SCANTILY clad, gyrating women are a feature of thousands, if not millions, of music videos. But what happens when the directors of these films are women?

Until now it has been hard to find out because there are few well known names in the industry – not because the talent and ambition is lacking but as a result of fewer opportunities for women than men.

This is just as true in Scotland as in other countries, with the Equality Matters report in 2018 finding that 80% of Screen Scotland funding was going to men.

The situation is starting to improve but when musicians Catriona Price and Esther Swift decided to make six new videos to accompany six singles they realised that all the film directors they knew were white cis men.

Much of their work as duo Twelfth Day is inspired by feminist issues and their experience as women in the ­music industry, so they made the ­decision to find new female and BAME talent they could work with.

Supplied with a list of names from the Scottish Documentary Institute, they asked award-winning documentary maker Hannah Currie to make the first video for their single Fact Of Life, which will be released at an ­online gig on Friday.

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The result could not be further from the half-naked females often ­featured on music videos and includes old 8mm footage, taking a poignant look at family life and love.

“What happens when you have women making videos and women making music is perhaps a different experience from the disproportionate amount of content that is made by men,” said Currie.

“I don’t think all male directors make videos with scantily clad women, but evening out the playing field will mean we see far less of objectification and misogyny.”

She added: “Something special definitely happens when you give opportunities to women. You get a different kind of viewing experience and I would like to see more of that kind of thing.”

Currie said there was a “dearth” of female directors, with the main reason being that women are not getting the chance to build up enough ­experience.

“I have definitely felt that throughout my career, although I have been very lucky and had a few lucky breaks,” she said.

“There’s a lot of unconscious bias and an implicit trust that a guy will do a better job, and often they do have more experience but we have to break that chain.”

Despite the imbalance, Currie is hopeful the situation is beginning to improve in Scotland for both male and female filmmakers.

“It’s no secret we have a bit of a brain drain to London in the case of the arts because we are told we can’t make it here, but I really do feel that that is changing,” she said. “There is so much more opportunity now than there was when I was first trying to start out. More funding opportunities are there now and for the first time it does feel like the funding bodies are taking inequality seriously.

“If you can give those opportunities you will see the quality and diversity of the work that can be produced and see the potential of Scotland to be a buzzing, creative hub.”

THIS is the first time Currie has made a music video and, despite her own success, she confessed she was nervous about it.

“I’m typical of a lot of women in the industry in that my confidence is not as good as it should be, so when they asked me I was quite timid about it,” she said. “However they were so supportive I thought I would go for it and I am really happy with the end result.

“The song is about accepting death as a part of life and accepting people for the way they lived and also celebrating the things they leave behind and pass on.

“They had the idea of using footage of their late grandparents and I thought that was really lovely but I did not expect to see what they ­gathered – some of the footage is very old black-and-white 8mm film, along with old photographs. It ended up being a ­really open, creative ­experience.”

Price said they had decided to make the videos as a way of establishing more of an online audience as they are currently unable to tour because of the coronavirus pandemic.

While the male filmmakers they had worked with before were ­excellent, she said, they were keen to find female and BAME directors and ­approached the Scottish ­Documentary Institute who gave them some ­suggestions, ­including Currie.

“A lot of our work is inspired by ­feminist issues and our own ­experiences as women in the music industry so we wanted to advocate for the group that has been historically discriminated against,” said Price.

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“We feel passionate about bolstering strong, independent creative women as they are less likely to shout about their work than men. We need to build women up because that gives a positive message to other women that their voice is valid and we want to hear it.”

FUNDING from Creative Scotland has helped support the making of the videos which will accompany three tracks from their current album Face To Face, and three brand new tracks produced by fellow Scottish musicians Karine Polwart, Martin Green and Pippa Murphy.

As well as Currie, the duo has ­enlisted Scotland-based filmmakers Bircan Birol, Carina Hao uchine, Kat Dlugosz, Daniel Warren and James Ewen.

They have worked with the two men before but the four women are all new to them.

“We have more women than men but we want to make sure the conversation includes everybody because we think that is the only way we are going to get real change,” said Price. “We feel it is important to have men as part of the conversation and create art with them so they can further the message to other men.”

The duo said they were delighted with what Currie had created.

“It is so beautiful,” Price said. “For us it is very emotional to see clips from the old family films but we hope it will translate to audiences as something they can relate to with their own family stories.”

Join the online launch party on Friday on Patreon: www.patreon.com/twelfthday

Or buy a one-off ticket: www.citizenticket.co.uk/events/twelfth-day/fact-of-life-launch-party