Hong Kong’s success today is substantially reliant on the contributions of these workers during the industrial period of Hong Kong, which attracted investors and bolstered infrastructural growth during 1960s-70s.
To capture this apparent contradiction, I searched for old residential buildings, preferably built around 1950s-60s, that are intertwiningly situated within highly developed areas. Bowrington was my chosen site in conducting field research, as it lies on the outskirts of Wan Chai, a region notable for its old residential city area and shophouses.
I first measured out the rooftops, in which the shophouse must be able to directly see a broad view of the city yet remain close enough to the skyscrapers for sharp comparison. Through scouting different buildings in the area, I chose the building on 1 Canal Road East.
Architecture and Film Production
The interior of the building matched the structure I envisioned for a traditional shophouse in that region. With narrow staircases measuring about 16 feet wide, completed with the terrazzo-tiled staircases that were exemplar of the post-war design. To encompass the interior, I decided to film using a POV shot. As it give the audience a direct experience into the Zeitgeist’s perception of his environment, so that they can better understand his situation. To generate tension in the scene, I identified the existence of angles (e.g., in staircase railings, stairs, door frame, pipelines) and worn wallpaper, which creates a sense of jaggedness and acrimony. The staircase to the roof has become a storage space for the 5/F household, and their doorway is blocked by cardboard boxes and trash. This allowed me to produce a sense of ‘entrapment’ through such blockage, which is crucial in displaying the anxiety of the Zeitgeist.
After accessing the rooftop, I used panning shots to encompass the extent of the city. First panning upwards to reveal the tremendous heights of modern buildings, then panning wide to show of the broadness of the city. Lastly, I used a deep focus shot resting on the distant K-11 tower, as to generate depth in the mise-en-scene. This reveals the irony of the film by displaying how we continue to have little living space for people despite having expanded our supply of residential buildings. The Zeitgeist made the city what it was, yet none of its successes belong to him.
Reflection
This fieldwork was extremely rewarding, both in understanding our living space and in identifying social problems resulting from it. My research process revealed how the architecture of our city has ‘Changed’ alongside subsequent economic transformations, yet it has also changed in a way that it left many people behind. Like the short old shophouse encompassed by tall glass towers, those that are equipped with old skills are forsaken. Despite it being their labour that brought the change.
References
Dimendberg, E. (1997). From Berlin to Bunker Hill: Urban space, late modernity, and film noir in Fritz Lang’s and Joseph Losey’s M. Wide Angle, 19(4), 62–93. https://doi.org/10.1353/wan.1997.0018.
Hong Kong Housing Authority and Housing Department. Number of Applications and Average Waiting Time for Public Rental Housing. (2023, February 15). https://www.housingauthority.gov.hk/en/about-us/publications-and-statistics/prh-applications-average-waiting-time/.
Hong Kong Legislative Council. Report on Working Poverty – LegCo. (2006, February). https://www.legco.gov.hk/yr05-06/english/hc/papers/hc0210cb2-1002-e.pdf.
Mesthrige Jayantha, W., & Lau, S. S. (2008). Floor space per person and housing development: An urban growth approach to estimate Housing Supply in Hong Kong. Urban Policy and Research, 26(2), 177–195. Retrieved 3rdMay. https://doi.org/10.1080/08111140801986509.
Vanessa Mathews (2010) Set appeal: film space and urban redevelopment, Social & Cultural Geography, 11:2, 171-190, http://doi.org/10.1080/14649360903514400.
Student Name: Lam Chun Wai
UID: 3036050556
I appreciate the thoughtfulness in your cinematography, the way you shot the video and use of diagetic sound does enhance the tension within the space and demonstrates the rundown condition of the tonglau. Your research into the socio-economic demographic of the city and your analysis into class is well explained and I enjoy your approach in depicting a fictitious resident of the building. There are a few instances in your video that juxtaposed the new and the old. I think ageing city might be a better title for your project as you focused more upon old architecture and how it is poorly maintained. It would be nice to see a wider exploration on the phenomena of change (construction, reconstruction etc.).