Difference between revisions of "CCTV"
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As she sees young couples crossing the bridge hand in hand, she gives another awkward smile at Xing then grabs his hand. No more words are exchanged, but the newly formed couple merges into the other lovers strolling on this early Spring afternoon. | As she sees young couples crossing the bridge hand in hand, she gives another awkward smile at Xing then grabs his hand. No more words are exchanged, but the newly formed couple merges into the other lovers strolling on this early Spring afternoon. | ||
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| + | ====BENCH, SUMMER PALACE PARK==== | ||
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| + | As the odd couple sit at a park bench staring at the lake, Xing gets an idea and turn on a voice translation app on his phone. | ||
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| + | -My name is Xing. What is your name? | ||
| + | |||
| + | He then passes points the phone mic towards Jouni's mouth. | ||
Revision as of 01:42, 25 November 2015
OUTLINE
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.
<< PREVIOUS EPISODE - NEXT EPISODE >>
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
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 pretends to talk over the phone by main entrance the Hanovo Headquarters. As she pace around the sidewalk, naturally talking to herself, she points her phone in the direction of employees exiting the building while running a facial recognition software to ID her target. After over an hour repeating the same routine to her imaginary speaker, a plain looking guy in his late twenties holding a backpack exits on his own, not mingling with others. This is her man. Jouni hangs up her call, then start walking, tailing her man.
SUMMER PALACE PARK, HAIDIAN DISTRICT, BEIJING
Xing crosses the pedestrian bridge over Kunming Lake as Jouni, now slowly jogging, passes him then stops a few meters ahead. Looking exhausted from her run, she turns around and gives a fatal look to the oncoming Xing.
-Excuse me... I started running and I think I got lost...
Xing stares at the archetypal Western bomb in awe.
-Do you speak English? continues Jouni.
Xing stares at her with a grin, then answers with the only word that comes out... -No...
Jouni tries to hide her astonishment. That's the only thing that wasn't planned. How come the key software engineer of one of the largest computer maker in the world can't speak a word of English?
-Oh... is the only word she can utter as she tries find a way out, or more precisely, a way in.
As she sees young couples crossing the bridge hand in hand, she gives another awkward smile at Xing then grabs his hand. No more words are exchanged, but the newly formed couple merges into the other lovers strolling on this early Spring afternoon.
BENCH, SUMMER PALACE PARK
As the odd couple sit at a park bench staring at the lake, Xing gets an idea and turn on a voice translation app on his phone.
-My name is Xing. What is your name?
He then passes points the phone mic towards Jouni's mouth.