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Martin Smith conceived and directed 'my city : edinburgh' for Channel 4 produced through Sugar Tree Productions. The series of four documentary slots were shot on Super 8 and feature Garbage lead singer Shirley Manson, the boxer Alex Arthur, the artist John Bellany and 10-year-old Sophie Watson from North Edinburgh Arts Youth Drama Group.
The films were the debut broadcast commission for Channel 4 by Edinburgh-based production company Sugar Tree Productions. The films are a bold and innovative collection which see their subjects reflect on the impact that Scotland’s capital city has had on their collective lives and work. For the purposes of the filming, some of the subjects went to remarkable lengths to take part. John Bellany flew in especially for the shoot from Italy and Shirley Manson freed up time from her Garbage recording schedule and returned to her native city from Madison, Wisconsin. Alex Arthur’s commitment proved to be even more physically taxing as the production required him to run across the entire length of the city despite recent knee surgery. Director Martin Smith states: “I was excited to work with such a stellar cast but was dead set against the idea of doing a regular ‘talking heads’ documentary. I didn’t want to go down the route of filming what was expected.
"We chose to work with Super 8 because it has a certain timeless quality that suited our films. Having said that we pushed the limits [and flaws] of the format as much as possible as it was important to us to use what is perceived as a somewhat old fashioned format in a contemporary way. "Every film is crafted individually around each subject. John’s film takes him to Port Seton where he was brought up and back to the fish-filleters where he worked whilst at art school in Edinburgh. The images in the film have a lot of harmonies with his own work. Alex undertakes his own physical and metaphorical journey across the city. Shirley was involved in every stage of her film – she was very hands-on and absolutely inspirational. While Sophie is the only non-celebrity involved, I wanted to include her and the North Edinburgh Arts Group because they represent Edinburgh’s future.”
The films were supported by funding from Edinburgh City Council and Edinburgh & Lothians Tourist Board, as part of the city’s branding project. The ‘my city : edinburgh’ films are broadcast Monday 2nd, Tuesday 3rd, Wednesday 4th and Thursday 5th August on Channel 4 at 7.55pm. They will subsequently be joined into one 12 minute film and distributed to international film festivals. |
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