Title: Fast City
Synopsis:
The given site was ‘MTR passage,’ and this is a documentary-style video about the busy and fast-paced morning hours of the workers in the city. The background of this video is the subway station called ‘Yeouido Station’ in Seoul, Korea, which is one of the busiest subway stations during the morning rush hour in Seoul City. As subway is one the main public transportations in Korea, its rush hour is in the morning since many of the workers/office workers use it on their way to work. This video also connects with the COVID-19 situation in Korea; how the society and daily lives have changed fast due to the COVID-19, and how people have quickly adapted to the ‘new normal.’ In the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, it has reduced the use of the subway, but the year after, as people adapted to the situation, subway use slowly increased again and their busy and fast-paced morning hours in subway began again. Connecting these two main ideas of ‘fast-paced morning hours of the workers in the city’ and ‘how COVID-19 quickly changed people’s daily lives and how people have quickly adapted to the new days’, this video reflects the features of the life of the citizens of the ‘fast city.’
Script:
Every morning, the way to work is like a war. Hundreds of thousands of workers from different districts hit the road, getting to their work. This is Yeouido Station, one of the busiest subway stations during the morning rush hour in Seoul City, Korea. Yeouido, also known as the “Wall Street” of Korea, is main finance and investment banking district of Seoul.
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, during the morning rush hour from 5:30 am to 9:00 am, more than 145 thousand metro users come to Yeouido. Every day, every morning, the people of this city moves very fast starting their busy day.
The narrow passageways divided into several different directions, people walking through these narrow passageways going their own way. The processions of people filling these narrow passageways forces people to walk at a fast pace.
But COVID-19, which began to spread in Korea last February, it has destroyed many people’s daily lives. The social anxiety of meeting group of people has grown and being with strangers in a confined space was a great fear that last year the Seoul metro passengers have decreased by 27%. Even with just one confirmed case of COVID-19, the whole building had to close, which might have been someone’s everyday workplace. This fast-spreading disease was more than enough to destroy people’s fast-paced daily lives.
However, a year after this pandemic, people are adapting one by one to their changed daily lives. Wearing masks, sanitizing hands, refraining from human contacts, and so on have now settled in their daily lives. One by one, people started to fill this narrow space again, walking down the passage as if nothing has happened. People are now back on their way to work, and the people of this city began to move very fast, getting back to their busy day.
Now, the “New Normal” era has started and changed daily life is becoming a new “standard.” People call this, “Post-Corona Era.” Amid the fast-spreading virus, people’s daily life patterns have collapsed quickly, and now they are quickly adapting and rebuilding their lives, living just another day in this fast city as if it is a normal day.
These are the citizens of the fast city.
Storyboard:
Background music: Great-Business_AdobeStock_353732301
References:
배로이. “서울지하철 수송인원 27% 감소.” ENB교육뉴스방송, 28 Jan. 2021, www.enbnews.org/news/articleView.html?idxno=23427. Accessed 17 May 2021.
최윤정. “‘출근길부터 지옥철’ 혼잡도 TOP 5 모두 9호선.” 연합뉴스, 28 Feb. 2016, www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20160226173000004. Accessed 17 May 2021.
국토교통부. “코로나19로 지난해 버스·지하철 등 대중교통 이용 27% 감소.” Korea.kr, 대한민국 정책브리핑, 23 Mar. 2021, www.korea.kr/news/policyNewsView.do?newsId=148885347. Accessed 17 May 2021.
MTN. “서울시, ‘여의도 초고층 금융도시’ 복합개발 추진.” MTN, 30 Oct. 2020, news.mtn.co.kr/v/2020103010503274522. Accessed 17 May 2021.
Seyoung Ho 3035741184
Hi! First of all, I really enjoyed your video. South Korea is well-known for its “fast pace” in every aspect and I’m glad you used that as a trait of describing your city. Fast forwarding the videos, although the Korean metro system (population movement) itself is fast enough, was an interesting thing to watch in your video that showed a “fast city”. Though I would have loved it if you had more video footages (Ex. a time-lapse) that were shot at the entrance of the subway to show the high population using the facility daily. But nice and clear narrating, and clear message to the viewer! Great work!
It was interesting to learn about how other cities coped with the coronavirus, especially South Korea which also has a fast-paced lifestyle like Hong Kong! I was able to learn a lot from your clear and on-point narration, and I also found it quite surprising to see Hong Kong and South Korea were so similar! But it also made me wonder the differences between Hong Kong and South Korea’s metro system, I think you could perhaps draw some comparisons between the two cities to make it even more fascinating, which could add more depth on top of all the detailed investigative work you’ve done! Nonetheless, this was a very clear and educational documentary, well done!
Hi! It was definitely an interesting video to me as this shows how other cities are coping with COVID-19, it was great to learn more about how other countries are implying different strategies to battle against this deadly pandemic. This video broadens my view and knowledge of other metro systems other than Hong Kong. But I think you can add more comparisons for the video so it will make this more in-depth. But nonetheless, this video draws my attention because this educates me more about South Korea which is fascinating.
Hi! I really appreciate how your video has clearly showed ‘fast city’ by people walking through in MTR station. All the scenes in the video seems to support your title. Also, I think your contents in the video are really informative and interesting since I didn’t know that there are more than 145 thousand metro users come to Yeouido. However, I think it would be better if you could explain more about your camera angle on your text. But still, this is a great video and I really enjoyed it! Well done!
It was fascinating to learn how other fast cities dealt with the pandemic. It captured the busiest time of Seoul subway stations. Or maybe the citizens of Seoul were used to the outbreak of COVID-19. The number of people was more than I thought. The video was well-organized that allowed me to grasp a general review of how busy and crowded the city is. It successfully demonstrated the features of the people in a rush-hour under the outbreak of COVID-19. Good Job!
Your video has a clear focus – the busiest metro station in Seoul. It is a good choice of site to illustrate your topic – Fast City. You have provided sufficient research data to prove your hypothesis as well, which enriches your video. The videography is also successful in showing the ‘fastness’. It is also very thoughtful that you interpreted ‘fastness’ in multiple ways, pointing out how people in a fast city use their fast pace to quickly overcome the impacts of the pandemic on their everyday life. After all, like what you have mentioned, people are living in the pandemic like a normal day. Yet, is it really normal? Is there anything you wish people could have reflected on instead of resuming their everyday life right away? Overall, it is a video with a clear focus and good research.