Surveillance footage gets a starring role

NEW YORK — Adam Rifkin was walking down an aisle at Target when something hit him: at that moment, he was the star of his own movie — albeit a boring one.

"Every aisle I would walk down, there were multiple cameras on me," the 41-year-old director said in a recent interview. "The filmmaker in me started to piece together the various shots. I thought to myself, 'If I could obtain this footage and cut this together, this could be a scene."'

Rifkin's curiosity has led to "Look." It's a film shot entirely from the perspective of surveillance cameras. For the low-budget movie — intentionally cast without stars — Rifkin placed his cameras wherever surveillance cameras already were or would likely be: above ATMs, around high school grounds, in department store changing rooms (yes, it's legal in some states).

The film follows several characters across a handful of days as they move in and out of the purview of surveillance cameras. The obvious question is: How do our lives change if we're being constantly watched?

"Look" suggests the cameras that increasingly blanket society are both a blessing and a curse. Rifkin's cameras catch people cheating on their spouses, criminals murdering a police officer and attractive women farting in elevators. Sometimes the video evidence brings about justice; other times, it tells only a fractured version of the truth.

"To me, it's such a complex issue," says Rifkin. "I believe that in many instances these cameras provide a valuable service. They help deter crime or they help solve crime. I also think conversely that in many, many instances, they're a complete invasion of privacy."

It's an issue that lawmakers, police departments and civil liberty advocates are increasingly wrestling with. Better technology and the pressing threat of terrorism have made video surveillance a popular tool, particularly in cities.

London has been at the forefront of video surveillance and is widely considered the most camera-covered city in the world, with an estimated 4 million cameras doting its streets. Their closed-circuit television found a world stage in 2005 when it helped identify the bombers of the July 2005 terrorist attacks.

It was a lesson taken to heart by the Department of Homeland Security and American police departments. The area below 14th Street in Manhattan — an area considered one of the most likely terrorists targets — reportedly has more than 4,200 cameras.

Other cities have also increased surveillance, including Chicago, Washington and Philadelphia.