From ‘Film Bang’ to filming boom(N.L.S.) This was a significant and well-chosen period to review.
I know because in 1964 I had the good fortune to become thetea boy at Campbell Harper Films in Edinburgh. I was alsopriviledged to be the only person with his name in both the first Film Bang(1978) and the current edition(2025).
During the late sixties I made a self-funded film called ‘Beneath the Skyline – Edinburgh to Music’ whilst attending Napier’s inaugural evening classes in still photography.
This was really my rookie effort, but it became legendary when the BBC chose ‘Beneath the Skyline’ to show off Edinburgh’s magnificence to the world. So, my impressionistic, self-funded vision of the city opened the ‘Eurovision Song Contest’ when it was broadcast from the Usher Hall in 1972.
BBC audience figures showed that my wee apprentice piece had been seen by over four hundred million people.
See excerpt: 1967/8 ‘Beneath the Skyline – Edinburgh to Music’ at marklittlewood.org.uk
Also see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sN_V_uDjd0
Forty-four years passed before I reached another milestone.B.A.F.T.A. Scotland presented me with their award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Scottish Film’.
See these stories and others in:
‘Shaping the Shadows: A Picture Maker’s Story’ on sale from:
The National Library of Scotland, marklittlewood.org.uk and Amazon.
#CampbellHarperFilms #NationalLibraryofScotland#filmbang #BeneaththeSkyline:EdinburghtoMusic#NapierUniversity #ShapingtheShadow’s:APicturemaker’sStory.
