Port Glasgow (Clyde Built)
Port Glasgow was my submission for our first assignment on the Sound for Moving Image course where we had to create a film and soundscape that fit the theme of Clyde Built.
I chose to explore Port Glasgow due to its connections to the ship building industry, and its decline in the years since the shipyards closed. I was conscious to not to exploit the poverty of the town, rather trying to find the beauty in such a place. However, the town has been blatantly devastated by the lack of industry, and rather than making a film that tries to hide that, I felt it more important to unveil the tragedy of this.
The film is a lament to the working class, who were left economically and socially stranded after the collapse of the ship building industry. Port Glasgow is a microcosm of the West of Scotland; there are countless communities who have been left in an economic downward spiral following the disappearance of industry.
The spoken word was written and performed by my partner, Rosa Stevenson. It references several aspects Scottish culture. The line “the ship builders tae haud oan” is in reference to my Great-Granda, who was a ship builder and a hauder-oan, a position where he would keep the bolts in place as they were positioned in the hull.