SAMS news room

An award winning filmmaker has joined SAMS on a new film residency project to blend marine science and the arts on the silver screen.

Funded by Creative Scotland, Andy Crabb has been commissioned to make a total of eight films under the theme “Songs of the Scottish Sea/Òrain na Mara”. He will work alongside marine scientists at SAMS to make four short films that will take the audience on an inventive and experimental journey in to the Scottish seas.

In these four wordless films Andy will use music scores specially commissioned by acclaimed musicians Catriona McKay and Chris Stout. Inspired by experimental documentary cinema, Andy will combine marine images and sounds with the music to create playful, innovative films for an international audience.

The films will combine new footage with footage from the SAMS expedition archives and underwater film, as well as dark-field microscopy and animation. Andy will also work with students from four different educational levels, from primary school pupils to postgraduate PhD students, to produce four web-based documentaries providing the marine science background to the four themes of the wordless films – the power, the food, the health and the shape of the sea. The documentaries will be voiced in a number of languages for an international audience.

Andy Crabb has more than 20 years’ experience as a film and image maker. His work has included directing, editing and producing films and videos, ranging from fiction films, music videos and large screen backdrop projections to documentaries and community and disabled arts productions. He is currently also working as director on a television documentary with Solus Productions.