Title: Mobile City—— A Long Journey to Escape
Site: MTR Passage
Transcript:
Wake up! Wake up!
I always wonder, why does MTR passage, a place packed with people and mobility, always gives me a feeling of hollowness and isolation. Sometimes I feel like being in another world or a dream, so lonely and tired. Especially after the beginning of the pandemic.
Although it might be condensed in the train, people would spread out at the MTR passage once they get out of the train. This is because everyone is afraid of the virus and wants to keep a social distance.
The MTR passage is just a medium, through which we are all moving from one place to another.
Departing from different places, and heading to different destinations. The only common feature shared by others and I is that we are all moving. Moreover, behind the mobility is the isolation.
We might be parallel, but we never intersect.
It is the mobility that keeps us similar, but we evade each other by walking away.
Always moving, moving, moving ……
Why do I have to keep moving?
Why?
I am tired of fear and isolation. I want to escape from this endless mobility.
I just want to take a break.
Analysis:
Hong Kong, a city full of stress and pressure, gradually brings mental illness to its residents, especially under the threat of the pandemic. In this city, MTR passage is a medium, through which people can move from one place to another. This mobility is caused by people’s commuting demands. However, the fear of the virus, the need for interaction, and the tiredness all accumulate together, creating strong contrasts with mobility.
In this case, the MTR passage is a microcosm of the whole mobile city. Fear, pressure, and mobility are everywhere in Hong Kong while I particularly use the MTR passage as a medium to visualize the contradiction and the mental stress this city brings to everyone.
One feature of the MTR passage is that almost everyone is moving while not much interaction is made. This mobility and social distance make a contrast to the condensed crowd, making the MTR passage mentally isolated.
The mobility in the MTR passage is like the stress in the Hong Kong society, pushing everyone to move forward. People are at the MTR passage for various reasons, going to work, going to school, and so on. The journey is always long and the only time a person stops is to wait for the train. All the stress adds up and might gradually make a person collapsed.
Video Explanation:
By only filming shoes and feet (the part of a body that we use to achieve mobility), the whole video intends to focus on the movement of myself while showing the “interaction” (how others walk by or try to evade me). Different scenes combine together and finally form a journey.
In the beginning, I used animation and a black and white filter to suggest that I was in a dream. In that dream, I am able to stop moving and take a break. The coming scenes with the MTR passage noise suggest that I come back to reality and have to keep moving.
By using a combination of different scenes at different locations, I try to illustrate how different moves in the MTR passage. The use of animation helps to reveal the pattern of how people walk.
After the long journey, I cannot withstand the stress anymore and try to resist it by stop moving and really have a break. This time I did not use animation or a black and white filter, which suggests that it is the reality and I am finally brave enough to conquer the stress and escape from the endless mobility.
Credits:
Director: Lin Wei Alex
Actor: Lin Wei Alex
Especially thanks to Manson Chan who took part in the video filming
Bibliography:
Yoos, J. and V. James. (2016). The Multilevel Metropolis: On the radical origins – and mundane deployment – of the urban skyway. Places Journal (May).
Abbott, C. (2016). Migratory Cities. In Imagining Urban Futures: Cities in Science Fiction and What We Might Learn From Them (pp. 72-92). Middletown, CN: Wesleyan University Press.
Joshua Lee. (2018). How Hong Kong students’ long commutes to school affect their daily lives
All sound, voice, and video are recorded by myself.
All drawings and animation are created by myself.
Lin Wei Alex, 3035767554
Hi. I enjoy the tempo of the video which contrasts between the character and passers-by arouses my attention throughout your experience in the MTR station. Moreover, the combination of animation and real images bring out the transition of dream and the reality smoothly.
Lai Man Ching 3035825083
So great! It is a very thought-provoking video. The comparison between the still main character and crowded moving passers-by leaves a deep impression on me. The narration in this video is just like an inner heart confession of an isolated person. From one place to the other place, everyone is moving without any words or unnecessary actions. This situation happens not only in an underground passage but also in the whole society. It seems that this rapid-paced world brings people more anxiety and loneliness. We have less time to find our hearts and soul. We may feel chokey and want to escape from this noisy world, just like the main character in this video. To sum up, this short video deeply raises the problem about busy modern life and arouses all of us thinking of it. I genuinely like the idea that covered by this video.
HU Yujie 3035771256
HI Alex, this is a really provocative video. This approach of exploring loneliness and isolation in a pandemic through walking and mobility is an interesting one, as loneliness is always depicted as being still. Your use of fast motion to depict the movements around you gives the MTR space an overstimulating and suffocating effect, which i think can successfully express your tiredness and stress from the endless mobility.
I’ve also observed that most of your POV walking shots are following the tapes and guiding lines on the ground. Although i do not know whether you did this intentionally or not, but i think this technique can organise your walking experience in different MTR stations into one whole journey and give it an ‘endless’ feeling to it.
My favourite scene is the ending scene where you were following a red line. I think this scene is highly symbolic and visually attractive. I think the colour red is a great sums up of your feeling during this pandemic. Nonetheless , this is a successful video essay and i really enjoy your work !
Appreciate the cute animations and thoughtful camera angles. The use of shoes/ steps/ walking is smart as it focuses on moving and passing, but not staying. This is the way people use the metro system yet you are the meticulous/ poetic one who feels isolated and lonely in this everyday situation. As a research video essay, it would be great if you could look into how MTR is designed/ planned to add new knowledge to your hypothesis. How are MTR passages different from that of a bus stop? How do these differences give rise to the feeling of isolation in this fast-paced city? Through more rigorous research, you will be able to present your point not only subjectively but objectively as well.