ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on community filmmaking in Scotland and traces how the representation of local communities on screen has evolved, and examines ways in which this has been associated with the projection of ideas of Scottish cultural identity. The chapter will chart three phases: first, the 1970s and 1980s, when video filmmaking was introduced for community development work, when local groups were given access slots on the BBC and Channel 4 and when the first cable community television experiments were introduced. Second, the 1990s and 2000s, when the on-screen representations of local communities were shaped by new configurations of factual television programming. Finally, the current situation in which community filmmaking provides a platform for a diverse range of 'voices' competing to find their place in the crowded digital media environment.
