[Fieldwork Podcast] Love in a Puff(2010)

Synopsis:

Love in the Buff is a Hong Kong romance film directed by Pang Ho-cheung, written by Pang Ho-Cheung and Bird Yin, starring Miriam Yeung and Shawn Yue. The publication date was March 25, 2010. The narrative of Cheung Chi-ming (Shawn Yue) and Yu Chun-jiao (Miriam Yeung), two smokers who fall in love in a back alley while Hong Kong is a smoke-free city, is followed in the movie.

Script:

Fang Tianran: This video is to describe a classic scene in the movie ‘Love in a Puff’, which is also the only place in Hong Kong named after a movie character, can also reflect the classic and significance of this place.

Gao Yuting: The reason why we want to describe this scene is that this place impresses us the most. This scene appears at the beginning of the movie, and after looking up some materials, we know the real name of this bridge, which interested us very much.

Fang Tianran: After our field trip, we observed the bridge from various angles in the film and found that the bridge is more atmospheric than the film imagined. Its painted pink main tone creates a fresh feeling, while the Z-shaped and arched overpasses are aesthetically pleasing. In addition, there are many regular rectangular tuyere positions on both sides of the bridge, which can form the composition of the TV frame from the inside out. And we have walked the road that they have walked, we deeply feel that ambiguous breath and hazy love. We went in the afternoon, and it was beautiful to see the sunlight coming through the window.

Gao Yuting: We think that the bridge which was chosen as the location of their first date for a reason, the atmosphere, the color can very well reflect the hazy feeling of mutual feeling but embarrassed to say it in the movie at that time.

Fang Tianran: Having said that, I want to move on to how is the bridge captured and represented in the film. In the film, a total of four angles around the bridge were shot and presented. At first, it was directly facing the character and blurring the background. Then, it was taken from the entrance of the bridge behind the character upwards, also some shots were taken from the outside of the bridge. Finally, after the conversation between the man and the woman, the reaction of the man was taken from the extremely low angles of the ground.

Gao Yuting: The next thing I want to talk about is the shooting technique, which is the several shots that I talked about earlier. Obviously, the Montage technique was used in the beginning of the shooting, because the shot was switched. And the best way to reflect this shooting technique is that the film traces the shot back to the scene.It cuts to a memory clip where the chunjiao first met the zhiming unexpectedly in the convenience store.Zhiming was drunk, he bought cigarettes, and chunjiao was happened to see but they don’t know each other at that time .

Fang Tianran:The male owner is a smoker, and watching the subsequent movie illustrate that the female owner is a smoker with asthmatic. This montage foreshadows the rise in the price of later cigarettes, because it also specifically mentions the price of cigarettes, which fully reflects their predestination. In addition, four different shots were changed. Also, in their conversation, they talked about UFO and they used a montage to shoot a lot of tall buildings, which explains why Zhi Ming thinks there are very few UFO seen in China.

Gao Yuting: Mise-en-scene is also used for shooting. Just as I said before, the sunlight shone through the window, and there is a very romantic and ambiguous. This sweet atmosphere can better frame their hearts at that moment, making them surer of each other. Meanwhile it is very suitable for the scene where a close-up of the camera depicts the two figures moving closer together. It indicates that they are bound to spark later. The casual clothes they are wearing; you can see that they are in a very relaxed state to communicate with each other.

Fang Tianran:Chiaroscuro is also used in that segment and scene. When photographing the bridge, the bridge becomes very bright, but the figures between the panes are very dim. There is also a shot when the boy asks for the contact information, the sun shines in from the pane behind him, which highlights his bravery and courage for love. In the final parting shot from extreme low angles to show the change of mood, and with each other’s reluctance to give up.

Gao Yuting: At last, In order to introduce and understand the bridge better, let’s start with the general story of the movie. The male protagonist Zhi Ming and the female protagonist Chun Jiao meet because of the law which said that smoking is forbidden in the public places,people have to secretly gather in the alleys to smoke, and finally they fall in love after some difficulties. This location is kind of the launching point of their story. Cus this place is where they have their first deep conversation to get to know each other and have their contact information. This is kind of the beginning of their development, so this place is very meaningful.

Fang Tianran: This is a place that runs through the whole film, recording things as well as different people. During conversations with these people, Chun JIao realized Zhi Ming’s bad mood, and Chun JIao felt sorry for him when others made fun of him.

Gao Yuting: This is the place where they really develop their love for each other . It’s also very classic, and the scene where they light each other’s cigarettes is more memorable and hints the left film revolves around smoke. The meaning of photographing this bag here is that they are stirring up in each other’s hearts and have a great crush on each other.

Fang Tianran(3036105674) and Gao Yuting(3036102036)