Edinburgh Napier University

  The 'Our Future Scotland' film project was commissioned by the Scotland’s Futures Forum at the Scottish Parliament in early 2018 and was designed to engage people to share their visions and aspirations for the future. The research project became a major element in an initiative to widen participation in the political sphere - both with public screenings and on digital and social media platforms. As other countries have lamented a drop off in political engagement in recent years, Scotland has seen a spike in activity since the Independence Referendum in 2014 which has largely endured throughout the constitutional debates around Brexit. For the Scottish Parliament, and the Our Future Scotland project, the challenge was to harness this momentum of engagement without becoming entangled in partisan politics. The film project combines many of the established methodologies of participatory video with the interactive opportunities afforded by remediated digital content. It serves as a case study exploring how media practitioners and researchers can collaborate with public institutions to increase citizen participation.