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Title: BIG MILL, the

Reference number: 0387

Date: 1963

Director: d. Laurence Henson

Sponsor: Films of Scotland and Colvilles Ltd.

Production company: Templar Film Studios

Sound: sound

Original format: 35mm

Colour: col

Fiction: non-fiction

Running time: 25.00 mins

Description: The production of sheet steel at the Ravenscraig and Gartcosh Works of Colvilles Ltd. Lanarkshire. Ravenscraig steel works produced steel in many forms - to make cars and desks, bridges and ships for worldwide markets.

Awards: Fourth International Industrial Film Festival, Madrid, 1963 - First Prize. Turin International Review of Films on Metal, 1964 - Second Prize. Yorktown (Canada) International Documentary Film Festival, 1964. Cork Film Festival, 1964. Sydney Film Festival, 1964.

Credits: outline treatment Clifford Hanley
ph. Edward McConnell
ed. Michael Pavett
comp. Frank Spedding
cond. Marcus Dods
commentary Alastair Borthwick
narrators Bryden Murdoch, Roddy McMillan
p. Jack (J.B.) Holmes
assistant director David Bruce
assistant camera Oscar Marzaroli
assistant ed. Cyril McConnell
p. man. Charles Baptiste
exec. p. Bob Riddell Black

Shotlist: [No opening credits] small boy opens gate for HGV cement mixer (.24) wide shots and gvs Ravenscraig steel works in Motherwell [title superimposed] (.55) int. of strip mill (1.51) gvs uses of steel including launch of the "Shell Aramare", the Forth Road Bridge, shots of scaffolding on building, cranes and trains (2.39) panning shot of unidentified city, possibly in the USA (2.59) a man sitting at a steel desk, girl at filing cabinet, women at work in kitchen (3.16) shots of a Rolls Royce and a Mini (3.20) GPO royal mail van in countryside (3.24) gvs steel being stamped into shape in factory presses, shots of its various uses (5.03) c/u molten steel in bath and gvs furnace (5.45) shots of men checking temperature and carbon content of steel, including c/u checks with precision equipment (7.59) gvs steel being poured (10.32) int. steel mill. gvs slab of steel passing through strip mill and eventually emerging as 200ft. long coil of steel. Cutaways of control room (16.19) coils are washed in acid and rolled again to make a strip of steel 3 miles long. Cutaways of men at controls (18.00) c/u steel being tested with precision instruments (19.30) gvs int. of "The Big Mill" and shots of steel being rolled and cut (21.10) brief shots of various steel products (21.46) c/u Glasgow Evening Citizen vans leaving loading bay. Shots of transport in various countries and brief shots of steel products around the world (23.11) gvs "The Big Mill" (23.30) ecs (24.30)