https://youtu.be/z2ignwdN3Ao
Around the theme of this essay， Hybrid City， Nathan Road located on the Kowloon Peninsula of Hong Kong is the main space for research. Nathan Road, one of the main arterial roads in Kowloon City, has taken on the responsibility of being a commercial street and a transport hub. It is street composition and architectural structure is a mix of commercial, cultural and recreational diversity, creating a hybrid street. The bustle of Nathan Road can therefore be seen as a microcosm of the bustle of Hong Kong, which is facilitated by its hybridity. In order to better reflect the Hybridity of Nathan Road, the image was mainly chosen to document the streetscape of Nathan Road in the Mongkok area in multiple ways. The video has been chosen to fit the theme in three main ways: business, culture, and transport. The video’s footage, therefore, uses buildings, small shops, and, in the case of the metro station, transport, in order to encompass all three aspects. Although the shops are arranged in a staggered manner, the space is fully utilised and the buildings and small shops are thriving in the same street, which reflects the hybridity of commerce; Whether it is the small local restaurants of Hong Kong or the chain shops of major international brands, Nathan Road’s commercial landscape is also marked by a collapse of cultures that produces not a conflict but a harmonious symbiosis of hybridity; similarly, the streets of Nathan Road are crowded, both day and night. The spaces of Nathan Road are especially busy at night when the lights are on. It is hybridity underneath the undivided bustle of the day and night.
In preparation for this theme study, it is important to understand the history and evolution of Nathan Road. After the first opening of Nathan Road in the late Qing Dynasty, the development of Nathan Road during the British administration, and finally the integration of cultures behind Nathan Road after the return of Hong Kong to China, it is this integration of cultures that has formed the basis of the theme ‘Hybrid City’. It was this cultural fusion that formed the basis of the theme ‘Hybrid City’. It was therefore appropriate to use on-screen texts as explanatory text language to expand on the images in the production of the video. This was done in order to clearly explain the hybridity that arises for multiple parties. With an understanding of the history of Nathan Road, the most basic explanation of the formation of its current road structure can be found. The complexity behind the hybridity of Nathan Road also requires a slightly more detailed introduction as a preliminary explanation due to its important place in the historical and present-day commercial landscape. At the same time, as the subject matter contains multiple aspects of the hybridity on display, some necessary transitions are interspersed into the different aspect switches in order not to disrupt the viewer’s mind. As the language of the explanatory text on the screen is ‘subtitled’ rather than off-screen, the simplicity of the screen helps the viewer to focus on the text transitions. This is why the video uses white text on a black background as a transition page to link the different parts of the screen. Likewise, to ensure that the text is easy to read on screen, the background for most of the explanations is photographic stills. This ensures that the viewer’s attention is not distracted from reading the text by the moving video. The dynamic footage is interspersed with the textual explanations so as to balance the overall viewability of the video: the text and the dynamic images do not interfere with each other, and the viewer can read the explanatory text and then watch the video visually to confirm the point. In addition, this video is an exploration of Nathan Road from the perspective of the average tourist. The images are therefore shot from a mid angle of the street or a low angle of the building. This is a closer documentary angle to the visitor, which highlights the staggering of the buildings in the space.
What’s more, there are still details of this video that need to be reflected upon and could be improved. Perhaps the presence of hybridity could be better contrasted by a multi-screen visual design using more street scenes of buildings and small shops.
Reference：
Deng Jian-yi. (2013). The World in Sham Shui Po. Economics of Shanghai and Hong Kong, 1, 74 — 75.
Edensor, T. (2005). Looking for los angeles: Architecture, film, photography and the urban landscape. The Sociological Review, 53(4), 783-785. Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/looking-los-angeles-architecture-film-photography/docview/199355689/se-2
Fournier, C. (2013). The City Beyond Analogy. Architectural Design, 83(4), 124–131. https://doi.org/10.1002/ad.1629
Habdas, M. (2013). Space as a film. architecture in the perspective of audiovisual studies. [Przestrzen jako film – architektura w perspektywie badan nad audiowizualnosc] Przeglad Kulturoznawczy, 3(17), 234-247. Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/space-as-film-architecture-perspective/docview/1636459550/se-2
Law, Kai-Rui. (2013). Morning · Night · Afternoon · Night · Nathan Road. Charm of China: Current Literature Review, 8, 50 — 51.
O’Regan, T. (2013). Reception and exposure in architecture, film and television.Architectural Theory Review, 18(3), 272. Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/reception-exposure-architecture-film-television/docview/1526950052/se-2
Shonfield, K. (2000). Walls have feelings: Architecture, film and the city (1st ed.). London: Taylor & Francis Group. doi:https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203165492 Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/books/walls-have-feelings/docview/2130973871/se-2
Wong, J. K. W., & Lau, L. S.-K. (2013). From the “urban heat island” to the “green island”? A preliminary investigation into the potential of retrofitting green roofs in Mongkok district of Hong Kong. Habitat International, 39, 25–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2012.10.005
Xu Fong. (2021). Nathan Road, Hong Kong: From Soft Red Clay to street fireworks. Urban Geography, 1(1), 108 – 110.
Chow S P. (2005). Two Sides of Nathan Road = Nathan Road. A book.
ZHU JIAZHANG 3036102048