Subtitle:
Disappearing City: Old Gates, Man Wah Sun Chuen, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon
Hypothesis:
All the traditional gates with craved patterns in Hong Kong will be replaced by new, electronic gates in 10 years.
Description:
This video essay mainly focuses on the disappearance of the old Hong Kong gates located in the Man Wah Sun Chuen. As there will be a redevelopment at the estate, the gates that were installed would also be demolished, especially for the traditional Hong Kong-style metal gates. First, the history of the gates will be explored from the original form of the gates to its development. Second, some of the designs of the gates found on the site are suggested in terms of the patterns of the holes and the colour of the gates. This is a phenomenon that represents Hong Kong people who like to invest in new ideas by combining ideas from the East and the West. In the third part, examples of the usage of the gates in the past and present, such as a form of communication and exchanging goods with neighbours, are discovered during the field trip and interviewing the local residents. This is the part that shows the urban life of a crowded area in Hong Kong which tells the neighbours are human and helpful to each other. However, the problems that are faced by the traditional gates are proposed in the fourth part. Since there are some disadvantages when using them, people are replacing them with electronic gates for improvements and avoiding the problems. In the last part, the video introduces some ways to conserve the old-style gates.
Method of conducting the research and producing the video:
We found information about the gate’s history and development from a book called “Hong Kong Old Charm” and some online materials. The book is written by a Hong Kong writer called Simpson Wong. It introduces the old places, artefacts and handicrafts in Hong Kong with pictures and a fully researched background history. One of the artefacts discussed is the gate. It suggests some of the patterns and colours that can be found in Hong Kong. The HK01, which is an online press, was also referred to in the part of processing the traditional style gates. The pictures that show the steps are useful for illustrating the gate production.
Another method is a field trip at the Man Wah Sun Chuen, many photos were taken during the Chinese Lunar New Year and interviews were conducted during the workdays. The reason for taking photos during the holiday is important since a full picture of the gates can only be shown when the stores are closed. Otherwise, I would have to take the images at midnight, which can be unsatisfying for video making as the lighting is dim, and people might think I am a theft and doing something illegal. During the process, three pictures with different angles were taken for each of the traditional gates found in the area. 1. A long shot from the side of the gate, which can be combined with other angles to formulate a three-dimensional structure of the gates for the audience. 2. Eye-level wide shot, this allows the audience to feel the actual size of the gates through the video. 3. A Close-up shot of the patterns, enlarges the main focus of the gates and provides an opportunity for the audience to look at the patterns more clearly.
1. Long shot 2. Eye-level wide shot 3. Close-up shot
Also, the help of interviews with the residents and gate owners gives the first-person experience of using the old gates which resonates with the older Hong Kongers’ memories and suggests a brief idea for the generations who haven’t used the gates.
Since the artefact is a real-time and an actual event compared to the video, which is a narrative and visual event, the video shows some rusting gates to emphasize the large amount of time that the gates have experienced. On the other hand, the image of the new electronic roller shutter has no rust but is shiny, showing that the new technology is eliminating the old ones.
In this video, the filming skills used for the whole time were montage and split screen. I think montage is suitable for this topic as several gates needed to be shown to the audience in order to bring out different points that were discussed. For example, from talking about the patterns of gates to the usage of the gates in the past, the pictures of the holes of the gates slowly faded out and introduced the images of the gates that were hanging objects. It allows the transition of the topics from one to another smoothly. Apart from that, a spit screen was also applied by putting numbers of photos into a single still. This enables the comparison of different objects and the audience can notice the differences between them directly which emphasize the main focus of the topic.
The miss en scene of the stills is mainly the gates with craved patterns since it is the focus of the video. Therefore, there were no other subjects, such as residents, included in the scenes. Besides that, improves the visual experience for the audiences as many images are put into one still causing them smaller in size which makes it difficult to observe the patterns. This problem would be further established when there are any non-relevant subjects shown on the screen and block the main character.
The lighting of the photos was also considered. For the photos of the estate and the antiquated gates, the tone was warm in colour but dim. It pursues a feeling that the gates are old and going to disappear from our sight but keep their human touch until the end. Compared to the strong lighting and cold tone in the image of the electronic roller gate, it highlights the unmerciful of machine to operate the city and the relationship between citizens becomes weaker.
Bibliography:
Hobsbawm, E., & Ranger, T. (2012). The invention of tradition. Cambridge University Press.
Wong, S. (2021). Hong Kong Old Charm – Capturing the Beauty of Old Hong Kong. IGlobe Publishing Ltd.
Tsang, L. (2022). What will be the future of the gates with craved patterns? Epoch Times.https://hk.epochtimes.com/news/2022-03-04/88121278
Yu, L. (2017, July 9). How To Make Gates with Craved Patterns? Siu Fu: people no longer know how to make it. HK01 Company Limited.
Wong Siu Wing, Mark
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