Ten Years 十年 – Extras 浮瓜 (Kwok Zune, 2015)
Ten Years is an anthology film composed totally five films. The story’s background is set in the year 2025 and mainly discusses the autonomy of Hong Kong from the aspects of culture, human rights, and politics. The film I chose is “Extras”, directed by Kwok Zune. The story takes place in a school building while the plot is about the government officials creating a planned assassination on two leaders of political organizations in order to arouse the public’s panic so that the National Security Law can be easily legislated. There are two classroom spaces that I would like to identify and analyze.
Although the space of these scenes seems to be the same as they are all located in the classroom, the presentation and meaning they show are totally different. The first scene I would like to illustrate is the five government officials sitting in a classroom, discussing which leader should be assassinated. Each official is separated by a desk and the classroom is well and neatly organized (Fig 1).
However, the scene shows a very strong contradiction – the officials with high social status are sitting in a school classroom discussing a crime. As the camera gradually pending to the centre official who is with the most power, indicating the incident is more and more closely to be ordered to happen (Fig 2).
Another space also is in a classroom but the two assassinators become the main characters. The first scene divides the classroom into two areas: well-arranged and messy, while the characters sit in the neat area, creating a less intense atmosphere since they are just rehearsing (Fig 3).
Yet, the next scene shows the characters sitting in the messy area of the classroom, indicating one of the assassinators starts to panic and hesitate about the assassination (Fig 4).
In the last scene of the classroom, the characters move back to a neat area of the classroom. However, the lighting is heavy and projects big shadows of them with a slogan of “DSE is your life-changing point” at the back while one of them is holding a gun. The scene-setting eventually indicates the tragedy that is going to happen to them (Fig 5).
Since Extras is a black-and-white film, it relies heavily on the presentation of picture balance and a light contrast. Mise-en-scène is presented in this film. Even the take place is just as ordinary as classrooms, the film shows the wide range of usage of classroom space. I believe why the film is presented in such a way, is to emphasize absurdity and hence show the despair of grassroots. A school is meant to lead people toward the good, yet, those people who have received the best education and have the most power in society are in fact planning an immoral incident. The two assassinators are shot and die at the end. They even cannot foresee death since they are just simply “Extras” in the government’s eyes.
Fong Wing Sze, 3035837701
It is appreciated that you made careful observation and analysis of the 2 classroom scenes. You have also applied concepts like mise en scene from the class to discuss the visual techniques of the film. Yet, virtual field trip materials seem lacking in your essay. You should make a visit to the site / a space that looks like the site if you cannot locate the exact one to compare and contrast it with its representation in film.