[Video Essay] Sharing City – Architecture and film

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NE_roSa4PCM&list=PL5PP0NHM6bT9jRFk-t90BPpcJU1zEm2pH&index=18

Plot Summary:

The film focuses on the streets of Hong Kong, opening with questions “What is Hong Kong” and “Where to represent Hong Kong”, and then taking the audience through the different streets of the city. The film documents the streets from Sai Ying Pun all the way to Sham Shui Po, reflecting the different characteristics of the blocks and streets in different areas, some vintage, some busy, some bustling, and some relaxed. This section has only background music and no narration, which is meant to immerse the audience in the characteristics and differences of Hong Kong’s streets. The background music is <California Dreaming> from <Chungking Forest>, which is intended to give the audience a better immersion experience.

The second part of the film moves from scenery to people. The camera records the tidal wave of people in Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, as well as the street musician and the residents playing chess or resting on the street. The background music is <Next Stop Diva>(《下一站天后》) and the narrator explains the differences between the Hong Kong residents I observed on the street. They could be generations of Hong Kong people, foreigners, workers from the mainland, people from Southeast Asia coming to make a living, or students, and their differences included their backgrounds, purposes, languages, and lifestyles. The narrator goes from “differences” to “similarities”, that is, they all live in and share the city. This idea comes from the Hong Kong movie <Little Cheung>, where the two main characters say “Hong Kong is my home” on the Tsim Sha Tsui beach. I think the streets of Hong Kong are a good representation of the variety of people in Hong Kong, which reveals a heartwarming theme: Hong Kong is everyone’s home.

The last clip was taken when I was sitting in a jingle car passing the road from Sheung Wan to Sai Ying Pun. The opening question of the film – “What is Hong Kong” – is mentioned again. While the first view of the film was playing, I gave an open-ended answer as a non-local student who had been in Hong Kong for a year: Hong Kong made me realize many new things, namely “see myself, see the world, see all beings” as mentioned in <The Master of the Generation>, and that it contains a lot that is worth exploring further. When the soundtrack of the last clip, <A Thousand Queues>(《千千阙歌》), comes on, maybe the audience will also think about what Hong Kong is like for themselves, which again reflects the theme of the film “Sharing City”, showing the tolerance of the city’s ideas, which can make everyone think and feel something.

Research Methodology:

Before shooting, I walked the route in advance and experienced the characteristics of Hong Kong’s streets. I went from Sham Shui Po to Mong Kok and then to Tsim Sha Tsui, experiencing the earthly atmosphere of Kowloon’s old town. I took the Star Ferry from Tsim Sha Tsui to Hong Kong Island, during which I looked at the tall buildings of Hong Kong Island from a distance from the cruise ship. I walked from Central to Sheung Wan and saw the bustle of a city famous for its financial industry and the vintage atmosphere of the last century. I took a trolley in Sheung Wan to the vicinity of the University of Hong Kong, experiencing the style of the stores along the road and the atmosphere of the “trolley” that was the setting for many Hong Kong movies (such as <Lust, Caution> by Ang Lee). All of this helped me to shoot and edit the short film at a later stage.

When I was reading <What Might a Film Be?> (《电影可能是什么?》), the author mentioned that “Bergson believed that there are two kinds of things, one is the external world, that is, the movement of physical facts, and the other is the internal consciousness, that is, the image of mental facts”. Then, when I made the film, I also divided it into two levels. One is the fact that can be seen, i.e. the streets of Hong Kong before our eyes; the other is what it contains – different people, and their different thoughts and a shared sense of belonging.

Video production method:

At the very beginning, I introduced a distant view of Hong Kong Island and the traffic on the road, and put the questions “What is Hong Kong” and “What to represent Hong Kong” to the audience. In the street scenes, I used long shots to make the audience feel like they were walking on the streets of Hong Kong, experiencing the different blocks. For example, I tried to convey the relaxed atmosphere next to the shopping malls in Central and the life scents in Sham Shui Po. As I followed the crowd, I chose the “handheld camera” method, which creates a better sense of reality for the viewer with its naturalistic shaking. When I talked about the “different Hong Kong people” later on, I chose a montage of different places, people, and times to edit together. I hope this part can reflect the diversity of the city.

Reflection:

Thematically, the question of what Hong Kong is really like for me is still something I should think about. Perhaps for me now, it is an open and tolerant world, and as I get to know the city and the buildings better in the future, I will be able to appreciate its customs and urban characteristics.

In terms of shooting, I still need to learn better shooting skills, select more representative buildings and city features, and to present the ideas I want to express to the audience more completely.

Reference:

Studiobinder (2020). The Best Long Take Shots & How They Push the Story Forward. https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/long-take-sequence-shot-camera-movement-angle/

Henderson, B. (1971). The Long Take. Film Comment, Vol. 7, No. 2 (SUMMER 1971), pp. 6-11 (6 pages)

https://www.jstor.org/stable/43752806

MasterClass (2021). Learn About Montage in Filmmaking: How to Create a Memorable Movie Montage.

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-montage-in-filmmaking-how-to-create-a-memorable-montage

子穎（2021）。【觀影筆記】電影是首影像詩：淺談「蒙太奇」(Montage)。

https://vocus.cc/article/611626adfd8978000137ae5a

Matt. The Handheld Shot in Film: Our Definitive Guide.

https://filmlifestyle.com/the-handheld-shot-in-film/#:~:text=The%20handheld%20shot%20is%20a,What%20is%20this%3F&text=It%20also%20has%20an%20emotional,and%20experiencing%20everything%20first%2Dhand.

Gloria (2021). 浅谈《重庆森林》——王家卫式电影的浪漫与孤独.

https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/427878412