Tristan Aitchison at the Edinburgh International Television Festival - Day 3

Tue 30 Aug 2016

Highlands and Islands photographer and filmmaker Tristan Aitchison is representing ScreenHI and XpoNorth Screen and Broadcast at 2016's Edinburgh International Television Festival.

Image: Copyright Tristan Aitchison

Tristan Aitchison
Filmmaker, Photographer, Screenwriter

Here is Tristan's daily blog about what he's getting up to there:

Day 3

I’m aptly starting the Day 3 shenanigans at the Edinburgh International Television Festival with The Late Late Show given the media shebang that is the EITF pressed the off button on the remote on Friday afternoon. It’s been a bank holiday weekend OK – the not in Scotland bit doesn’t wash with me.

Image: Day 3 of the Edinburgh International Television Festival

The opening session on Friday morning was a discussion with the top brass at The Late Late Show hosted by James Corden. Known for nearly a decade on our screens here in the UK, Corden has recently taken the US and indeed the world by storm. The Late Late Show airs after midnight in the States and the guest producers Adam Abramson and Ben Winston highlighted the need to think digital first. Corden’s Carpool Karaoke is responsible for the three most viewed clips in the history of late night TV in America. The ability to cross platform key to driving advertising.

The festival shifted gear with a key change befitting a Eurovision power ballad from the depths of Eastern Europe and with the sequins to match. Edinburgh Does… Lip Sync Battle. Hosted by Mel B and Professor Green the extravaganza, a runaway hit for Channel 5, stole the show. Four television executives, including the Controller of BBC News and chair of the festival, Fiona Campbell wowed the crowd with costumes as revealing as an episode of Panorama, wigs as big as Peter Barlow’s alcohol addiction and dance routines as suggestive as a Mrs Brown’s Boys innuendo.  It even got too spicy for host Mel B who was lost for words at the antics of the telly bosses who made Geordie Shore look like an elocution lesson.

Image: Lip Sync Battle Does Edinburgh host Mel B

Image: Lip Sync Battle winner Jonathan Stadlen of Knickerbockerglory performs the Bonnie Tyler anthem Holding Out for A Hero

The Alternative MacTaggart saw Sharon Horgan in conversation with Frankie Boyle. The writer of Channel 4 series Catastrophe and soon to air HBO show Divorce starring Sarah Jessica Parker was on sparkling form, in what proved to be a fascinating and at times hilarious discussion about pushing boundaries in comedy. Although her wisest tip of the hour session was not to wear a leather dress on stage on a hot summer’s day as it causes your thighs to fart.

Image: Sharon Horgan in conversation with Frankie Boyle at the Alternative MacTaggart

The last day of the festival was not all hip thrusts and thigh farts. There were very serious discussions at The Islamic State: Media Channel of The Year? The last session of the three-day event was perhaps the most revealing and informative. Daesh has come to dominate the media landscape by way of their highly targeted media content. They are one of the first extremist groups to take their ideology into the digital age and harness the power of the social web to spread their message.

Image: Tazeen Ahmad is joined by Arif Haq, Mina Al-Lami, Aris Roussinos and Alex Krasodomski-Jones to discuss The Islamic State: Media Channel of the Year

After three days of debate, discussion, entertainment and some of the biggest names in broadcasting the EITF has come to a close. A massive thank you to ScreenHI and XpoNorth Screen and Broadcast for the invitation to attend the festival. They have been and continue to be a huge support for myself and our whole network of creatives in the Highlands and Islands. Thanks for spending the past 3 days (+ bank holiday weekend) with me. I can’t think of a better way to sign off than with the wise words of our Lip Sync Battle host Scary Spice herself, “Look for the rainbow in every storm… You know it’s time to say goodbye.”