Back at the end of 2014 an American television production company, Resolution Productions, got in touch with Edinburgh Music Theatre asking if we could provide performers to help them make a documentary film about the Scottish economist and philosopher, Adam Smith.
In May 2015 members of the production company, along with a large amount of their filming kit, arrived in Edinburgh, and selected performers along with a couple of students from the MGA Academy came together to film various scenes around Edinburgh. The Grassmarket, Loudon’s Cafe on Dundee Street, Princes Street Gardens, and the Royal College of Physicians on Queen Street were all locations picked to set scenes to help illustrate some of Adam Smith’s concepts such as The Impartial Observer and The Man of Systems that would be scattered through the documentary, and filming was spread across a couple of days.
It was a brilliant opportunity to learn a little about how television and films get made, and really interesting to observe the cameraman/director, Jim Taylor, and producer Barbara Potter, working along with their sound engineers.
The results are now available to watch, with the programme premiering in the US last month and currently scheduled to be shown 888 times across several international territories, as well as already having been streamed over 2000 times on Vimeo, YouTube, and freetochoose.tv.
Our performers all appear in the first of the two episodes, Morality and Markets, which can be seen here. Watch our for them in the sections on ‘The Bore’, ‘The Impartial Spectator’, the cafe scene, and the ‘Man of Systems’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6S6pMsKzlI
Many thanks to Resolution Productions for giving our members this opportunity!
Director Jim relays his instructions to the cast.
Setting the scene for The Impartial Observer.
The group gather round to review results
The Royal College of Physicians on Queen Street, location for Man of Systems shot.
Close up shooting of the ‘Man of Systems’, Chris Young
The ‘student’ scene is shot in Loudon Cafe, Fountainbridge.
Performers from EMT and MGA Academy with director Jim after the cafe scene is shot.
EMT performer Robbie Noble gets the close-up treatment, as seen on the producer’s monitor.
This scene, shot in Princes Street Gardens, and featuring EMT’s Brett Herriot and Jess Gioia, concerns social interactions.
Close of up shooting of EMT performer Anna Spence
This scene, shot in the Grassmarket, concerns the concept of the Impartial Observer.
The student scene concerned the development of language in human beings, and how we acquire values and morality.
Monitor view of actors moving into place