SS Great Britain

Descriptor: We open with different images of the undergraduates as they set about filming. We all the different members of the film crew at work - unloading their car of sound equipment, setting up camera shots, talking to the people that will be interviewed for this film and discussing what shots to get of the SS Great Britain.

The Director Dan (in voiceover): We are undergraduate students doing a media practice course at the university in the west of England in Bristol. We were asked by The National Lottery to make a short film about The Lottery funded Good Cause - The SS Great Britain. This is Adele she is our camera operator. This is Adrian our Editor, This is Rich our Producer and this is me Dan, and I'm the Director.

Descriptor: We have a bird's eye view of the SS Great Britain in the docks of Bristol at night, beautifully lit up with red and white lighting around it. We then have free flow camera shots sped up as we move to daylight showing the SS Great Britain in all her glory and all the movement around her, as boats travel up and down the Bristol Channel.

We now have close up free flow camera shot side view of the ship.

Tim Vincent in Voiceover: Bristol docks, the home of SS Great Britain. Thanks to people playing National Lottery games this ship has been given a new lease of life.

Descriptor: We now meet Tim Watson, the visitor service volunteer who is standing beside the ship. We now see another free flow camera shot still time moving head on towards the ship.

Tim is how standing right at the front of the ship, by its hull. 

Tim Watson:  Welcome to the SS Great Britain ! And this one of the great icon symbols in England, but of Bristol and of the golden age of Victorian engineering. It was the first iron hold, screw driven, luxury transatlantic liner.

Descriptor: We now see more images of the ship's mast. With a blue sky behind, it is draped in many different countries flags, which are all blowing in the wind.

We now meet Nancy Chambers, Deputy Director of Brunel's SS Great Britain trust. Who is standing near the bottom of the ship's hull. We see more images of the ship including the ship's name plaques: "Great Britain" and underneath it "Bristol" in black and gold.

We now see inside the ship with people are walking around, where some of the areas have been converted into areas of learning. We now see pictures of her inventor Isambard Kingdom Brunel and portraits of the ship at sea.

We now see the ship's large red propeller and various other shots of the ship above and below deck.

Nancy Chambers, Deputy Director, Brunel's SS Great Britain Trust: The Lottery really was the linchpin when they announced they were going to support the project with a grant of 8.8 million pounds we then had to raise the match funding for that and in total cost 13 and a half million pounds. The SS Great Britain was an incredible ship, she completely revolutionised ship design, when Brunel built her in through the early 1840's there had never been an ocean going metal ship they had all been made of timber. There had never been a propeller driven ship, they were all sail powered, or paddle steamers. It's that pivotal point in history which changed the modern world. From people aged three right up until 93, one thing that we are constantly being told is that people can come round with all different generations of their family and there is really something here that they can all enjoy.

Descriptor: We now meet a selection of visitors to the SS Great Britain. The first man is standing on the deck reminiscing. As he talks, we see a black and white image of the ship when it was in a more dilapidated state and then a comparison shot of how it looks now.

Visitor One: I've returned to visit the SS Great Britain, I saw it about 25-27 years ago when it was a rusting hull, so I'm really impressed now with the way they have restored the ship in it's completeness     

Visitor Two: Incredible, it's a massive piece of history that's just really good to learn about

Visitor Three: Oh I think the SS Great Britain is the most iconic ship in the world as far as I'm concerned

Descriptor: We now return to Tim Watson. As he talks we see a huge drawing on a wall of the ship's different compartments.

We then move in to the dining saloon, with its deep red carpets, creamy yellow walls, and red dining chairs, wooden tables covered in pretty white and blue crockery.

The free flow camera shots continue into the accommodation during its migrant years, revealing small cramped bunks for sleeping and white bedding along a narrow wooden passage. We see food and gun powder storage areas.

Tim Watson: With the help of the Lottery funding what we've managed to do is re-create in different parts of the ship, the life of the ship for a certain period of time. So when we go into the ship the look of the first class accommodation particularly the dining saloon - that's how she looked when she was a transatlantic luxury liner. Look at the steerage, that's how it was in the 1860's when she was a migrant ship for Australia, so we've captured bits of her life, because she had a long, long working life.

Descriptor: we return to Nancy again standing alongside the bottom of the hull. A free flow camera shots show us more of the staff living quarters and seeing a demonstration of how the copper pistons powered the ship

Nancy Chambers: Whether it's trying on hats or smelling the vomit in the stewardesses' cabin or seeing how the massive engine works which are three storeys high in the heart of the ship, there really is something that everybody can sink their teeth into and enjoy.

Descriptor: There are more aerial shots of inside the ship, and then outside to the Australian and American flags that are flying.

Before returning again to Tim who is outside standing by the ship

Tim: And we have people who have been engineers, have been sailors or people who have been, you know their ancestors went to Australia or to America on this ship, they all come here you know, to pay homage to this ship, which would not have been possible if we didn't have the Lottery money.

Descriptor: We now see various images old and new telling the story of the ship, now in it's current home in Bristol, to a black and white image of the ship when it was near the end of it's then life in the Falkland Islands looking very tatty, to being rescued in the seventies, and it travelling up the Bristol channel surrounded by tugs and thousands of people watching her, and then back to now, as she's returned to her former glory.

We now see free flow camera shots of the hull which is still badly damaged but are using de-humidifies to reduce the damage to her

Tim Vincent voiceover: Prior to her restoration in Bristol, the SS Great Britain was stranded off the Falklands Islands with a rather uncertain future ahead of her.

Tim continues: When she was a cargo carrier which was the last part of her life, she was sold to the Falklands Islands trading company as a floating warehouse. Then she was leaking a bit and they said we don't want her anymore. They offered her to The Royal Navy as a target ship, and the Royal Navy said "No", thank heavens, so we was towed round to Sparrow Cove in The Falkland islands, scuttled, left on a beach and there she lay for the next 33 years until 1970, we brought her home, she came up the river on her own bottom for the first time she floated since 1937. The Lottery came up with the cash and that has transformed, completely transformed, the whole ship. You'll see the damage that time and sea water has wrought on her, lots and lots of rust, we've done an enormous amount of work to reduce the damage rust can do by this de-humidification process, putting this glass sea which looks so effective but is also practical. It means we can control the humidity around the hull - dehumidification outside, dehumidification inside.

Descriptor: More free flowing aerial shots of the ship and the surrounding area

Tim Vincent voiceover: The money raised through the sale of National Lottery games helped to transform the SS Great Britain and this breath of renewal has also contributed positively to the surrounding area.

Descriptor: We now meet Michael Fripp, Ferryboat skipper as he steers his boat along the channel near the SS Great Britain. We see new flats that have been built on the quayside, white yachts bobbing in the water, and then shots of cranes in the distance, as the rejuvenation of the area continues.

Michael Fripp: Well the whole area has transformed considerably and er, even where the refurbishment of the harbour side around the area which was very derelict when the SS Great Britain came here, er, it's now become a favourite spot, er, you can now see the new buildings which have been built opposite where people are living, they're obviously pleased to be overlooking what is a very attractive site now, the SS Great Britain itself.

Descriptor: We now meet an older gentlemen resident, expressing his thoughts on the SS Great Britain, standing by the quayside

I just feel that the Bristol docks is the focal point here, and the SS Great Britain has got to be the bulls eye in the middle of the docks and there aint no whatsoever doubt about it !

Descriptor: We now see more aerial shots of the ship with the camera panning right to left.

Tim Vincent: life is looking considerably better for this historic ship and everyone is feeling optimistic about her future.

Descriptor: We return to Tim Watson as he talks more about the ship. We see more images of above and below the ship

Tim Watson As long as we can keep paying the gas bill basically to keep the de-humidification process going, you know this ship will be here for generations to come, and that's so important, and it means my grandchildren can come to the ship and see it, and hopefully their grandchildren will be able to come in years to come and still see this ship and marvel at the wonderful, incredible engineering that's been done.

Descriptor: We now come back to Nancy who is by the hull still.

Nancy: The conservation of the ship is secured and she is going to be here for the next 100 years as part of Britain's heritage so you know we really couldn't have done it without the Lottery.

Descriptor: Final free flow camera shots of the ship on the quayside.