Place: House Estate (Choi Hung Estate)
Title: Public City
Director’s name: Yim On Ming, Imy
Description of the theme:
Due to the epidemic in recent years, Hong Kong people cannot go travel, so they like to explore different Hong Kong attractions for local travel. Many public housing estates are also one of them, and Choi Hung Estate, in Wong Tai Sin District, Kowloon, has attracted many Hong Kong people and tourists. Completed in 1962, Choi Hung Estate is an early public housing in Hong Kong. Before it was built, it was just a piece of agricultural land. Its natural location faces Victoria Harbor and back against Lion Rock. Moreover, after it rains, the sun refracts on the sea a semicircular rainbow hence the name. Why does such an old building still attract so many people? Because of its unique design, Choi Hung Estate won the first architectural award in Hong Kong – the “Silver Medal Award”, the highest honor of the Hong Kong Institute of Architects in 1965.
As one of the earliest public housing estates in Hong Kong, Choi Hung Estate has retained many old-style small shops. Many shops here have been rooted here since the estate was built in 1965, and they have experienced half a century together. Choi Hung Estate lacks chain stores and shopping malls than other newly built public housing estates. On the contrary, it is full of small shops especially designed for residents’ daily needs, which portrays the unique characteristics of old Hong Kong life in Choi Hung Estate.
The most famous stadium and leisure park in Choi Hung Estate is the most classic shooting location for many tourists, and it is also where residents of the estate go for daily walks. Choi Hung Estate has suddenly increased many visitors, and how to balance the lives of residents and tourist visits? I got the answer through personal visitation.
Research method:
I first noticed Choi Hung Estate because many Hong Kong people and tourists would make a memorable trip to take pictures and explore. It made me wonder what is so special about a community surrounded initially by housing estates, old houses, and old shops.
This research aligns with Japanese artist Chikara Fujiwara’s “Urban Adventure” project. He and his creative team created a Game Book for Choi Hung Estate, leading Hong Kong people and having an in-depth adventure. I carried out a city exploration with the community sketch map of Choi Hung Estate. While discovering the unknown of Choi Hung Estate, I also wanted to understand the “check-in culture” here.
Video Production:
The film is mainly shot from a first-person perspective, viewers of such videos are more likely to have a sense of substitution, and I hope viewers can feel as if they are following me to explore Choi Hung Estate. Most of the shooting angles are distant shots, just like the angle when I was observing Choi Hung Estate.
The video used the Dubbing method, meaning the film did not take simultaneous recordings during filming. Since the shooting scene is a public place, the sound will not be clear, so the dubbing of the dialogue was recorded at home after editing the film.
The aleatory technique used in the middle of the video refers to developing the whole or part of the film’s content through improvisation without the prior structure of ideas and forms. During the filming, I met tourists who checked in the filming in Choi Hung Estate, so I recorded it impromptu and added the clips to the film.
Reflections:
I have been living in new-style housing estates for a long time. After visiting Choi Hung Estate, I can appreciate its characteristics of it. Among them, the old-style grocery stores, time-honored stores, and nostalgic Hong Kong-style tea restaurants in Choi Hung Estate have been gradually eliminated by society and replaced by group-operated shops. Therefore, cherish the remaining traditional Hong Kong characteristics and flavors even more.
Although the famous Choi Hung Estate Stadium and Leisure Park are open to the public, it is not a scenic spot but a stage for the lives of residents. For the large number of tourists who come here every day, the residents are familiar with it. Looking at the tourists taking pictures in various poses on the court, these later residents are also unexpected, but there are many strangers. People break into their living environment daily; maybe they are like a “rainbow”, tolerant and bearable. Learn to be respectful and polite while taking pictures so as not to interfere with the living space of the residents here so that Choi Hung Estate can keep its doors open and welcome tourists.
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Name: Yim On Ming
UID: 3036031158