I’m Amanda Robertson and I am currently going into my fourth year of studying Film, Media & Marketing at the University of Stirling. This summer I had the opportunity to work with Summerhall TV and help film and edit videos covering the Edinburgh Arts Festival.

The beginning of the Arts Festival in Edinburgh was very exciting. The first thing we filmed was Charles Avery’s Tree. The amount of media covering the unveiling was slightly more than I ever imagined for Waverley Station. However, it was nice to be able to be involved in filming such an important figure in the arts world.

I particularly enjoyed filming in the Dovecot Galleries. Firstly, the art work by Kwang Young Chun was incredible. His detailed work was fun to film and it meant that we could be slightly more creative with the camera to fully capture the intricacies of his work. As it was the launch of the Arts Festival, Dovecot Galleries was filled with different media people as well as art enthusiasts. I was very aware the whole time we were filming that I was most likely photobombing other people’s pictures and videos of the event. I hope they filmed my good side.

In general, the whole process of filming various significant artists can be quite daunting, as well as creating work that they are happy with. However, I feel like along the process I learnt so much about the artists and their work and how to capture the best version of each exhibition. The arts festival is a busy time in Edinburgh but it is extremely exciting. By experiencing the festival from behind a camera, I feel that I was involved in some way in the creative excitement surrounding the city.

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Luci Wallace, Project Coordinator for Summerhall TV, an arts news organisation based in Summerhall. We make 2 – 3 minute videos covering contemporary arts news and events around Scotland. I coordinate what we shoot, and the content that appears across our websites artinscotland.tv, summerhall.tv and writerstories.tv, as well as our social media channels.

We started the day by visiting Charles Avery’s Tree no.5 at Waverley Station’s concourse. Amidst the hustle and bustle of the press, we grabbed the artist for a quick chat about his work. It was really interesting to see a piece of work like this in the station, and watching members of the public interact with it.

After that, it was a quick jaunt up the road to Dovecot Studios for the Art Festival’s press launch and to interview the festival’s director Sorcha Carey, about the programme. We were introduced to the beautiful work of Korean artist Kwang Young Chun, and spoke to his British representative, Grey Skipwith, about the work as well. One thing I’ve learned from press meets is to always be prepared for extra interviews!

We then made our way down to the Fruitmarket Gallery to meet Phyllida Barlow and talk about her newest exhibition, Set. The work was incredible, filling the lower and upper galleries, and completely transforming the space. We had a lot of fun filming this one as there was so much, and it was great to speak to Phyllida about her work.

Once filming was wrapped, it was back to the office to upload our footage and get to work on editing. A lot to digest but a great chance for Amanda to put her editing skills into practice.

A big thanks goes to Allison Thorpe and Victoria Mitchell from Sutton PR, who pulled together the interviews with Charles Avery and Sorcha Carey, Lizzie Cowan and the Dovecot team for introducing us to Grey Skipwith, and Louise Warmington at Fruitmarket for arranging our interview with Phyllida Barlow.

Find out more about some of the exhibitions currently on at Summerhall:

The Thermos Museum | until 31 August

David Sherry : One Million Years of Laughter | until 5 October

Glyn Thompson : A Lady’s Not A Gent’s | until 5 October

For more art videos, check out SummerhallTV Director Dave Rushton’s Top 5 selection from their archive on Central Station here.

More: Website | Vimeo | Facebook | Twitter

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Our programme of public art commissions for this year’s Edinburgh Art Festival is titled Parley, exploring art’s capacity to create dialogue. Sitting alongside this themed programme, the Festival Detours series of events seems particularly fitting.

Each year we invite artists from the worlds of music, poetry and theatre to respond to exhibitions in Edinburgh Art Festival galleries in a series of intimate performances which provide fresh perspectives on visual art.

In its third year, the Festival Detours performances take place in gallery exhibitions that themselves explore dialogues between artists – be they collaborations, influences of artist’s practices on others, or the translation of an artwork into a new medium by other hands. This year’s Festival Detours are set to create new conversations and to contribute in their own way to the Parley.

Billy Letford at City Art Centre
12 August, 6-6:40pm

Billy Letford, poet, brings his unique voice to the exhibition Coming into Fashion, a Century of Photography at Condé Nast, an exhibition that charts multiple generations of iconic fashion photographers from Edward Steichen to those still practicing today such as David Bailey and Mario Testino.

Winner of the New Writers Award from the Scottish Book Trust, Billy Letford has received rave reviews for his work which combines experimental structure with cadences and accents of ordinary speech to produce “moments of transcendental insight” (The Guardian).

GOL at Talbot Rice Gallery
16 August, 6-6:40pm

The band GOL uniquely fuse traditional Persian arrangements with contemporary electronica, jazz and world music. For the Art Festival, GOL will give a one-off performance within the Nam June Paik Resounds exhibition at Talbot Rice Gallery. This exhibition is the first Name June Paik exhibition in Scotland, no other artist than whom has had a greater influence on the use of technology in art.

Roddy Woomble at Dovecot Studios
20 August, 6-6:40pm

Lead singer with Idlewild, Woomble is highly acclaimed for his solo releases of contemporary folk, and will perform an acoustic set in response to the exhibition From Fleece to Fibre at Dovecot Studios. At the heart of this exhibition is a tapestry of Victoria Crowe’s celebrated painting, Large Tree Group (1975), was chosen by Dovecot Studios in 2012 to be transposed as part of its centenary celebrations.

Louise Ahl (Ultimate Dancer) at Inverleith House
24 August, 6-6:40pm

Louise Ahl is an exciting contemporary choreographer and performer, whose alter-ego Ultimate Dancer will create a one-off performance at Inverleith House, interacting with the exhibition Mostly West: Franz West and Artist Collaborations.

This is the first exhibition of works made by West in collaboration with other leading visual artists including Douglas Gordon, Marina Faust, Mike Kelley and Sarah Lucas, encapsulating Franz West’s belief in the juxtaposition of various viewpoints.

Booking for Festival Detours has just opened on www.edinburghartfestival.com

Tickets are £4 and spaces are limited.