The Factory of the World

When it comes to manufacturing, no place in the world has the same kind of allure as the Pearl River Delta region of China. Within just a hour-long train ride, two vastly different cultures co-exist, each with its unique appeal that keeps attracting engineers, entrepreneurs and hustlers alike. On the mainland side, cities like Shenzhen and Guangzhou bring the promise of cheap components, low-cost contract work, and the street cred of "having done the Shenzhen thing." And on the island, the capitalist utopia called Hong Kong glows with all of its high finance and stories of lavish expat lifestyles.

As the "new" China evolves, it seems like it's exactly the convergence of these of these two cultures that will bring the biggest change—and not just to the area but to the whole world. Still, understanding what exactly is going on and what the place is really all about remains a mystery to many. So, this June, we jumped on the bandwagon and headed east, trying to get our own feel for the whole thing.

Here's what we came back with...

[Credits]

Editing and Sound Design: Aleksandar Bradic
Interviews: Mike Szczys
Production: Hackaday

Read the Hackaday Article:

[gusos]

Two things to make it better:
• Remove ominous background humming
• Show titles for the people being interviewed

[i-make-robots]

Why is there a low droning sound through the whole video?

[niklaswennerstrand]

Excellent video interview.

Constructive criticism: The humming bass synth in the background was a bit annoying.
I guess it was placed there to cover up bad noise pickup from the surroundings.
My suggestion is to use free audio software Audacity and use the noise removal tool or similar.

[marhar]

This is great.  Interesting insights, much more in depth than I was expecting.  I hope you continue making these!

[saccadecom]

In addition to losing the hum, I'd suggest adding titles introducing people.  And either edit out asking the question (if it's not necessary to understand the response) or put decent mike on the interviewer.

[CappellaTheCat]

That background sound became unbearable after 5 minutes... stopped watching:(

[Le-Samourai]

Excellent interviews, well put together. For your next doc, I will do the soundtrack for you, totally free. Who thought 41 minutes of drone bass was a good idea?

[MrLegoxx]

it would be nice to have a names and countries next to guys talking to put things in context, also some view to the factories and markets would be great

[MrPaperlapapp]

Watch until the end!!
This video is an amazing piece of art on the one hand, and an amazing piece of documentary on the other hand. I like the droning sound in the background. As other members I didn't like it at the beginning, but then I think I realised there is a meaning behind it. And this meaning *is* what people don't like... (hilarious, I like it)
"We can't even start to understand what's going on in Shenzhen and in China, and very little people do, which is the problem!" (the good looking woman) People tend to ignore what intimidates their comfort zone.
"I think there is so much emphasis on all this expensive tools, (...) but I really feel like (...) you just need a bunch of motivated people doing interesting things, and that's it pretty much." (the Chinese looking guy)  Money (alone) doesn't make you a successful entrepreneur.
"If you fail, you're out of the market, and the best way not to fail is not to be engaged into something" (the Italian looking guy) No risk, no fun.
Welcome to the real life!!

[alma]

Good job! A true view of Shenzhen story.

[RyanStone]

Had to turn the bass all the way down to get through this one...

[formtapez]

are you serious? 40 minutes continuous bass synth playing? unwatchable

[fishinawaterbottle]

Too few interviewees. Too little context to everything. Give background. Give context. Give narration. Give explanation. Much more research should be done to understand the whole situation. Show the manufacturers, show the hacker spaces, show people working. Interview the manufacturers, interview the makers, interview the suppliers.

[RobHiness]

Audio was done very poorly in this video, however --- very insightful.

[brendanmalloy-painting]

How about some titles before each interview? Or maybe a mic for the interviewer?

[ThurstanHethorn]

Looks to be an interesting documentary. I have to agree with the others: Get rid of the droning bass track. It is incredibly distracting/annoying.

[tomr]

WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING WITH THE OMNIOUS BASSLINE???

[Galfonz]

Please loose the droning background. It just makes it harder to understand what people are saying.

[duotei]

Audio on this is garbage, not watching

[miro]

Next time please don't add this annoying background sound. It does not help concentration.