Margaret Tait

Margaret Tait

Nacimiento : 1918-11-11, Kirkwall, United Kingdom

Muerte : 1999-04-16

Historia

Margaret Caroline Tait was a Scottish film maker and poet. Tait attended the University of Edinburgh, gaining qualifications in Medicine (1941). She later moved to Rome, where she studied filmmaking at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (1950–1952).

Perfil

Margaret Tait

Películas

Glimpses from a Visit to Orkney in Summer 1995
herself
In Aurand’s signature diaristic form, roses in bloom, farm animals, Orkney landscapes, and scenes of the late filmmaker Margaret Tait having tea are rendered through expressive Bolex movements as well as the director’s active camera, and punctuated by abstract swaths of saturated and shifting colors. The film is an homage to Tait, whom Aurand visited in Orkney.
Before Words
Writer
Every time the task of drawing a circle is performed, it results in a unique shape, a slightly different 'version' than the previous and next attempt. BEFORE WORDS is loosely based on Margaret Tait's unrealised script VIDEO POEMS FOR THE 90s. The video is an attempt at following a set of simple instructions, to observe through another artist's words and ideas in order to arrive at something personal.
Garden Pieces
Director
A set of three 'film poems' composed around the theme of the garden - the central one featuring hand scratched animated drawings. Margaret Tait described them as follows: 'Round the Garden' - right round and round again, 'Garden Fliers' - flighty cartoon and a stunner of a piano piece and 'Grove' - grave and sonorous.
Blue Black Permanent
Writer
In 1990s Edinburgh, Barbara Thorburn reflects on memories of her poet mother, Greta, and her tragic death.
Blue Black Permanent
Director
In 1990s Edinburgh, Barbara Thorburn reflects on memories of her poet mother, Greta, and her tragic death.
Margaret Tait: Film Maker
Self
A documentary about the life and works of Margaret Tait.
Aspects of Kirkwall No. 5: The Look of the Place
Director
A tour around Kirkwall, covering the years 1969 - 1976. Places featured include St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall harbour, Victoria St, Broad St, Kirkwall Grammar School (at School Place), dumping in the Peedie Sea.
Aspects of Kirkwall 6: Some Changes
Director
Views in and around Kirkwall concentrating on things that have changed. These include a new grammar school building, model yachting on the Peedie Sea, demolition of a building, the 'No Uranium' campaign in Orkney.
Land Makar
Director
"This is a landscape study of an Orkney croft, with the figure of the crofter, Mary Graham Sinclair, very much in the picture. The croft is West Aith, on the edge of a small loch, which almost every passing visitor stops to photograph or draw or paint. I have been filming this beautiful place since 1977, observing many of the human activities which alter and define how it looks." Margaret Tait
Change In The Weather, Every Cloud
Director
Amateur tale about a company boss and his wife who turn up late for a dinner party hosted by an ambitious young salesman of his company and his wife. After their car breaks down they have to change a wheel in the rain, arriving soaking wet, where their young hosts dry them out and give them a nice meal.
Aspects of Kirkwall 4: The Ba
Director
The streets of Kirkwall, Orkney come to a standstill as the "Down the Gates" and the "Up the Gates" battle it out in this traditional Norse ball game. Margaret Tait records the sights and sounds of this game 1954 - 1980, the commentary featuring interview with Ba' winners, music and poetry.
Local News: Bu of Cairston Broch
Director
Excavation of the Broch at Bu of Cairston by John Hedges in 1978. The broch is located in Stromness, Orkney.
Shop!
Director
A series of interiors exploring the work of various businesses - presumably in Kirkwall.
Aspects of Kirkwall 3: Occasions
Director
Part 3 of Margaret Tait's 'Aspects of Kirkwall', covering special events in the town. These include the Orkney Agricultural Society County Show, boat race, and Remembrance Parade at St. Magnus Cathedral.
Place of Work
Director of Photography
Margaret Tait documents her house, studio and garden in Buttquoy, Orkney as the seasons pass. She had lived there from the age of seven and often returned. At the time of filming, the house was about to be taken back by the council - this film is an effective 'goodbye'. Margaret Tait said it 'was meant to define a place, or the feeling of being in one place, with the sense this gives one, not of restriction but of the infinite variations available.'
Place of Work
Producer
Margaret Tait documents her house, studio and garden in Buttquoy, Orkney as the seasons pass. She had lived there from the age of seven and often returned. At the time of filming, the house was about to be taken back by the council - this film is an effective 'goodbye'. Margaret Tait said it 'was meant to define a place, or the feeling of being in one place, with the sense this gives one, not of restriction but of the infinite variations available.'
Place of Work
Writer
Margaret Tait documents her house, studio and garden in Buttquoy, Orkney as the seasons pass. She had lived there from the age of seven and often returned. At the time of filming, the house was about to be taken back by the council - this film is an effective 'goodbye'. Margaret Tait said it 'was meant to define a place, or the feeling of being in one place, with the sense this gives one, not of restriction but of the infinite variations available.'
Place of Work
Director
Margaret Tait documents her house, studio and garden in Buttquoy, Orkney as the seasons pass. She had lived there from the age of seven and often returned. At the time of filming, the house was about to be taken back by the council - this film is an effective 'goodbye'. Margaret Tait said it 'was meant to define a place, or the feeling of being in one place, with the sense this gives one, not of restriction but of the infinite variations available.'
Tailpiece
Writer
"The film was conceived as a coda to a longer (colour) film, Place of Work, made in the same year. It covers the time of finally emptying a long-time family home, with its personal memories and connection with some of my own work. Fragments of verse, along with young children's voices released into the emptying rooms and staircases, and an ersatz 'pop' music track, clarify the familiar and the alien in the situation." Margaret Tait
Tailpiece
Director
"The film was conceived as a coda to a longer (colour) film, Place of Work, made in the same year. It covers the time of finally emptying a long-time family home, with its personal memories and connection with some of my own work. Fragments of verse, along with young children's voices released into the emptying rooms and staircases, and an ersatz 'pop' music track, clarify the familiar and the alien in the situation." Margaret Tait
Aspects of Kirkwall 2: Shape of a Town
Director
Second of the 'Aspects of Kirkwall' films about the changing face of Kirkwall over the years. Filmed in 1974, it features the primary school, various shops, St. Magnus Cathedral under scaffolding and general views of the area including land fill in the 'Peedie Sea'.
These Walls
Director
Margaret Tait's impression of the interior of her studio premises in Rose Street, Edinburgh. The film consists of slow pans around her studio focussing on the walls and artwork there - presumably as she is about to leave. There is also some footage of construction work on flats on Rose Street.
Colour Poems
Director
'Titles within the film are: Numen of the Boughs, Old Boots, Speed Bonny Boat, Lapping Water, Incense, Aha, Brave New World, Things, Terra Firma. A poem started in words is continued in images - Part of another poem as an addition to the picture - Some images formed by direct-on-film animation - Others 'found' by the camera" - MT
Colour Poems
Narrator
'Titles within the film are: Numen of the Boughs, Old Boots, Speed Bonny Boat, Lapping Water, Incense, Aha, Brave New World, Things, Terra Firma. A poem started in words is continued in images - Part of another poem as an addition to the picture - Some images formed by direct-on-film animation - Others 'found' by the camera" - MT
Aerial
Director
"Touches on elemental images; air, water, (and snow), earth and fire (and smoke) all come into it." - MT
On the Mountain
Director
"Made in Edinburghs Rose Street, On the Mountain incorporates the whole of a previous film (Rose Street, 1956), including the leader and the titles. The original was shot in black and white, and the negative was lost, and for this reason Tait had the idea of preserving the film by framing it complete in colour , in a contrasted look at the same street in 1974. On the Mountain records and preserves the change. The camera broods and recognises the dustcart . Changed is too gentle a word, the street has ben ripped apart by the developers. An ugly modern precinct has emerged with shabby boutiques and plastic food. The back lane where the children played hopscotch reveals a gap site, a decaying Princess Street, with thumping machines and concrete." – Tamara Krikorian
John MacFadyen
Director
Brightly coloured animated figures dance to the traditional tune 'John MacFadyen', as played by the Orkney Strathspey and Reel Society in this hand painted piece by Margaret Tait.
Growing Up: Chinese Geese in Orkney
Director
Chinese Geese in Orkney.
Painted Eightsome
Director
Margaret Tait described this title as 'An eightsome reel played by Orkney Strathspey and Reel Society, recorded in about 1955 - 1956, later transferred to 35mm optical stock with clear picture and gradually painted over the years. Eights of different things - figures, antlers, or sometimes just blobs in tartan colours - dance their way through the figure of the reel.
Caora Mor: The Big Sheep
Director
A picture of East Sutherland in 1966.
Splashing
Director
An experimental piece of film-making by Margaret Tait, featuring three children at play in a burn and garden, splashing and having fun playing with water.
Palindrome
Director
A palindrome created on film. Features interaction between a couple with the recurring line 'Madam I'm Adam'.
Where I Am Is Here
Writer
"Starting with a six-line script which just noted down a kind of event to occur, and recur, my aim was to construct a film with its own logic, its own correspondences within itself, and its own echoes and rhymes and comparisons, all through close exploration of the everyday, the commonplace, in the city of Edinburgh." - MT
Where I Am Is Here
Director
"Starting with a six-line script which just noted down a kind of event to occur, and recur, my aim was to construct a film with its own logic, its own correspondences within itself, and its own echoes and rhymes and comparisons, all through close exploration of the everyday, the commonplace, in the city of Edinburgh." - MT
Hugh MacDiarmid: A Portrait
Director
A portrait of poet Hugh MacDiarmid.
The Drift Back
Director
The first in a series of films for the Rural Cinema Scheme in the Orkneys, it records the return to the island of Wyre of Neil Flaws, a farmer, and his family at a time when the drift from the northern isles of the Orkneys was of concern to some Orcadians.
Rose Street
Director of Photography
The minutiae of daily life on Edinburgh's Rose Street in the fifties is presented in this impressionistic documentary piece.
Rose Street
Producer
The minutiae of daily life on Edinburgh's Rose Street in the fifties is presented in this impressionistic documentary piece.
Rose Street
Writer
The minutiae of daily life on Edinburgh's Rose Street in the fifties is presented in this impressionistic documentary piece.
Rose Street
Director
The minutiae of daily life on Edinburgh's Rose Street in the fifties is presented in this impressionistic documentary piece.
The Royal Mile Edinburgh
Director
A short piece of film recording general views of Edinburgh's Royal Mile in the 1950s.
Princes Street Edinburgh
Director
A short piece of film recording general views of Edinburgh's Princes Street in the 1950s.
Orquil Burn
Director
Starting from its source, this film tells the story of the Orquil Burn, Orkney.
The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo
Narrator
A film interpretation of the poem 'The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo' by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Margaret Tait speaks the poem throughout the film.
The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo
Director
A film interpretation of the poem 'The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo' by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Margaret Tait speaks the poem throughout the film.
Edinburgh General
Director
General shots of Edinburgh City Centre taken by film-maker Margaret Tait, focussing on the Royal Mile, Holyrood House and Princes Street Gardens.
Calypso
Director
Hand painted directly onto film stock by Margaret Tait, this film features animated dancing figures, accompanied by authentic calypso music.
Happy Bees
Director
This film poem evokes childhood happiness on the island of Orkney. Footage includes wildflower meadows, toddlers playing in garden, friends fishing together and images of the sea.
A Portrait of Ga
Narrator
The 'Ga' of the title refers to the film maker's mother. The film gathers together this elderly lady's everyday actions to offer an abstract insight into her life. Margaret Tait described this film as follows: 'My mother seemed a good subject for a portrait, (she was there), and I thought it offered a chance to do a sort of 'abstract film', in the sense that it didn't have what you might call 'the grammar of film'. It's mostly discontinuous shots linked just by subject, in one case by colour, only rarely by movement'.
A Portrait of Ga
Editor
The 'Ga' of the title refers to the film maker's mother. The film gathers together this elderly lady's everyday actions to offer an abstract insight into her life. Margaret Tait described this film as follows: 'My mother seemed a good subject for a portrait, (she was there), and I thought it offered a chance to do a sort of 'abstract film', in the sense that it didn't have what you might call 'the grammar of film'. It's mostly discontinuous shots linked just by subject, in one case by colour, only rarely by movement'.
A Portrait of Ga
Director of Photography
The 'Ga' of the title refers to the film maker's mother. The film gathers together this elderly lady's everyday actions to offer an abstract insight into her life. Margaret Tait described this film as follows: 'My mother seemed a good subject for a portrait, (she was there), and I thought it offered a chance to do a sort of 'abstract film', in the sense that it didn't have what you might call 'the grammar of film'. It's mostly discontinuous shots linked just by subject, in one case by colour, only rarely by movement'.
A Portrait of Ga
Producer
The 'Ga' of the title refers to the film maker's mother. The film gathers together this elderly lady's everyday actions to offer an abstract insight into her life. Margaret Tait described this film as follows: 'My mother seemed a good subject for a portrait, (she was there), and I thought it offered a chance to do a sort of 'abstract film', in the sense that it didn't have what you might call 'the grammar of film'. It's mostly discontinuous shots linked just by subject, in one case by colour, only rarely by movement'.
A Portrait of Ga
Writer
The 'Ga' of the title refers to the film maker's mother. The film gathers together this elderly lady's everyday actions to offer an abstract insight into her life. Margaret Tait described this film as follows: 'My mother seemed a good subject for a portrait, (she was there), and I thought it offered a chance to do a sort of 'abstract film', in the sense that it didn't have what you might call 'the grammar of film'. It's mostly discontinuous shots linked just by subject, in one case by colour, only rarely by movement'.
A Portrait of Ga
Director
The 'Ga' of the title refers to the film maker's mother. The film gathers together this elderly lady's everyday actions to offer an abstract insight into her life. Margaret Tait described this film as follows: 'My mother seemed a good subject for a portrait, (she was there), and I thought it offered a chance to do a sort of 'abstract film', in the sense that it didn't have what you might call 'the grammar of film'. It's mostly discontinuous shots linked just by subject, in one case by colour, only rarely by movement'.
Three Portrait Sketches
Cinematography
The three portrait sketches of the title are called 'Claudia', 'Fernando Birri' and 'Saulat Rahman'. Presumably made when Margaret Tait was a student at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematographia, Rome.
Three Portrait Sketches
Editor
The three portrait sketches of the title are called 'Claudia', 'Fernando Birri' and 'Saulat Rahman'. Presumably made when Margaret Tait was a student at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematographia, Rome.
Three Portrait Sketches
Director
The three portrait sketches of the title are called 'Claudia', 'Fernando Birri' and 'Saulat Rahman'. Presumably made when Margaret Tait was a student at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematographia, Rome.
One Is One
Director
"Carlo and Rafaella are going to Rome for the first time. They have specially planned a journey they must make so that they can have a whole day together alone".. . so starts this film following the (mis)fortunes of these two young lovers. [Presumably made when Margaret Tait was a student at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematographia, Rome]
My Room, Via Ancona 21
Director
Interiors of Margaret Tait's room when she stayed at 21 Via Ancona, Rome, Italy. Brief shots of her belongings (shoes, films, teacup) and then views of the street as seen from a balcony window.
The Lion the Griffin and the Kangaroo
Director
Perugia and its Italian University for foreign students.
Hospitals For All
Director
Made as a promotional film for the new nationalised health services, it looks at a number of hospitals throughout central Scotland including the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, Ballochmyle, Strathcathro and Killearn hospitals; their medical staff at work and the services the hospitals provide.
Empire Exhibition
Director
Views of some of the main pavilions and exhibits of the Empire Exhibition in Bellahouston Park in Glasgow, including shots of Don and margaret McLachlan and their family on a visit - also includes brief shots of an informal visit by Paul Robeson.