Video and Blogger

I have to say that Blogger is not the greatest site for publishing video. The files it's prepared to accept are too small. The video window is 4x3 when it should be 16x9 by now. It doesn't seem to like MP4 format. It can't easily embed code from YouTube despite being from the same company. I hate to say it but WordPress wins hands down when it comes to this kind of showcase.

The Grouse Statue is handed over

The Grouse Statue has been assembled, installed and now it's been formally handed over as a gift to the people of Perth. The Council had said that, to mark the city's 800th anniversary in a lasting way, they wanted a piece of public art. The statue is very much that. This is part of the official ceremony, the formal handing over of the Grouse by Edrington to the local authority. Now all I have to do is make the video to be shown on Friday!!!

The Big Bird Arrives in Perth

The Grouse Statue has arrived at a car park near its final home -- the Broxden Roundabout. The body was driven up from Peebles first thing; the wings and came from the galvanizers in Coatbridge. The team did a great job putting it all together. The bolts were fixed with power drivers so the suggestion that some drunken jobs might climb up one night and leave one of their number trapped inside is actually impossible.

By the way, the team decided to pre-empt the idea that some other bright spark might try to put a "hat" on the bird -- so it's already been photographed with a traffic cone on its head.

The Grouse Statue is Galvanized

The Grouse Statue needs to be protected from the weather -- after all, it's going to be standing on the Broxden Roundabout outside Perth in all weathers. That meant it had to be galvanized but there's only one company in the UK with a tank big enough to take the body - Joseph Ash in Telford. So it was put on the back of a trailer and driven south. Here's what happened then.

The Big Bird in Telford

The Grouse Statue has travelled down to Telford where it will be dipped first in acid and then in a bath of molten zinc. We're here to film it emerge with its new plumage (all except the wings and the tail which aren't finished yet -- they'll be dipped in Scotland).

This weekend, the silver bird will be assembled near the Broxden roundabout in Perth and then mounted on a giant plynth on Sunday -- the plynth is 8m high; the bird is
6m tall. That should be high enough to fly above the Broxden trees.

Thanks to Fluid Eye Productions, we'll have several cameras watching the bird take flight.

The Making of the Grouse Statue

It's less than two weeks to go before the Grouse Statue is unveiled on the Broxden roundabout outside Perth. We've been filming its creation, week by week, and now the bird has flown the nest (so to speak). The body, which reminds me of a Second World War aircraft under construction, has been man-handled from the studio and placed on a trailer. The local rugby teams were called on to provide the muscle. And were we lucky with the weather! Clear-ish skies, not too bright sunshine (creates harsh images) and not too cold. The statue came out of the workshop without incident and is now on its way to Telford, to Joseph Ash & Co who have the largest galvanising bath in the UK.

Happy Clients

It's really good when something comes together well. I edited the first cut of the video on The Grouse Statue yesterday and the response from Edrington was great. This is only the first part (and the music still has to be paid for!) but I seem to have caught exactly the mood they were looking for.

It's off down to Peebles for the last time tomorrow to see the Big Bird being carried out of the sculptor's studio by the local rugby team. They'd better be strong guys. The finished product is probably about the same weight as our Saab! And that's just the body. But it looks great. Can hardly wait to see what it looks like at Broxden.

The Way Forward

We've finally agreed on a way forward and setting up the new business website. With Scottish Development International interested in using the service to promote Scotland's exporters, we need to get things moving pretty quickly. What we now need to do is start creating content, interviewing and profiling Scots businesses and finding out what they're doing in the international market.