[Video Essay] Recovery City

Video: https://youtu.be/MtE_2MBiQTo

Recovery City — Street

Directed by: Yulan Shen 3035603942

Script:

2022.4.13~2022.4.19

The city experienced closed-off management due to Omicron Pandemic……

This is Zhangjiagang, a small city in Suzhou. 

This is a silent city, but used to be lively and energetic. 

The corona virus has changed a lot, the economy, the lifestyle and even people’s attitudes toward life.

There was no activities, no passengers and no vehicles on the street, people are forced to take quarantines at homes, factories or even offices……

we were stuck in a closed space for 7 days, only allowed to go outside for the nucleic acid testing ……

Luckily, the “controlled period” only lasts for 7 days, we still have to return to normal life……

This is Yangshe Old street, which is located in the central part of the city……an open place of sightseeing, shopping, catering and entertainment. 

The architecture style of the stores and restaurants along the street looks very similar to Suzhou garden, represented by the red tiles and the white walls. This architecture genre was not only famous for its delicate construction and layout, but also the sense of elegance and leisure pursued by the master of the garden in ancient times.

Previous pace of modern life in the city was fast, people were busy with work in order to make a living. But now, we have more free time since the place of work and life are flexible due to the pandemic. 

And…we have stayed in a confined space for a long time, it’s time to go outside and breathe the fresh air. 

Ultimately, the old street has welcomed its recovery, just like the city. 

When the sun set, the lights on and more people come here to have fun, the street has become even more crowded, the night market stall was refreshed again…..

Maybe the pandemic has diverted our appetite towards a more open space and also bring us back to an old lifestyle…..

This is Zhangjiagang, 

a place tends to be full of elegance and leisure again…..

 

Theme & Subject:

My topic focuses on showing the recovery city through comparing the lifestyle before and after the forced quarantine. Many things have changed due to the pandemic, social distance has been strictly regulated and many entertainment sites were not allowed to open especially during recent serious conditions where I lived. For example, take-away of food is allowed while eat-in is absolutely prohibited. However, The street seems to be more bustling than before since people have no places to have fun and take a rest. I observed that people have changed their preference from closed space to more open space like “street” since they want to breathe the fresh air after a long period of forced quarantine. In the past, people preferred to shop in a mall, work in a skyscraper, and enjoy the art in a richly decorated theater or museum, which is also a symbol of modern City. Now we can see that the street has become more crowded, which has also contributed to the rise of night market culture and stall culture. As a result, we have slowed down our life pace so we want to bring us back to the “old street” to enjoy the elegance of leisure that used to be the previous lifestyle.

Choice of place & component;

I decided to choose the Yangshe Old Street as the major shooting site. I will illustrate the reason for my choice in the following method part. For the shots during quarantine time, I completed it inside my community and some pieces (i.e. aerial scenes) outside the community were taken from the online materials since we were not allowed to leave our community.

Method of conducting the research and producing the video:

Actually there are many types of streets in my city, the reason I chose the Yangshe Old Street as my subject is the notification of the special architecture style. The structure of architecture and the whole layout of this place are similar to the Suzhou Garden where the houses are decorated by the delicate red tiles and while walls. There is also a small lake at the eastern part and at night, a fountain show with colorful lights will be held there. Before conducting the field research, I also read some articles about the construction and  Suzhou Garden, In ancient times, the owners of gardens integrated the pursuit of elegance and leisure into the construction of gardens; they using rocks and waters to create landscapes in gardens, which was also a kind of escape from the hustle clamorous world (Wang, 2020). The special characteristic of the old street is compatible with my theme and topic where people have been tired of busy life and now have free time to slow down their life pace and take a rest. 

After conducting field research, I also found another interesting phenomenon: there are more people gathered at the open space like the “street” but few are in the closed space like the “shopping mall”. One possible reason is due to the closed down of entertainment sites and restaurants inside the mall that makes the closed space lose its visitors. Another reason I consider is about escaping from the closed space after the long-period quarantine. The indoor business has also been transferred to the open space and that’s why we can see the revival of night market stalls. I have presented some pieces of this important component in my video since I suppose it is an important indicator of the recovery city. 

In my video, I tried to make a comparison between the lifestyles before and after the quarantine. The first part has stressed the feeling of “locked” through making contradictory scenes on the empty streets and regular life (stuck at closed space and doing nucleic acid testing). 

The whole video has used a lot more contrasting techniques, for example, the color tone where the first part is gloomy while the second part is warm (that’s why I focused on many shots on “red” tiles and lanterns). In the second part, I also intended to use the technique of montage, in the clip (2:09~2:11), I tried to put the clips of the same place and angle but at different time together to create the sense of “more people come here to have fun at night” so that I can make foreshadow for the next clip of  “night market stall”.

figure 1. Comparison between the color tones of two parts

figure 2. Same place but different scenes between day and night

Reflection:

I found out that the recovery city is not only about “more people on the street” but rather the change and preference of lifestyle matters more. These “changes” were embedded in many details and I gradually understand that the “recovery” does not necessarily mean return to the normal state but it can also represent a return from modern to an old lifestyle.

This is Zhangjiagang, a place tends to be full of elegance and leisure again…..

Word count: 790

 

References:

Wang Yuting 王雨婷. “Mingqing Suzhou Yuanlin Yu Wenren Shiyi Shenghuo Yanjiu, 明清苏州园林与文人诗意生活研究 [Study on Suzhou Gardens and Poetic Life of Literati in Ming and Qing Dynasties]” Suzhou University of Science and Technology, no.3 (2020). DOI： 10.27748/d.cnki.gszkj.2019.000025

WowZg. 静默之下的张家港, The silence of Zhangjiagang. Video Clip Source Retrieved May 12, 2022, from: https://www.xiaohongshu.com/discovery/item/625a177a000000002103ad15

Deepdream. 傍晚降落陌生的城市 Evening falls on strange cities, BGM Source Retrieved May 12, 2022, from: https://www.kugou.com/mixsong/42vapb2c.html#hash=D87CD2DA1FCF438FE998E7DFE57ADC41&album_id=35711042&album_audio_id=246684143

Gao Yulan 高玉兰. 古风纯音乐 Traditional Music, BGM Source Retrieved May 12, 2022, from: https://v.douyin.com/F5D1rQM/