Video link: https://youtu.be/SRsJUDvryl0
Designated site: Stairwells
Title: Disappearing city
Theme of the video:
The definition of stairwells is blurry in the modern era. Admittedly, it is still a necessary component in contemporary architecture under legal legislation. But it serves only as a “backup plan” when disaster may occur. Therefore, I asked myself, ‘When was the role of the stairwell transcribed?’. Later this became the theme throughout the research. The video is mainly taken at Tai Po Mega Mall because this is the place where I grew up. While the presence of human activities makes it a place for many adolescents, the absence of human movement sunk it into disappearance subconsciously in our minds. Superficially, stairwells are still considered a way of transition under the impact of elevators and escalators. Yet the spatial memory of different people and different generations fades away under our sight alongside their senses of existence because we generally do not or even do not use them anymore. Thus, this video will reflect on how stairwells are disappearing in this fast-paced city from our glance under our unconscious mind
Research
Since I am living in a village house and I do not have any recognition about the change of stairwells. Therefore, I went to different spaces to investigate the changes in stairwells between old and new buildings and also the inhabitant’s behaviour in how they occupy the area from time to time. Unfortunately, there are no first-person interviews conducted due to people’s concerns about their privacy. Nevertheless, a wide range of research on the staircase design and documentaries are looked at. Especially the chapter “The Stair as Transition” written by Erickstad (2012) in his thesis. It is extremely helpful to the research because it draws out the notion of staircases can be a dramatic transition, which many incidents can happen within the space. Besides, it is a narrative of civilization movement
Storyline and method
The film is set on a depiction of a person’s dream, picturing himself walking into a queer stairwell a seeing his past doing different domesticate activities. The method ‘associational form’ is applied to join all the fragmental footage in one piece.
At the story’s beginning, a male protagonist is awakened by the clock alarm, looking up to the ceiling senselessly. He then dragged his body across the corridor. He is still experiencing a delusion and does not know where to go. To this point, all shots are filmed in first-person perspective to add the feeling of human motion and are guided by unconsciousness. Plus, shooting a pretty obvious entrance also emphasizes people subconsciously overlooked this area.
As I am trying to indicate protagonist is still dreaming. A split scene effect is used to mimic the eyes having a different view by showing a pair of symmetrical shots. This scene indicates how his body is partially awakened but the mind is not.
Seeing myself is inspired by a friction movie ‘The incident’ (2014), directed by Isaac Ezban. Several effects were added, for example, fast-forwarding, grey screen effect and luminosity. All these are to insert a layer of dramatic effect into the film. Besides, the scene is to create a feeling of tracing back to the old days and digging down into those long-lost memories. To evoke audiences’ senses of their surroundings when living in such a fast-changing society.
For the ending part, the effect of linear light is plugged into the scene to create a stronger chiaroscuro between the disappearing space (where the protagonist is situated) and the real ongoing world. The shot from the protagonist’s back also amplifies the powerlessness and confusion of the protagonist while witnessing the fade of stairwells.
Objectives and reflections:
While the disappearance of stairwells seems to be the reconstruction of space, this short video aims to remind us that human activities can make space disappear subjectively. Standing merely at the architectural viewpoint, floor plan, or any statistic data is ambiguous for the audience to visualize the regrettable transition, as the reason for this problem is the change in people’s lifestyles (Abbas, 1997). But to illustrate the disappearance of the stairwell could not be easily understood as merely ‘replacement’ because it reveals the struggle of how Hong Kong people or the government can address the reconstruction of a city. From once the symbolic composition of architecture that gives people ephemeral experience, to now the disregarded place where no one wants to go. Indeed, under the impact of the elevator and escalator, stairwells became less convenient, as if it was never been useful ever before. Some may even hope it would disappear in a site and use another escalator to replace it. Attempting to redesign stairwells has actually made it disappear contextually. We are the creator of civilization and many metropolises, yet we do not recognize our creation. Hence, stairwells become an example in saying how tradition is being wash-off plus stroke a big knocking on how people become unfamiliar with the familiar in their city.
Word count: 743
Tin Yiu, Wong 3035840239
Bibliography:
Abbas, M. A. (1997). Hong Kong: Culture and the politics of disappearance (pp. 63-90). Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Blanc, A. S. (2001). Stairs. Oxford: Architectural Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780080517650
De Certeau, M. (1984). Walking in the City. In The Practice of Everyday Life (pp. 91- 110), translated by Steven Randall. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Erickstad, S. (2012). A Subconscious Ascent: Exploring the Architecture of the Metaphoric Staircase. Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. https://doi.org/10.26686/wgtn.17000098.v1
Sanath, S. (2015). The Architecture and Beyond of Tread and Riser.
Slessor, C. (2000). Contemporary Staircases. Mitchell Beazley
Templer, J. (1995). The Staircase: History and Theories (pp. 19). MIT Press.
Templer, J. (1992). The Staircase: Studies of Hazards, Falls and Safer Design. MIT Press.
The incident, directed by Isaac Ezban (2014; Mexico: Fosforescente, Morbido Films, Red Elephant, Yellow Films, 2014), DVD.
Wolff, J. (1992). The Real City, the Discursive City, the Disappearing City: Postmodernism and Urban Sociology. Theory and Society, 21(4), 553-560.
Credits
Labyrinth of Lost Dreams by Darren Curtis | https://www.darrencurtismusic.com/
Music promoted on https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
The choice of your set is creative. It surprised me when I found the entire story is a dream at the end of the video. I was impressed by the part when many stairwells are overlapping with each other. Many techniques are used in this specific part, including grey screen filter and fast-moving shot. These techniques make the still stairwells become moving object and create a feeling of finding and losing. These feelings highly express what we experience when having a dream. It is also impressive to use dream to show the disappearance. Disappearing objects and surrounding in our city may not exist in the future anymore; however, they may appear in people’s dream, especially in people who had been lived with them. This gives me a new way of thinking disappearance: the real disappearance is not the physical disappearance but no one remember them anymore.
Thank you for your comment!! Because I want to point out how the stairwell fades from our life and emphasize that it will vanish completely anytime in the future. I hope you will like it.
This is a creative project integrating research on both film and architecture presented in the form of a fictional film. The idea of the stairwell as a space of disappearance is rather original and you explained it well in your text. I appreciate how the video makes use of various techniques, although its overall clarity can be improved. Is there a reason for shooting some of the scenes in vertical?