Planning our CCTV

Documentary

We decided to base our documentary on CCTV in Britain, and whether the

country is becoming a ‘surveillance society’.

We felt this would be interesting and entertaining

for our audience as it’s a controversial and relevant

issue at the moment.

During the opening there will be quiet music playing and a voice over, introducing the topic and telling the audience some shocking

statistics about CCTV (i.e. how many times a person is caught on camera per day)

The opening sequence will only last about 30 seconds

Each shot will be a very short clip which introduces the audience to some of the issues explored in the

documentary

Short clip of a busy street

Commentry – The average Londoner is caught on CCTV at least 300 times a day…

Quick shot showing a CCTV camera turning, which is a transition into the next shot

Short clip of Channel 4’s ‘Big Brother’

Zooms out to a shot of CCTV footage looking into a home window –the real Big Brother

Commentry – Is England becoming the real Big Brother?

main documentary

begins

Shot of a CCTV camera turning to face the viewers at home, making them feel like they’re being watched. The title of our documentary will be included in this shot and will then lead

into the main documentary.

We are going to discuss controversial issues and circumstances where CCTV has been mentioned in the press.

For Example..

The woman who threw the cat in the bin

http://www.bbc.co.uk/crimewatch/appeals/

2010/02/warwickshire_assassin.shtml

o BBC’s Crimewatch has been an helpful source of information on CCTV, as real

CCTV footage is used as an integral part of the programme.

o The footage is used as an appeal the viewers at home

to identify the criminals featured.

o It has been a key element in helping to

catch some of Britain’s worst criminals .

o Crimewatch is a good example of why CCTV is valuable and effective in society. We want to include some archive footage from Crimewatch in our documentary to demonstrate how useful CCTV can be.

Has CCTV gone too far? Talking cctv cameras.. The real big

brother?• Another issue we want to discuss in

the documentary is the arrival of Britain’s first talking CCTV cameras.• They publicly announce bad

behaviour and shame offenders into acting more responsibly.

• We thought this would be interesting to explore in our

documentary as it’s something that affects every viewer personally.

Live CCTV Footage OnlineWhilst researching the topic we found out that anyone can watch live footage from

CCTV cameras around the world at any time. There are live streams of CCTV cameras outside shops, universities, tourist attractions and places of interest

(for example Leister Square, Trafalgar Square and Oxford Street). They usually include sound, and the facility to zoom in and out. For example, you can watch

live stream footage of Abbey Road in London on this website:

http://www.abbeyroad.com/visit/

However online CCTV streaming is also being used to catch criminals -

This BBC news report talks about the pros of CCTV being available on the internet…