Having a 360-degree view means being able to see something at every angle from your vantage point. To capture what it’s like to be in a place as dynamic as Hong Kong — to even attempt to capture it — you need a wide array of angles. At seemingly every corner, every direction you look, some sensory magic is at play. Shining skyscrapers that appear to pierce the heavens. Fish and vegetables sizzling away in a dai pai dong’s fiery wok. The relentless and colourful cavalcade of buses, taxis, cars and trams that crisscross one of Asia’s most notoriously frenetic cities.
With this in mind, during the Spring of 2018, a group of journalism students from Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada landed in Hong Kong to participate in a two week reporting project. Dubbed “Hong Kong 360,” one aspect of the work was to explore the use of panoramic video cameras to produce more immersive storytelling experiences.
In this 360 clip, explore some of the abandoned villages and homes in Hong Kong’s New Territories. To view this clip on mobile and/or with a headset, click right here. To learn more about these ghost towns, read the feature story “Centuries Neglected.”
But they also wanted to document life in Hong Kong from different angles, to reach out to people from all walks of life. Much of the international news media coverage about this vital Asian financial hub is focused on the escalating tensions between pro-democracy activists and pro-Beijing forces. However, there are so many other stories to be told, stories from individuals who rarely make headlines or get air-time or are invited to participate in the conversation over Hong Kong’s fate. These are the stories of families desperate to give their children good futures, refugees in limbo, fiercely proud craftspeople in dying trades and same-sex couples fighting for acceptance. What was their reality of Hong Kong? What did they see for the future of their home? What these journalists found was a city undergoing a massive wave of profound social, political and cultural change. Whether these changes will be for better or worse, no one knows for sure. But in reporting these stories, every individual who shared their story seemed to agree on one thing: Hong Kong, the way it was, the way it is now, will never be the same.
REPORTERS/PRODUCERS:
Bianca Bharti
Adam Chen
Celina Gallardo
Camila Gonzalez
Declan Keogh
Tiffany Lam
Stephanie Liu
Adjani Ngako
Katie Swyers
Aurora Zboch
ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS (HK):
Ada Jiang
Zoe Law
360 VIDEO PRODUCERS:
Marissa Frosst
Adam Chen
Gary Gould
EDITORIAL CONSULTANT:
Richa Syal
WEBSITE PRODUCER:
Lindsay Hanna
DESIGN AND LAYOUT EDITOR:
Joshua Cameron
PROJECT FACULTY ADVISOR:
Adrian Ma
TRANSLATION CONSULTANTS:
Meilin Ma
Katie Lok Li
Esther Lee
COPY EDITOR:
Nicole Brumley
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
The Asian American Journalists Association Asia Chapter, Angie Lau, Oanh Ha, Holly Chiu-wai Chik, Joon-Nie Lau, Elaine Ramirez, Brendan Dellandrea, Ryerson International, the Ryerson University Faculty of Communication, Art and Design, Charles Falzon, Rana Latif, the Ryerson University School of Journalism, Janice Neil, Aseel Kafil, Lesley Salvadori, Belinda Lloyd, Tamsyn Burgmann, Kelvin K. Chan, Eva Tam, Tom Grundy, the Hong Kong University Journalism and Media Studies Centre, Jeffrey Timmermans, Keith Richburg, Matt Walsh, Florence de Changy and the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Ivan Lin, Francis Lam and Ms. Fung from the Society for Community Organization (SoCO), Yanki Lee, Albert Tsang, Kennif “Panda” Li and Cyril Lee from the Enable Foundation. Thank you to the many, many amazing people that shared their stories with us in Hong Kong.
This project would not have been possible without the support of Ryerson Library and the Collaboratory.
