Difference between revisions of "CCTV"

Revision as of 01:00, 25 November 2015

OUTLINE

China Central Television Logo

CCTV are the initials which form the logo of China's Central Television, a network of 22 channels broadcasting 24 hours a day. It is also the acronym for Closed Circuit Television, a code name which used to be posted next to (no) vacancy signs outside motels on American roads in the 80s and 90s promoting the availability of porn films in the rooms. Today, it is associated with the increasingly large number of surveillance cameras installed on the streets of western capitals and more importantly, the ten million cameras monitoring China's 1.3 billion people.

Stepping down from your flight at Beijing's Capital Airport, your facial features are first captured, measured and recorded as an immigration officer scans your passport. A centralized network of over 10 million cameras using Facial recognition system will then track your every move until you check out at the end of your journey. CCTV cameras are on the streets, in elevators, lobbies, movie theaters, karaoke bars and on hundreds of battery operated drone helicopters silently hovering above China's megalopolis.

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BEIJING CAPITAL AIRPORT

Jouni's uptight expression matches the passport photo displayed next to the live capture of her face on a bulky screen as she stands at the immigration counter.

...

THE OPPOSITE HOUSE HOTEL, BEIJING

Jouni pours cleansing lotion into her palm and gently applies it on her face to remove a layer of seamless asymmetrical make up...

...After a long shower, she wears a hooded sports suit and sneakers before exiting her room. A series of CCTV cameras alternate between her floor, to the elevator to the lobby, in showing her stretching without ever revealing her hooded face until she exits the hotel for a run.

3RD RING, BEIJING

CCTV HQ

Jouni jogs under the elevated 3rd Ring expressway leading to the the Central Business District. After passing in front of the easily recognizable Chinese Television Building, which was her marker, she find the designated dead spot, clear of CCTV coverage, to dump her hoodie and melts into the pedestrian traffic walking into the Beijing subway.

WESTBOUND ON LINE 1, BEIJING SUBWAY

Sitting amongst hundreds of commuters, listening to Miles Davis on her headphone, Jouni dozes off to the jet lag as hes watches the passing stations: Dongdang, Wangfujing, Tiananmen, Tiananmen again, Xidan... As she fades away, she thinks about her findings during her trip to the Baltic Sea. About this old sailor who mentioned a baby on a submarine. Could this be her mother's story? What was she listening to on these noisy radio broadcasts from around the world? Why has she been kept in the dark her whole life by her father? Why was her mother abandoned by her own mother and why was she killed leaving a daughter, stuck with the same burden to find her roots... A subway employee shakes her shoulder. Pingguoyuan Station. End of the line. Jouni missed her stop.

HANOVO CORPORATE CAMPUS, HAIDIAN DISTRICT, BEIJING

Still in her running gear and with her headphones on, Jouni stretches on a grass patch by the Hanovo Headquarters. Pretending to search for music on her smartphone, she points its camera at employees exiting the main building while running a facial recognition software to ID her target. A plain looking guy in his late twenties holding a backpack exits on his own, not mingling with others. This is her man. Jouni packs up her phone, discreetly completes a few stretches, then start jogging, tailing her man.