Link to Video: https://youtu.be/b3XqEH7yqmc?si=6TICFz2gZmgA6lob
Hidden City: Man Ying Street, Man Wah Complex, Jordan
This video’s theme is ‘Hidden City’, focusing on the subject of a closed-off shopfront on Man Ying Street, Jordan. With the Man Wah Complex being announced for redevelopment, it is crucial that we focus on these neglected stores within the site. Upon interview with owners and footage from filming, the space has its gate shut and is used for storage of car tyres. This sealed-off storage space was chosen to reflect the theme of ‘Hidden City’, with my attempt to shed light on the neglected, unseen and ignored spaces within the dense urban fabric of Hong Kong. These shops are often dark and unnoticeable by pedestrians, making it the perfect subject to zoom in upon. Often, we focus on the glamorous Hong Kong skyline with its shimmering lights, but fail to notice these local and rudimentary elements that sculpt what we call Hong Kong.
My video is separated into four main sections, depicting the shop through multi-faceted means:
Prelude: (0:04-0:55): The Prelude begins with a first-person perspective, simulating the eyesight of an individual walking towards this inconspicuous shop. The Point-of-view (POV) shot directs the viewer’s attention to this shop, as if they are part of the narrative and captures the immediacy of the moment. However, in-between the dynamic moving clips of POV shots, I placed static black-and-white photographs. The black-and-white photograph is a medium shot of the store, showing its exterior facade of a classic Chinese carved pattern gate with miscellaneous clothes. I deliberately used a frontal picture of the store and made it black-and-white, to demonstrate how we often neglect these hidden spaces in Hong Kong. We only see it in “colour” as we actively engage it (like the moving footage), but otherwise, it remains disregarded, static and in “black”. Additionally, I incorporated this static black-and-white photograph as a repeated motif for 6 times in the video, serving as a constant reminder to the audience to not ignore these hidden urban spaces.
Close-up: (0:55-1:27): This section diverts from the POV shots in the Prelude, but uses moving close-up shots to zoom in on the shop’s facade. I attempted to use the interplay between static photos versus dynamic videos. The photos are placed before each footage, first capturing the rugged textures of the gates and special characters engraved above. Then, I used a tilting shot (moving up and down) for the gaps between the gate, and panning shot (left and right) for the carved pattern gate. My attempt with the moving close-ups is to allow the viewer to appreciate these hidden gems inside our urban cities in detail, like the carved pattern gate which reflects collective memories of the 1960s.
Zoom: (1:27-2:13): Until now, I tried to maintain an element of suspense, with the viewer concealed from the interior of the shop. In this section, I used a zoom-in shot from the exterior, to a circular hole in the gate, ultimately allowing the viewer to perceive the interior shop as being a car tyre storage. However, as the shot approaches the hole, I chose to change the shot colour to black-and-white, further emphasising how these forgotten and dismissed places are ignored. The shot remains black-and-white, until the shot zooms out back to the inconspicuous front store facade.
Ending: (2:13-2:30): The ending forms a dialogue with the Prelude, returning to a POV shot. It shows the perspective of the person looking at a chair, ultimately sitting down on the chair in front of the store. This act of “sitting down” and the person being part of the store environment now, symbolises an increased awareness towards these hidden places. My end goal here is for the viewer to appreciate these leftover, hidden, and neglected sides of Hong Kong.
Methods of conducting Research and Producing the Video
With research, I took inspiration from some readings in the course, notably De Certeau’s ‘Walking in the City’ where he suggests that pedestrian movement is what formulates (or begins) to define a city space. Hence, I attempted to utilise this in the Prelude and Ending moving shots, filming from the perspective of a pedestrian who now focuses on this hidden shop.
To address the theme of ‘Hidden City’, I explored black-and-white photography as a medium. I was influenced by Julian Rosefeldt’s collection of ‘Hidden City’, and tried to use the same tonal elements of having more greyish tones, with limited black and white highlights. I feel my photograph (compared to Rosefeldt) evokes the similar feeling of human’s neglecting surrounding environments, and serves the purpose of shedding light to these hidden spaces in the city.
Meanwhile, a movie which served as an influence is ‘Inglourious Basterds’, specifically this scene below with Jewish family (Dreyfuses) hiding under floorboards of a house. The viewer sees the gap between the floor panels and the two figures hiding below. Tarantino uses a dramatic contrast of the skin tone and floorboard, to accentuate a moment of suspense. Tension is created here, with an interplay between what is seen and unseen. I was inspired by Tarantino and utilised the gap between the gate shutters to form a similar composition. However, my photo has the gap (hidden elements) in pitch black due to the dark lighting conditions, whilst the exterior gate is bright with rugged textures.
In relation to sound, I conducted research on how to utilise silence. Silence can be helpful to create suspense, force viewers to focus on visual elements, and to juxtapose with loud environments. In the Prelude, moving footage is placed on full volume, in an attempt to simulate the real environment of the street and shop. The static black-and-white photos placed in between footage are in silence, prompting the viewers to think why we often disregard these unseen spaces. In the ‘Close-up’ and ‘Zoom’ sections, volume was reduced to only provide some ambient noise (such as water running), to have the viewer fully entrenched with the details of the hidden shop. The black-and-white dynamic footage of the store’s interior is done in silence, to forge a tense atmosphere. The Ending returns to the loud atmospheric sounds in the Prelude, forming an overall dialogue. The diverse volumes throughout the video forms an interaction, with the silent juxtaposing the loud, and further aiding my goal of trying to draw attention to these hidden spaces within the urban fabric of Hong Kong.
CHAN Hiu To Max 3036137134
Bibliography
Chow, Y. (2022, October 10). Ethnic minority residents of Jordan estate may lose home to redevelopment. Young Post. https://www.scmp.com/yp/discover/news/hong-kong/article/3195210/our-home-ethnic-minority-residents-jordans-man-wah-sun
De Certeau, M. (1984). Walking in the City. In S. Randall ed., The Practice of Everyday Life (pp. 91-110). University of California Press.
Different types of shots in film. (n.d.). Adobe. https://www.adobe.com/hk_en/creativecloud/video/discover/types-of-shots-in-films.html#:~:text=In%20a%20point-of-view,way%20the%20subject%20can%20move.
Hellerman, J. (2023, October 17). What is repetition (Definition and Examples). No Film School. https://nofilmschool.com/repetition-definition
Hellerman, J. (2024, January 18). Silence in cinema. No Film School. https://nofilmschool.com/why-filmmakers-use-silence
Jin, Z. (2018, February 5). Memories of Shutters – Ziyi Jin – Medium. Medium. https://medium.com/@tristenki/memories-of-shutters-b9b9375b33a9
McGuinness, K. (2023, November 1). The 16 Types of Camera Shots & Angles. Boords. https://boords.com/blog/16-types-of-camera-shots-and-angles-with-gifs
Rosefeldt, J. (1994–2010). Hidden City (Nr. 5) [B/w photograph, inkjet print, 50 x 87 cm (framed)]. In Julian Rosefeldt. Julian Rosefeldt, Germany. https://www.julianrosefeldt.com/photo-works/hidden-city-1994-2010/
Screen Bites. (2020, September 25). “Are you aware of my existence?” | Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds | Screen Bites [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoxuOzocEIk
StudioBinder. (2021, March 14). Point of view shots: creative camera movements & angles. https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/point-of-view-shot-camera-movement-angles/
CHAN Hiu To Max 3036137134