Alistair Scott
Alistair Scott

Dr Alistair Scott

Associate Professor

 0131 455 2892

  A.Scott2@napier.ac.uk

  

Biography

I am an Associate Professor Film and Television. I am the University Research Theme Lead for Culture and Communities. Since 2022 I have been a member of the Media Studies Commission of FIAT/IFTA (the International Federation of Television Archives). My research and creative practice focuses on two fields: film and TV production history; and the Franki Raffles Archive project rediscovering the legacy of a forgotten feminist social documentary photographer.

I started working in higher education since 2005 following a career in film and television. After graduating from the University of St Andrews, MA (Hons) in Modern History, I worked on community arts projects as a documentary film-maker. After full-time post-graduate training at the National Film & Television School, I spent over 25 years working as a director and producer for the BBC, Channel 4 and Scottish Television. I joined Edinburgh Napier University as a Visiting Lecturer in 2005, acting as an industry consultant for the bid to establish Screen Academy Scotland. From 2006-9 I was Lecturer in Screen Media at the University of the West of Scotland.

I have held academic leadership roles in the School of Arts and Creative Industries over the past 15 years: as Subject Group Leader for Photography, Film & Television 2009-2016; as Director of Screen Academy Scotland, the Creative Skillset Film Academy, (a partnership between Edinburgh Napier University and Edinburgh College of Art) 2015-19, and as Director of the Centre for Media and Culture 2018-21.

Selected Publications and research:
Scott, A. (2023) Songs for the Falling Angel, Conference Paper, FIAT/IFTA Symposium, BFI London
Scott, A (2022) The Activist in the Archive, Conference Paper, FIAT/IFTA World Conference, Cape Town, South Africa
Scott, A. & Davidson, N. (2021) The challenges facing freelancers in Scottish film and TV: an analysis of 45 years of data from the Film Bang directory 1976-2020, London, Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre.
Scott, A., 'STV at Sixty' in the International Journal of Scottish Theatre and Screen Studies Vol 11(1), 2018,Edinburgh, QMU, pp 29-50
Scott, A., 'Re-discovering feminist photographer Franki Raffles' in Studies in Photography, Summer 2017, Edinburgh, Scottish Society for the History of Photography pp 58-62.
Scott, A., 'Re-examining the aims and contexts of Raffles' photographic practice', in Brownrigg, J. & Scott, A. (2017) Observing Women at Work - Franki Raffles, Glasgow, GSA pp 15-21.
Scott, A., 'Representing Scottish communities on screen, chapter' in Malik, S., Chapain,C., & Comunian, R. (Eds) (2017) Community Filmmaking: Diversity, Practices and Places, London, Routledge, pp 60-75.
Scott, A. & Manderson, D. (2011) Local Hero, written and directed by Bill Forsyth Glasgow, Association of Scottish Literary Studies.
Scott, A. (2009) What’s the Point of Film School, or, What did Beaconsfield Studios do for the Scottish Film industry Chapter in Murray et al. (2009) Scottish Cinema Now, Newcastle upon Tyne Cambridge Scholars Publishing pp 206-221.

Professional Practice – selected credits:
Raploch Stories - Where are they now ? (60 mins BBC 2017), Raploch Revisited (60 mins BBC 2007), The Road to Melbourne (25 mins BBC 2005), Disaster at the Pit (30 mins BBC 1 Scotland 2002), Raploch Stories (6 x 30 mins BBC1 Scotland 2002), Postcards from Sighthill (25 mins Scottish TV This Scotland 2001), Dispatches – CCTV (52 mins Channel 4 2000), Execution at Camp 21 (52 mins Channel 4 Secret History series and The History Channel 1999), The Ring of Truth (30 mins film drama Channel 4 1996) Edinburgh International Film Festival, Children under Fire (30 mins Channel 4 1993), Songs for the Falling Angel - Lockerbie Requiem (60 mins ITV 1991), Supperman (52 mins STV 1991), NB (Scottish TV 1989-92), Leithers (52 mins Channel 4 People to People series 1987), Two Painters Amazed (45 mins Arena series BBC 2 1986), Getting in on the Action (30 mins NFTS 1982 Award for Best Documentary Celtic Film & TV Festival), On Site, Torness (29 mins 1979) included in Living Proof - Scotland's Climate Story (2021)

Exhibitions:
Franki Raffles: Photography, Activism, Campaign Works, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, 11 May 2024 - January 2025
'Observing Women at Work - Franki Raffles', curated by Jenny Brownrigg, The Reid Gallery, Glasgow School of Art, 4 March - 27 April, 2017. Produced in partnership with The Franki Raffles Archive Research Project, Edinburgh Napier University.

Franki Raffles – curated by Alistair Scott, at the 1st St Andrews Photography Festival, August-Sept 2016.

School

Research Groups

Themes

Research Areas

Events

Esteem

Advisory panels and expert committees or witness

  • Presented evidence on film production in Scotland to a committee of the Scottish Parliament
  • Committee Member, Scottish Media and Communication Association.
  • Member of the steering group for the Host Broadcaster Training Initiative (HBTI) Glasgow Commonwealth Games. This initiative provided work experience placements for students during the Games and with industry-partners in months prior to the main events.
  • Representative on the Creative Skillset Media Academy Network.
  • RTS (Royal Television Society) Scotland Branch Committee member.

 

Conference Organising Activity

  • Developing research projects based on prior experience as a practitioner
  • Representing Scottish Communities on screen: how today's practice has evolved
  • Observing Women at Work: Franki Raffles
  • Is Local TV in Scotland different ?
  • Film Bang – tracking the ‘community of practice of personnel and production companies in Scotland’s film and television sector 1976-2016
  • Representing Scottish working class communities on screen
  • Scottish communities on television, ‘Becoming Scotland’ Conference, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, September 2014
  • Nurturing talent for the Scottish film industry, 1st Global Congress on Scottish Literatures, University of Glasgow, July 2014
  • Housing Stories: continuity and innovation for the television documentary
  • Documentary – still the cornerstone of the film-making community in Scotland
  • From Lilybank to Unthank: the television documentary and the Scottish housing scheme
  • Local Hero Revisited
  • Channel 4 – the view from Scotland
  • Shieldinch or Raploch, Community Lives – Fact and Fiction on television

 

Conference/Workshop

  • How to support successful transition from FE to HE, (A. Scott, E. Alder & D. Maclean) Edinburgh Napier University Staff Conference, Craiglockhart, June 2010

 

External Examining/Validations

  • External Examiner Puttnam School of Film and Animation, Singapore
  • External Examiner, MA Documentary Film, Leeds Beckett University
  • External Panel Member, Subject Health Review, Media, Production and Performance, University of the West of Scotland
  • External Examiner, MA Directing for Film & TV and MA Producing for Film & TV, Bournemouth University
  • External Panel Chair, BA Media, University of Stirling
  • External Panel Member, BA Digital Film, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
  • External Panel Assessor, BA Creative Practice, University of West of Scotland
  • External Examiner, MA Video Production and Film Studies, University of West London

 

Fellowships and Awards

  • Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy

 

Grant Reviewer

  • UKRI Assessor Innovate UK

 

Invited Speaker

  • Ways to develop previous practitioner experience for research
  • Franki and Anna Raffles's Soviet Diaries Summer 1988
  • Establishing the Franki Raffles Research Archive

 

Membership of Professional Body

  • RTS (Royal Television Society) Scotland Branch Vice-Chair

 

Non-executive Directorship

  • Screen Education Edinburgh - Board Member

 

Public/Community Engagement

  • Screening of 'Leithers' (60 mins) Channel 4
  • Franki Raffles and Jo Spence, Public Talk at Stills Gallery

 

Research Degree External Examining

  • External Examiner PhD University of the West of Scotland
  • External Examiner MPhil University of St Andrews

 

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Date


18 results

Re-examining the aims and context of Raffles' photographic practice

Book Chapter
Scott, A. (2017)
Re-examining the aims and context of Raffles' photographic practice. In Franki Raffles: Observing Women at Work, 15-23
No abstract available.

Franki Raffles at the 1st St Andrews Photography Festival

Exhibition / Performance
Scott, A. Franki Raffles at the 1st St Andrews Photography Festival. 1 August 2016 - 11 September 2016. (Unpublished)

)
Scott, A. Franki Raffles at the 1st St Andrews Photography Festival. 1 August 2016 - 11 September 2016. (Unpublished
An exhibition of selected images from the Franki Raffles Archive Research project curated by Alistair Scott.

Franki Raffles Archive

Digital Artefact
Scott, A. J. (2016)
Franki Raffles Archive
Franki Raffles (1955-94) was a feminist social documentary photographer. She was based in Edinburgh but travelled widely, photographing women at work and in their everyday l...

Is Local TV in Scotland different?

Presentation / Conference
Scott, A. J. (2015, November)
Is Local TV in Scotland different?. Paper presented at Nations and Regions Conference: Challenging Media Landscapes, Salford, UK

Film Bang – tracking the community of practice of personnel and production companies in Scotland’s film and television sector 1976-2016.

Presentation / Conference
Scott, A. J. (2015, January)
Film Bang – tracking the community of practice of personnel and production companies in Scotland’s film and television sector 1976-2016. Paper presented at MeCCSA (Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association) Annual Conference, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne

Raploch Stories: continuity and innovation for television documentary production

Thesis
Scott, A. J. Raploch Stories: continuity and innovation for television documentary production. (Thesis)
Edinburgh Napier University. Retrieved from http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/7245
This thesis provides an ‘insider account’ of the process of making contemporary ‘observational’ documentaries from within the broadcasting industry. Raploch Stories (2002) an...

Directed by Bill Forsyth 'Local Hero' (1983)

Book
Manderson, D., & Scott, A. J. (2010)
Directed by Bill Forsyth 'Local Hero' (1983). Association of Scottish Literary Studies
This is a study of the feature film 'Local Hero', written and directed by Bill Forsyth, and is one of a series of study guides for secondary school pupils and students in furt...

What's the Point of Film School, or, What did Beaconsfield Film Studios ever do for the Scottish film industry?

Book
Scott, A. J. (2008)
What's the Point of Film School, or, What did Beaconsfield Film Studios ever do for the Scottish film industry?. In J. Murray, F. Farley, & R. Stoneman (Eds.), Scottish Cinema Now, 206-221. Cambridge Scholars Publishing
This is an essay which examines the role of the UK National Film and TV School, Beaconsfield, in nurturing Scottish film-makers in the period 1970-2005. It looks back at the h...

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