Kelpies Film Wins International Award
The stop motion animation film, created by filmmaker Walid Salhab to document the construction of The Kelpies, has won an international award.
The film, entitled The Kelpies, the CODAvideo Award, first set up last year to recognise the best films that tell the story of incredible design projects featuring commissioned art. The Kelpies film was one of 100 shortlisted by top industry jurors and went on to win the Process category.
Walid Salhab was the only filmmaker given exclusive access to the construction site for the build, which started in June 2013 and completed that November. Walid’s painstaking technique involves shooting the process frame by frame over hours. One shot could take nine hours to film and, in total, 120,000 unique photographs were taken to make the film.
Walid, who lectures media practice at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, was also commissioned by Falkirk Council to create Kinetic Falkirk, a stop-motion film now available on the Visit Falkirk website. The film was developed to showcase Falkirk’s places, attractions and locations to promote the area as a great place to live, work and visit. Over 330 hours of filming and editing went into creating the final five minute Kinetic Falkirk film and over 27,000 photos were taken, with 5000 making it into the final cut.
Commenting on the award, Walid Salhab said: “I’m really proud to have been involved in such a great project and that The Kelpies film has been recognised with this prestigious international accolade. Filming The Kelpies was the most rewarding experience of my life. I hope that the film will now encourage other photographers, filmmakers and even more visitors from all over the world to visit Falkirk and experience the brilliance of Andy Scott’s Kelpies.
“I also hope the award helps to highlight and recognise the amazing amount of work and effort of everyone involved in the project.”
Falkirk Council’s spokesperson for Culture, Leisure and Tourism , Councillor Adrian Mahoney said: “Both the films, The Kelpies and Kinetic Falkirk, are outstanding pieces of animation that play their own part in promoting the Falkirk area and its fantastic attractions. Kinetic Falkirk itself plays an important role in our tourism strategy and has been viewed worldwide over 67,000 times.”
Notes to Editor
For further media information please contact Jonathan Perkins, Press and PR Officer, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, tel: 0131 474 0000, Email: jperkins@qmu.ac.uk
