To bring the animation, Upside Down, to life, Yolanda conducted extensive research by night observations. Her observations took place from 2 am to 7 am in Shek Kip Mei, specifically chosen to capture the intersection between the deep night and early morning, allowing her to observe people during this unique time period.
Observation Diaries
2am-3am
-There are some cars on the main road. But the small street and alley is very quiet, which is very different from the daytime. Like the left side photo she took off a street in SSP, which is very crowded during the day but now it’s empty and quiet.
- Who: Mainly young and middle-aged (90%).
- Jogging, smoking, night snack, chatting, on the way home and work (taxi and bus driver, ambulance, police, convenience store clerk and delivery man).
3am-4am
- There are basically only patrolling police cars and taxis on the street. Private cars are rarely seen.
- Almost no one, except the homeless people. They gathered in the Tung Chau street park. Some of them sleep in the tents, some on mattresses, some directly on cardboard. and surrounded by their personal luggage.
- A man walks his dog in the park.
4am-5am
- The flow of people on the street gradually starts to rise.
- Sanitation workers start work.
- Sometimes you can see some young people on their way home after drinking.
- What surprised her most was the elderly. The elderly started exercising in the park around 4.30 am, even in rainy weather.
5am-6am
- The number of people on the street has increased significantly, most of them are middle-aged and elderly, some of them are waiting for the bus, some of them carrying goods to their own shops.
- Many restaurants are open after 5am.
- The MRT and street market is still not in operation at this time.
After 6am
- People wake up for work or school.
- More and more people are exercising in parks. They are dancing, jogging, and Tai Chi.
- Street sleepers begin to shift as well.
Other Interesting Occurrences
During my night observations, she also came across some interesting and unique occurrences that don't happen every day.
- The police make midnight arrests, and a total of 10 police cars came that night. They arrested a prisoner who was drunk and hit and run.
- There is a taxi driver who lives in his car. When passed him between 3am-4am, he was still playing on his smartphone. At 7am he slept in the taxi with a towel as a blindfold.
- A grandma would just put her trolley on the street and disappear. The trolley full of cardboard boxes she collected. At around 4am, she reappeared pushing the trolley away.
- A person studying at the computer in the university library wearing sunglasses at midnight.
Re-enactment Video
Due to issues related to portrait rights and the fact that some events occurred too quickly to capture, Yolanda was unable to fully depict all the interesting things she had seen. she staged a re-enactment video that allowed me to recreate some of the events and behaviors that she had observed.
