[Field-Homework 3] Disappearing City

Title: Disappearing City
Site: Park
Director: Peng Ziqian
Background music: Starry Sky(星茶会) by Huiche; Illuminate by Peter Orbit
YouTube link: https://youtu.be/R19AswVB3rI

Theme:

Parks benefit people’s physical and mental health as green public areas that provide residents with exercise and strengthen community cohesion (Holland, 2018). However, park visitation changed considerably during the COVID-19 pandemic, although the nature in which this change occurred varied across countries around the world (Geng et al., 2021). The theme of my research is: what are the causes of the “disappearance” of parks during the COVID-19 pandemic? Hypothesis: The “disappearing” parks are related to national policies on Neocon and tall buildings.

The park I am discussing and shooting is called Chenjiahu Park in Jingzhou, Hubei Province. The park is a recreational park located in the center of the city, because there is a small lake in the middle of the park named Chenjiahu, hence the name of the park. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the park was the liveliest place in the city, filled with people of all ages. However, due to the pandemic outbreak, the formerly lively park gradually became depressed and even “disappeared”. Therefore, the theme of my video is to reflect the changes that the pandemic has brought to the citizens and the city itself. According to Geng et al. (2021), the strict index of government control is the most important variable affecting park visitation. Because of the city’s government policy of ” non-essential not going out”, people are not going to the parks as often as they used to. Daily trips, social gatherings are restricted by the policy, and people must wear masks when they travel, which is why parks are “disappearing”. In addition, I noticed the tall buildings everywhere during the shoot, which put pressure on the city and its people.

Method:

My original assigned task is to shoot the tram, but since there is no tram in my city, I talked to the tutor and decided to choose the park as the place site. When I noticed that the once lively park is now empty, I tried to use ” disappearing” to depict the depression of the park.

The concept of disappearance of Ackbar Abbas’ gave me an idea for my video. Based on his text, I got a new understanding of the “disappearance” of the park and chose to shoot it in a contrasting way as mentioned in the text. In order to show the “disappearance” of the park, I chose to use COVID-19 pandemic as the dividing point, comparing the visitor situation before and after the park as well as the park itself, so as to highlight the theme with this way of shooting.

In fact, the contrast is also reflected in the background music of the video I made. Before COVID-19 pandemic, I used a more upbeat, soothing background music. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I used a more tense soundtrack. In this way, to match the mood of the scene, and set a different atmosphere.

In this video, I used a variety of shooting methods and took advantage of the stability of a tripod to shoot close-up, medium shot, and long shot. In the video, for example, the desolation of the park is highlighted by shooting the park from a distance, with the people occupying a small part of the scene to give a holistic view of the environment. In addition, the close-up shots of the “locks” in this video portray the depth of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the park and convey a sense of loneliness. Moreover, some shots are taken with fixed lenses to capture the movement of people and the stillness of the scenery, to better show the static environment and the movement of people in a combination of motion and stillness. I also used motion shots to reproduce the original appearance of the scenery in the park. By using a variety of shooting methods, the video is not homogeneous and is more visually appealing to the viewer. Furthermore, the video uses a mirror shot to suggest that the tall buildings are one of the effects of the “disappearance” of the park, by shooting the reflection of the water.

At the end of the video, I interviewed a man who is about 50 years old. Through the conversation with him, it is directly reflected that the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on people’s lives in terms of restrictions on travel and the requirement of masks.

Reflection:

Through this video project, I begin to realize that COVID-19 pandemic and tall buildings are affecting park visitation, or even “disappear”. Geng (2021) points out that parks and green spaces play a more important role in densely populated areas, and that people should go to parks for physical exercise while maintaining physical distance in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, parks serve as places that provide ecosystems to citizens, and we should manage the green space system and parks to meet the needs of citizens (Geng et al., 2021).

(813 Words)

Bibliography

Abbas, M. A. (1997). Hong Kong: Culture and the politics of disappearance. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, pp. 63-90.

Caley, P., Philp, D. J., & McCracken, K. (2008). Quantifying social distancing arising from pandemic influenza. Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 5(23), 631-639.

Geng, D. C., Innes, J., Wu, W., & Wang, G. (2021). Impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on urban park visitation: a global analysis. Journal of forestry research, 32(2), 553-567.

Gostin, L. O., & Wiley, L. F. (2020). Governmental public health powers during the COVID-19 pandemic: stay-at-home orders, business closures, and travel restrictions. Jama, 323(21), 2137-2138.

Holland, W. H., Powell, R. B., Thomsen, J. M., & Monz, C. A. (2018). A systematic review of the psychological, social, and educational outcomes associated with participation in wildland recreational activities. Journal of Outdoor Recreation, Education, and Leadership, 10(3).

Hussain, A. H. M. (2020). Stringency in policy responses to Covid-19 pandemic and social distancing behavior in selected countries. SSRN Electron J.

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