Edinburgh Napier University

The career paths of the workforce behind film and television in Scotland will fall under the spotlight thanks to a new research project led by Edinburgh Napier University.

The project, which is being undertaken in partnership with the University of Edinburgh and the National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive, investigates  both the career journeys and strategies for career sustainability of freelancers working in film and television within Scotland over the last five decades.

The research draws on data from the 'Film Bang' directory of Scottish-based freelance crew personnel, published from 1976 to date, archival materials, and a series of oral history interviews with freelancers in various technical and craft roles across the industry.

Funded by the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities (SGSAH), the project hopes to uncover the stories of these professionals in order to gain new insights into the sector and help with the preservation of Scotland’s screen culture heritage.

The research project comes at an exciting time for film and television production in Scotland.

In recent times, the country has welcomed filming for several international productions: from Hollywood blockbusters such as the Fast & Furious franchise and Indiana Jones to the hit-series Outlander, filmed both on location and at the Wardpark Studio, in Cumbernauld.

To meet growing demand, the sector also saw the opening of the BBC Studioworks at Glasgow’s Kelvin Hall, where the second season of the police drama Screw is being filmed, and the FirstStage Studios  in Edinburgh’s Leith Shore, set of The Rig, the first Amazon Original series to be filmed entirely in Scotland.

And it’s the Scottish freelance workforce behind many of these successful productions that Nelson Correia, PhD researcher within Edinburgh Napier’s School of Arts and Creative Industries, is keen to speak to.

He says: “We know a lot about the work of Scottish directors, producers and film institutions. However, there is little research on the working lives of the technical and craft professionals who form the backbone of the industry, such as camera operators, sound recordists, editors and people across the art, costume and makeup departments. This research will offer an insight of the workings of the sector from the viewpoint of practitioners and inform future strategies for local talent development and skills retention.”

The project aims to preserve the testimonies of these professionals for future generations. Through the partnership with the National Library of Scotland the video-based interviews recorded during the research will be added to the Moving Image Archive permanent collections at Glasgow's Kelvin Hall for long-term preservation and public access.

Kay Foubister, Acquisition Curator at the Moving Image Archive and project supervisor added: “The opportunity to collaborate in this project to gather contemporary testimonies from a wide range of technical and craft skillsets will immeasurably enhance our existing oral history collection for future researchers and the understanding of the evolution of screen production practices in Scotland over the last 50 years.”

If you have worked in a technical role within the industry in the last 50 years and are interested in speaking to the research team about the project, please contact Nelson Correia on N.Correia@napier.ac.uk

Further details on the project can also be found here.

The photo above shows Director of Photography Oliver Cheesman, one of the project participants.