What does it mean to be connected to nature? There are so many ways to feel more connected, and one of those ways, for so many folk, is through a lens.
For photographer Karen Miller Photography, looking through her camera is her way to connect with the animals she photographs. Karen’s photography feels intimate and altogether quite different to a lot of other wildlife photography we’ve seen.
And so this short film, Finding Bo, was born, and we have spent a lot of time understanding Karen’s process, both out in wild spaces and in front of the edit screen.
We are so excited to put out the trailer next week ahead of our premiere screening at Montrose Land and Sea festival next weekend.
- A fleeting moment from the film.
A behind the scenes moment from our latest shoot in the Italian Alps. A real mix of Type 1 & Type 2 fun - relentless, sweaty uphill, achey legs, tent shivering, and a lot of snack breaks with sensational views. And also the joy of witnessing pastel alpine light dance across the mountains, starry skies, and waking up to the warm sunshine on our faces.
Filmmaking in these spaces isn’t always easy, but these moments of perfect conditions, of feeling so tiny in grand spaces, and the contentedness from the simplest things, it really is unrivalled.
#outdoorfilmmaking
We’ve been off grid the last couple of days, soaking in the mountains views a little further afield than home. There’s something pretty magic about watching the sun go down in the mountains, about the journey to getting there, and the lasting emotions that experiences like these bring. Whether it’s commercial or documentary, it is a privilege to shoot in these spaces, and it’s always feels real.
- some moments from a past shoot, in the shadow of the Cuillin, on the beautiful Isle of Skye.
Director: Gregor D Sinclair
B-Cam: Eilidh Munro
AC: Charlie Harris
AD: Michael Yeoman
HMUA: Emma Gandolfo
Models: Ben Oakes /Andrew Wood / Emma Hamilton / Rita Yost
Client: Talisker
Agency: Fold7 / Kate Hinton / Verity Fine Hosken / Chhaya Kapila
#commercialfilm
Scotica Director, Gregor, has been out this week tending to the honeybee apiary, and had these musings to share:
”Honeybees are fascinating and remarkably intelligent beasts. But what a lot of folk don’t realise is that, for the most part, they’re essentially livestock. Apis mellifera ligustica, the most common species in commercial beekeeping, is a domesticated variety from Italy, while our own native ‘dark honeybee’, Apis mellifera mellifera, is confined only to a few isles in the Outer Hebrides.
”Beekeeping is a wonderful way to connect with your environment and produce delicious local food. However, we have lost two thirds of our pollinators in the past twenty years alone, a sobering statistic. And competition with large commercial honey farms has only exacerbated the issue.
”So when we talk about ‘saving our bees’, let’s concentrate on the hundreds of other species our isles are home to - such as the 24 varieties of bumblebee, or mason bees, or my personal favourite, the ashy mining bee. And let’s bring back Apis mellifera mellifera!”
A moment from one of our latest shoots, camera in hand and exploring what's beneath the surface in our UK waters.
Did you know that seagrasses are the ocean’s only flowering plants? Over millions of years seagrass has slowly ‘devolved’ back into the water, and as such provides a truly unique ecosystem for countless fish, invertebrates and microscopic life. According to Project Seagrass, these ecosystems can support up to 30x the number of species as surrounding areas. And, like kelp forests, they are a fantastic store of carbon.
Seagrass ‘meadows’ have been one the decline in the UK for the past century, thanks in part to disease, dredging and sewage dumping. It’s more important than ever to make sure these incredible habitats are protected and restored.
It’s been a heavy week in the UK and we’re thinking a lot about belonging, in the outside space, in our cities. Our work and our ethos as a company centres on a respect for nature, but also on respect for community, and the creation of a safe and positive space for everybody.
Film and photography, commercial or documentary - it is not created in a vacuum. Our work is part of the world and what is happening around us.
Solidarity to those affected by the ongoing riots and attacks across the UK. We stand against racism, and islamophobia, always.
Fling up yer pollen, and
Smooch a songbird,
For today we jubilate this lush and canny land!
Find yerself some favourite spot:
Somewhere that’s fizzing with field-loads of insects,
A place popping off, with furry little lifeforms,
Some thoroughfare encircled by wildflower festivals.
And once you’ve found it throw yer head back,
Follow a beech tree up its bark,
Until ye fall down on yer marsh,
And from the grass tell the sun
“Good work!”.
Give a river some vivid tribute,
Then take your vow of shushness.
Soak, In celebratory silence...
Chattiest silence I’ve ever heard!
View the full film: https://lnkd.in/eJdsH2kd
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Director/Editor: Gregor D Sinclair
Writer: Raymond Wilson
Camera: Gregor D Sinclair, Rachel Sarah
Voice Artist: Tim Lee
Client: Forest Carbon Ltd / Carbon Club
It's been really refreshing creating and sharing our new values, and this is our final official value - to create a positive environment.
We shed our ego; creating a positive space is one of our most fundamental values at Scotica. Creative collaboration is at our core, and everybody is valued and heard.
Safeguarding the well-being of everyone who’s a part of our shoots is one of our most fundamental values. Through our professionalism, planning, and experience, we do everything we can to keep our cast, crew and clients safe – physically, mentally and emotionally.
A flashback from Rachel Sarah's body of work - moments from directing a campaign in her pre-Scotica days.
"I loved working on this campaign - highlighting our connections to the outdoors and the work we can do in to break down barriers for others. Lauren, Trina & Jade have their own reasons to be in the outdoors, but they also spent their time within their own communities, bringing the outdoors and nature to those who need it.
In a world that, in many ways, is becoming disconnected, this idea of education, uplifting, and collaboration is one I'm looking to more and more within my own world and work as a filmmaker."
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Director: Rachel Sarah
Cinematography: Rachel Sarah & Emma Crome
Photography: Jessie Leong
Agency: Brandnation
Client: Merrell
We've really enjoyed putting our thoughts, feelings, and values to paper recently and, when talking about what is important to us, authentic representation was top of the list.
We are working to build a culture that celebrates and highlights authenticity, seeking out those lesser told stories in the UK and beyond.
A strong creative team is one that fully represents the project, and we aim to provide opportunities and mentorship behind the camera for creatives from all backgrounds.
We are continually learning, building a creative community driven by a shared passion for sustainability – both in front of and behind the camera.
We have lost 70% of our ancient woodland here in the UK.
Though we can never regain what we have lost, conservation efforts have lead to UK woodland cover more than doubling in the last 100 years. Despite this increase, woodland biodiversity is still decreasing, and the UK is failing to meet its tree-cover targets needed to meet carbon net zero by 2050.
”We need to at least quadruple the current rate of woodland creation and increase the proportion of UK-grown native species to help tackle the effects of climate change and give nature a fighting chance of recovery.”*
On our recent shoot with @forestcarbon_uk , looking at a five year old new woodland, we looked around at the increased biodiversity. The wildflower, the birds, and the change we could already see, so soon. With so much happening in the world, we hope that being able to play our part, in using film to to highlight these issues and showcase the work being done, can add to positive change, on a local and global level.
*Sources: The Woodland Trust / WWF
#environmentalfilmmaking #scotlandfilm #documentaryfilm #environmentalfilm
Being transparent about our values is so important to us for a myriad of reasons, and one of the things we're passionate about is treading lightly on the landscape, ensuring there is no disturbance to local fauna and flora, and working in a way which is sensitive to those most intimately connected with the land, its ecology and history.
All Scotica shoots are designed to have the lowest possible environmental footprint; we minimise travel, hire local as much as possible, and offset through tree-planting. We aim for zero to landfill and prioritise vegetarian catering.
Our focus has always been and will always be on promoting, preserving and revitalising the incredible natural landscapes we’re privileged enough to have on our doorstep.
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scotica.film
There's been a lot of change here at Scotica Film and, although we've always had ethics at the heart of all we do, we thought it was time to rewrite our values, with added insight from our new Creative Director Rachel Sarah.
Our aim has always been and will always be on promoting, preserving and revitalising the incredible natural landscapes we're privileged enough to have on our doorstep.
We capture the spirit of hope, of community, to show how the outdoors, and protecting nature, can inspire the best in us.
Our focus is in telling outdoor and environmental stories that have a positive impact on people and planet. In our commercial and our documentary film work, it is key for us to work alongside brands and organisations who also have ethics at their heart.
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www.scotica.film/
Today we're welcoming Rachel Sarah as our brand new Creative Director at Scotica Film.
We pride ourselves on creating films which cut to the core of issues around environment and adventure sport, and bringing on one of the UK’s top adventure filmmakers has felt like a very natural partnership.
We are so looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish together in the coming years, with many exciting documentary projects already on our slate.
And so, here is the brand new Scotica showreel - a perfect blend of this brand new journey.
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scotica.film/
Our posts have largely been filled with icy climbs and wintry memories lately but, as we welcome this beautiful start to May, it felt like it was time for something a little different.
We've been pretty excited to be in the midst of the edit for our latest documentary short. This is a film that explores intimate connections to nature, celebrates wildlife here in Scotland, and is already taking us on a bit of an emotional journey.
Here's a tiny snippet of what we've been immersing ourselves into, both in the edit and in our down time. Sound on for maximum effect 🍃
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https://www.scotica.film/
We've been doing a lot of re-writing and thinking about the values of Scotica these last months. How things are changing and how some things remain constant. A real appreciation for landscape, for local, for community, has always been within our values, and it will continue to be. Scotland and beyond.
This small excerpt from a past project, and the words spoken as part of it, sum it all up quite well -
"My relationship with the land is intimate, I just feel I have real roots in the landscape, it gives me nourishment for my soul."
#environmentalfilmmaking
It was such a privilege to film with Tamara Lunger and Jessie Dufton this past winter season, and hear their stories as they climbed together for the first time.
On shoots like this, as filmmakers, we always take something away with us. On this shoot, in Rjukan, we took away appreciation for the weather being so still, and also appreciation for Jesse and Tamara sharing their experiences with us, with the camera, and with those watching.
We're never entitled to people's stories, their experiences, their wisdom, joy, difficulties, lessons. Every film that we make, we remind ourselves of that.
You can watch the full film here: https://lnkd.in/e9NAuGsb?
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Shot for GORE-TEX Brand with TCO London
#iceclimbing #adventurefilmmaking
On the outskirts of Boston, woodland grows with beech, oak, and more. It's woodland that just two decades ago didn't exist at all.
It all started with Adrian, his vision to make his local area a better place to live, and create a natural space that would span far beyond his own lifetime.
Now, a whole community is involved - planting, maintaining, enjoying. The short film, A Space for Us, for Forest Carbon Ltd that focuses in on the tangible difference one person can make, and the need for us to look beyond our own lives to help create a more positive example, and environment for our future generations.
You can watch A Space for Us here: https://vimeo.com/891889790
#environmentalfilmmaking
This past winter season took us to Norway, shooting Tamara Lunger and Jesse Dufton as they explored the frozen formations of ice in Rjukan. We had short days, minus temperatures, powder snow and beautiful light, all culminating in a short film that explores the relationships these climbers have to one another, and their past experiences in the climbing world.
It’s brilliant to finally see the film out there online, and you can watch it here: https://youtu.be/nZt9fCnUniU?
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Shot for GORE-TEX Brand with TCO London
#iceclimbing #adventurefilmmaking
