Script

1. Script
*Establishing shotof Loch Ness – day*
Hostvoiceover: What lies in the watery depths of Earth has always remained
somewhatof a mystery to us. No caseis this truer than Loch Ness, the largest
volume of water in the UK. Loch Ness holds more water than all the lakes in
England and Wales and has a depth of 788 feet and a length of 23 miles. The
loch lies in the Glen Mor, which divides the Highlands and forms partof the
systemof waterways acrossScotland. Butthe real interest lies from what’s
inside the famous lake itself…
This is, Loch Ness: Below the Surface.
*The title and my name appear over the establishing shots of Loch Ness*
*Footage of Loch Ness frombelow the water surface – daylight creeping
through*
*Ambient water noises and bubbles in the background*
Hostvoiceover: Rumours of a Monster in Loch Ness started as early as 565 AD,
in a biography of St. Columba. The biography claims that an alleged monster
bit a swimmer and was prepared to attack another man before Columba
intervened, and when he ordered the beast to “go back”, it obeyed. However,
it wasn’tuntil 1933 that the sea serpentbecame as widely known as it is today.
*Cut to a mid-shotof me next to water looking into a camera – day*
*Stop the water noises*
Host: This is becausein 1933, theLoch Ness monster was seen on a road next
to Loch Ness by a couple called Mr and Mrs Spicer. They supposedly saw an
enormous animal which they compared to a “dragon or prehistoric monster”
and after it crossed in frontof their car, it disappeared into the water. The
incident was reported in a Scottish newspaper and after that, numerous
sightings followed. In December 1933 theDaily
Mail commissioned MarmadukeWetherell, a big-game hunter, to locate the
Loch Ness Monster. Along the lake’s shores, he found large footprints that he
believed belonged to “a very powerfulsoft-footed animal that was about20
feet long.” However, upon closer inspection, zoologists at the Natural History
Museum determined that the tracks wereidentical and made with an umbrella
stand or ashtray as well as a hippopotamus leg as a base.

2. *Put the surgeons photograph in framebut not completely overlapping me
while I’mspeaking*
Host: Then in 1934 English physician RobertKenneth Wilson photographed the
alleged creature. He took the iconic image known as the “surgeon’s
photograph” which appeared to show the monster’s smallhead and neck.
The Daily Mail printed the photograph, sparking an international sensation.
Making many speculate that the creature was a Plesiosaur, a marine reptile
that went extinct about66 million years ago.
*Use photos fromcarnivals and elephants swimming*
Host: Also, during the 1930s, a palaeontologistcalled Neil Clark found that fairs
and circuses werecommon in the Inverness area. This made him theorise that
the elephants used in the fairs and circuses may havebeen allowed to swim in
the loch, while the travelling carnivals stopped so the animals could rest.
*Use images fromthe expeditions*
Host: Then in the 1960s, several British universities launched
expeditions to Loch Ness, using sonar to search the deep. In each
expedition the sonar operators detected large, moving underwater
objects they could not explain. However, the monster’s existence
wasn’t confirmed for certain.
*Show images of the movie poster and the scene with the Loch Ness
Monster in it*
Host: In 1969, a Loch Ness Monster prop began construction for the
1970 movie the private life of Sherlock Holmes. However, the prop
sadly sank to the bottom of the loch during filming, but in 2016 a
Norwegian organization called Kongsberg Maritime sent a high-tech
robot down into Loch Ness to scan the depths. The robot sent back
images of a mass fitting the exact description of the Loch Ness Monster
which turned out to be the prop.
*Cut to diamond shaped flipper photographs*
Host: In 1972 underwater pictures of The Loch Ness monster surfaced which
showed an immense creaturewith diamond shaped flippers.
*Use images of the team and bull elephant seals*

3. On April 1st in 1972, theworld wokeup to hear the news that Nessie had been
found dead in the loch the day before. Itwas headline news around the world
and a lot of people questioned the reports saying it was clearly a joke for April
Fool’s Day, but no, the reports wereaccurate. Something really had been
found dead in the Loch. The finders had taken it all incredibly seriously. They
were a team of scientists associated with Flamingo Park Zoo in North Yorkshire
and they had gone to Scotland to join with the Loch Ness Phenomena
Investigation Bureau in a search for the monster. While they werehaving their
breakfaston the morning of Friday the 31st
of March when they weretold that
the management had received a call about something floating in Loch Ness.
The team sprinted to gather their gear and rushed to the bank of the Loch
fromthere they could see a hump. Team leader Terence O’Brien led the
recovery mission, and shortly after 9am the “Loch Ness Monster” was
beached. The Flamingo Park Zoo was informed of their historic find. Itwas
decided they would bring it back to Yorkshirefor examination. Then, the
general curator of Edinburgh Zoo called Michael Rushton, came to Dunfermline
to examine the corpse. He figured out that “Nessie” was in fact a bull elephant
seal, native to the South Atlantic. Itturned out to be Flamingo Park Zoo’s
education officer called John Shields, who created the hoax purely as a prank
on his colleagues to mark April Fool’s Day. He explained that an elephant seal
had been broughtfromthe Falklands to Dudley Zoo where it had died soon
after its arrival. He shaved off its whiskers, padded its cheeks with stones and
arranged for it to be deep frozen. The seal went into the Loch, and he made an
anonymous call to the team hotel to spark the death of “Nessie”.
*Insertimage of the expedition and what was captured*
Host: Three years later in 1975, Boston’s Academy of Applied Science
combined sonar and underwater photography in an expedition to Loch
Ness. They captured a photo that after enhancement, appeared to
show the giant flipper of a plesiosaur-like creature like in 1972.
*Show surgeons photograph and maybe animate it being crossed out*
Host: Lots of photographs allegedly showed the Loch Ness Monster, but most
were discredited as fakes or as depicting other animals or objects. For
example, in 1994 it was revealed that Robert Kenneth Wilson’s photograph
was a hoax and in fact the “monster” was a plastic-and-wooden head attached
to a toy submarine.

4. *Use images fromthe expedition, images of eels, and plesiosaurs*
Host: Most recently in 2018, researchers conducted a DNA survey of Loch Ness
to determine what creatures live in the loch. No signs of a plesiosaur or other
such large animals werefound, although the results indicated the presenceof
numerous eels. This opened the possibility that the monster is an oversized
eel. Despite the lack of conclusiveevidence, the Loch Ness monster remained
popular and profitable and even in the early 21stcentury it was thought that it
contributed nearly $80 million annually to Scotland’s economy.
*Use general footage of Scotland (maybethe highlands) as a transition
between and over next part*
Host: Not everyonebelieves in the possibility of a monster in Loch Ness, so I’ve
conducted a few interviews to see whatpeople believe and why.
*Cut to interviews*
*Render drone shotfootage of Loch Ness on the green screen* (makesurethe
chair can’tbe seen in the footage and that they’renot wearing green)
Host: What’s your name and age?
Guest: …
Host: When did you first hear aboutthe loch ness monster and how?
Guest: …
Host: Do you believe in the Loch Ness Monster…haveyou always believed this?
Guest: …
Host: What do you think the Loch Ness monster is?
Guest: …
Host: What do you think the appeal of the Loch Ness Monster is?
Guest: …
*Cut to footage of loch ness*
Host: The existence of a monster in Loch Ness remains a mystery to us.
Perhaps we’ll never find proof that this possible Plesiosaur owns thewaters of

5. Scotland like the dinosaurs did 66 million years ago, but one thing for certain is
that it’s an interesting story, nonetheless.
*Cut to credits*
*Possiblecredits roll if I have enough writing*