Story Board:
Subtitles:
To all of us who feel isolated in this pandemic,
sometimes, I feel like I am the only human being alive in this world.
In a world of chaos, we subdivide ourselves to stay safe.
Foam boards creating tiny spaces for you and me.
We are all here, yet, we are simply not there.
Where is the human connection that we all long for?
The ‘togetherness’ of dining.
We went back to our lonely and pivotal life.
But there don’t seem to be an end.
Theme
A person is the sum-total of his social relations; the social relations of a Cantonese are summed up inside a teapot, brewed with boiling water and sealed with a lid. (Shen 2000: 220)
Teahouse is much more than a place to fill your stomach, it is a space for social gatherings, a place to find human connection, a place that forged the identity of the older generation Cantonese. Yet, with Covid-19, restaurant settings has gone through a paradigm-shifting change. With Social distancing, restaurants spaces have gone from Open to enclosed, lively to dull. Acrylic panels separating us from facing each other, a group of friends being forced to sit at separate tables. No doubt, the pandemic has turned our urban fabric into a subdivided one. In this video essay, I wish to explore how this coping-mechanism and temporary change of form influence city dwellers. From the perspective of an elderly who lives alone, I explore his relationship to the teahouse and society. Expressing the isolation and loneliness that many of us feel in a subdivided, post-pandemic city.
Method
To create a coherent short movie with rich content given the 2.5 minutes time constraint, I have chosen the ‘associational form’ approach to the video essay, which is essentially a video composed of fragments of footages. Associational form can confront us with evocative and mysterious juxtapositions, yet can at the same time create a coherent film that has an intense impact on the viewer.
Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein’s intellectual montages also inspired me to juxtapose two seemingly irrelevant footages together, hoping the viewer can also reflect upon their own feelings and lives in this pandemic. For example, bird cages + window = the feeling of isolation and longing for freedom.
For the ending scene, I am inspired by the final candle scene from Andrei Tarkovsky’s Nostalgia(1983), according to the director, the scene is to ‘ display an entire human life in one shot, without any editing, from beginning to end, from birth to the very moment of death.’ The prolonged shot of the protagonist carefully holding his takeaway food is to further amplify the dullness of life during the pandemic.
Background music:
Satie – Gymnopédie No. 1 lent et douloureux , Anne Queffélec
Bibliography;
Film Art: An Introduction, 9th edition, McGraw-Hill (2010): 376-381
Shen Hongfei. 2000. Yincha zhuangtai (The Condition of yamchah). In his Xieshi zhuyi (Gastonomism). Chengdu: Sichuan Wenyi Chubanshe.
Lai Kwong Ning, Max
3035795264
The use of metaphors is vivid and successful in this video! The slight bluish tint also adds to the coldness and loneliness that you’re trying to express. I’d like to comment on the fact that you’re viewing the pandemic from the perspective of an elderly (instead of yourself). It is very important that we reach out to others and understand their situations and not just focus on our own experiences. But I think that the loneliness and dullness of the restaurant can be better expressed. In your text, your said that the pandemic has caused people to be unable to gather like they normally would in these teahouses. Although there is physical separation between the camera and other people (no eye contact with camera and there’s an empty table in between) in the video, the elderly chatting and laughing can be quite clearly seen. So even if you can’t sit super close to each other, their relationships still hold. Should that be a hopeful note? But other than that, the video is stylistically very pleasing.
Hi Max! The video is really attractive and I enjoy it a lot. The scenes in the video show an overall slow pace, matching the character as an elderly. The scenes combine together to form a story while revealing some contrasts (or we say comparison). While sitting at a teahouse, the panel on the desk, the number limit of a desk, and the social distance…… All these elements subdivide the restaurant physically. However, the elderly can still maintain connections and interaction with each other under these barriers, which reflects the title of Alone Together. While staying at home, there are no more physical barriers, but as an elderly living alone, there is no connection to the outside world. This is regarded as mentally subdivided, which causes real loneliness.
The filming techniques are also quite delicate. The use of slow motion, focusing on objects (the fan is an example), smooth transition…… All these combine together and work well with the background music, creating a sense of loneliness. Really like this video and appreciate your effort.
Lin Wei Alex, 3035767554
You have successfully created the atmosphere of loneliness through certain camera angles, music, and color toning. In your essay, you mentioned that there are certain pandemic-related measures taken by the tea restaurant. Nonetheless, instead of showing how customers are isolated, some of your footage showed that they were still able to chitchat happily with their peers. I wonder if you have looked further into how these customers were able to adapt to the new regulations and space? What did they do? This would be a more in-depth research direction to enrich your video. Despite ‘isolation’ is the first issue that hits during the pandemic, people are still able to find ‘togetherness’ – this may be able to bring your hypothesis and video to another level that reveals something more to yourself and your audience.