Kirk Watson films
I am a freelance filmmaker, based in Scotland. I can self shoot promotional, documentary, educational and narrative content and edit into a final film. I am also a fully licensed, CAA approved drone pilot and cinematographer. Perfect View Productions has all their own equipment to complete a project.
Whatever your story be it commercial, documentary or fictional we can help you get your message across in a high quality and professional manner.
Behind the scenes of an NBC travel show filmed at Scotland’s five-star Cameron House Hotel. Drone and gimbal work across Loch Lomond, Inveraray Castle, and the Royal Scotsman train — a luxury shoot with a great Scottish crew.
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Looking towards the Larig thru from the drone
I had a fun few days working with Rupert Shanks and Robbie, on a beautifully creative project for Cairngorms Connect. The film is being led by Robbie, who has a background in dance and movement, and this piece brings that expressive energy into the landscape and everyday work of the young rangers from the Cairngorms National Park.
Over a couple of days, we filmed the rangers as they carried out conservation work like tree planting, using a mix of Steadicam, traditional handheld camera work, and some macro-style close-ups using my new probe lens — great for getting right into the detail of nature.
Robbie had choreographed some simple but expressive movements that tied into the surroundings and the actions the rangers were doing — giving it a very organic, art-meets-environment feel.
Then, one evening, we headed up near Badaguish to capture a more stylised sequence in the woods. The rangers — and a bunch of other kids — moved dynamically through the trees, jumping, climbing, and swinging. The sequence built up to a really striking final scene centred on a moth trap — a glowing, bright light source in the darkness. As dusk fell, we filmed them swarming around it like moths themselves, using the drone to capture wide, elegant aerial movements.
It was an unusual and rewarding project — a nice mix of nature, movement, and cinematography. I’m looking forward to seeing what Rupert and Robbie piece together from the footage.
Filming Dundee’s new ropes course on the RRS Discovery with drones, 5 cameras, and Lorraine Kelly and Dan Snow — a chance to safely relive what the ship’s original sailors once faced. Adventure meets history high above the Tay.
Read MoreOut again with Al Lee and BritRock Films to film Robbie Phillips attempting an on-sight of An Inconvenient Tooth (E7 6c), with Topher along to belay.
Al’s plan was to catch the golden evening light to give the footage a cinematic edge. We met at the Sligachan pub at 2pm and began the walk-in with the usual heavy sacks. It was a clammy, sweltering day—by the time we hit the steep scree slopes below the climb, I felt like I was about to burst with heat.
Up at the base, we were met with cloud blowing hard over the Basteir Tooth from the south, leaving the rock damp and conditions less than ideal. Flying the drone was a gamble too—thick cloud can interfere with sensors and cause sketchy auto-landings as it mistakes mist for solid ground.
So we sat it out, rehydrating and regrouping, hoping conditions would shift. And luckily, they did. As the sun began to dip—on the longest day of the year, no less—the clouds lifted and the wind began to settle, as it often does on Scottish evenings. It reminded me of my old canoe guiding days: battling winds all day, then launching at dinnertime when the breeze finally dropped. The wind didn’t vanish completely, but it halved in strength—enough to dry the route and give Robbie a more relaxed feeling about the route.
As with all filming missions with Al, I’ll keep the full story under wraps—it’s best saved for the big screen later in the year :) But behind the scenes, it was a big day in the end. Unfortunately as Al abseiled off the top of the tooth after filming on the ropes for the day/night, the ropes jammed. On Gabbro this can just take an edge to do. Doesn’t need to be twisted or jammed in a groove as the rock is so rough. Robbie soloed up Naismith’s route in the dark to throw them from the top. While we looked after his dog Bonnie and carried his bag and would meet him after he traversed over Am Bastier and down the other side.
We wrapped up on the longest day with headtorches blazing and a long walk back in the dark. I reached my car at 3am, just as the heavens opened, and crashed out in the back while the rain hammered down.
An epic day on the hill, and hopefully some stunning footage to show for it—the Cuillin never disappoints. Al’s girlfriend Lewis was along too, snapping photos, and hopefully enjoyed the adventure despite the late finish.
Here’s my favourite shot of the day—Sgùrr nan Gillean at sunset, stitched from six drone photos, taken from 100 metres above the ridge:
A fun bit of Drone pilot work and camera operator near Glasgow at Dumbarton Rock. I hadn’t filmed this face since 1998 with the Nick Tarmey film Cutting Loose with a bunch of us including Dave Macleod, who’s route we were here to film that he did way back in 2006 and is still ranked as one of the most physically hard routes in the UK all these years later, a little break down and history of it below:)
Rhapsody (E11) – Dumbarton Rock, Scotland
Rhapsody is one of the most iconic and demanding traditional rock climbs in the world. Located on Dumbarton Rock near Glasgow, it was first climbed by Dave MacLeod on 9 April 2006 and became the first-ever E11-graded trad route in the UK. It follows the upper half of the famous E8 route Requiem, then pushes through a brutal crux with minimal protection and huge fall potential.
MacLeod spent over two years working on the line, taking multiple 20–25 metre falls in the process. The climb was filmed in the award-winning documentary E11 by Hot Aches Productions, capturing the intense physical and psychological challenge.
The route is 35 metres long and breaks down into three parts:
An easier lower slab leading to a small rest ledge
A sustained diagonal crack (shared with Requiem) with small wire protection
A desperate and bold crux sequence (around French 8c+ / 5.14c), with almost no gear and massive fall potential
What makes Rhapsody so infamous isn’t just the technical difficulty, but the seriousness. Falling off the crux results in huge falls, often past the resting ledge and dangerously close to the ground. It’s considered one of the most dangerous trad climbs in the world.
Since MacLeod’s first ascent, it has seen very few repeats:
Dave MacLeod (2006 – first ascent)
Sonnie Trotter (2008)
Steve McClure (2008)
James Pearson (2014)
Jacopo Larcher (2016)
Gérôme Pouvreau (2018)
Mathew Wright (2024)
Each climber has confirmed the exceptional difficulty and commitment required. Even years after the first ascent, Rhapsody remains a benchmark for elite-level traditional climbing.
In the words of Magnus Midtbø, who visited the route in 2024:
"Possibly the most dangerous route in the world."
We were here to possibly catch the newest ascent if all went well. Billy Ridal called Al Lee to say he felt he was getting close to being able to do it. So off we went to film it for Al’s Brotrock Films. Really interesting seeing someone do this route. I had seen Dave’s film and read his book where it features quite a bit. Billy comes from a competition background and by the sounds of the guys chatting hasn’t done masses of trad climbing. He said the route was definitely his style and he set about it in a very positive and keen way.
There were certainly a few huge whippers which I imagine pleased Al a lot as if he had just gone straight up it the story would not be quite the same lol. The thing that astonished me was hearing about people taking years to try and break those top moves on it after the very bumpy coverhanging crack below and trying to do such hard moves when tired and having to build towards it. Billy seems to be extremely strong for sure and I don’t know enough about it but I’d imagine the time he took is probably the fastest. So amazing effort and also amazing this route had stood the test of time since Dave first climbed it in 2006 the year Billy began climbing at 9 years old:)
The team plus Matt who showed up just 10 mins after)
Billy and Frances who belayed and had a few flying through the air moments:)
A fun day aerial filming on a Bollywood feature film near Glasgow. Bollywood is always a little different from other Films to work on. Mainly as you get maybe 15 people telling you what to do. Thankfully the DOP said this to me early on and said just listen to myself and these two and ignore everyone else as if just background noise lol!
Had a morning of doing establishing shots of the Finlayston House and estate. Then a few fast car shots flying down a stream with trees very near my props which was fun. Then later in the day we did a bunch of shots with the actor running from the building. A great bunch of folk to work with and interesting to see all their setups as they headed into doing a night shoot too..
A few screen grabs and pictures of the day below.
Continuing the following of hard climbs and climbers I headed to Ben Loyal again with Alastair Lee for Britrock films. This time to film Franco Cookson who is working a hard slab route on one of the buttresses of this amazing mountain:)
A big walk in with a 30 Kg rucksack again and got some filming done with the drone and long lens. But we will return at a later date to see the route completed as Franco works away at it. A few pictures of the day below:)
A fun day with Britrock films and Alaister Lee filming Dalriada a E7 6b climb first climber by Gary Latter in 1995 then a second ascent by Dave Macleod in 1999 and the first female ascent in 2015 by Natalie Berry. An amazing route and possibly Scotlands most photogenic route!
We had a great day out especially after arriving at the bottom of the routes finishing the carry of 30Kg of camera kit, drone batteries etc from sea level lol. Al was on the ropes and route as usual doing A Camera while I did drone operator and Long lens:)
Should be a fun watch to see how it goes for the onsight on Bitrock film tour later in the year:) https://britrockfilms.com
A few pictures from the day below
A fun day doing the aerial filming for a Redbull film. The film features Kriss and Danny and is building to something. Can’t tell you what it is but you’ll find out in the coming months I am sure. Was a good team with Ben as off site DOP, Molly as director, Don as A Camera, Ant as B camera, Grace as athlete relations, Meredith producer from Redbull, Will as assistant to camera and Miles do some FPV drone.
Filmed at Helensburough, Dumbarton and out at Arrochar. A few screen shots below from the drone and phone.
Myself, Danny and Kriss:)
Here’s the finished film from the previous blog. Pretty pleased with how Andrew edited it together with his music:). Blaine is looking good in the shots and whole thing looks stunning. Camera operators are both myself and Andrews as he was on his camera too. Obviously during me doing the drone pilot bits Andrew filmed with his camera. That floating light had a bird carrying it on a longline:)
Another few days filming with Beluga Laggon. We had a fun few days as we paddled into a remote spot in the Scottish Highlands to film some night scenes and bad weather scenes for a man lost somewhere remote. I never really know entirely what I’m filming when doing these with Andrew and the story is in his head and often they are a little wacky the stories until you see them then sometimes they are a little less wacky when on screen with the music. But sometimes not lol.
Blaine was our main character here but Mark had come along for the banter anyway and ended up as chief smoke machine operator. I mean an actual smoke machine not a euphemism. We got some great shots of Blaine and some fun making my drone carry a little bunch of lights that were to represent some weird object in the night sky for Blaine to follow. It looked pretty good through the ground cameras. Few pics below.
Our paddle out was pretty horrendous in a head wind and complete pishing with rain. Underwear wet in 20 mins type rain. But we made it. Took 30 minutes to paddle in and 3.5 hrs to paddle out hahaha.
Blaine doing a bit of acting
The bad weather comes in for a bit:)
Blaine following the mysterious light
A fun few days as a drone operator with Richard Elliott on a Netflix Documentary Glencoe/Etive direction. A local story but can’t tell you anything about it at present unfortunately but should be very interesting.
The Netflix team needed hi-end kit as they were shooting everything in 8K Prores RAW. So the Inspire 3 with X9 Camera were the best option for them. Richard and I worked together here as they were looking for dual operation drone to do some car tracking shots and other shots in the area. A great crew to work with and an enjoyable time there.
A few pics below and a picture of a lovely toilet. Great name for a toilet/sink making company:)
Richard holding one of his drones as we colour match the cameras.
Great fun filming this Speyside way film for Cairngorms Business Partnership. Quite a bit of drone pilot filming here to show the landscape of the different sections along the way from Seaside to the mountains of the Cairngorms. Not a route I have done, I have only paddled the Spey many times, so nice to see the different parts of the footpath/cycle path. Also did a bit as a camera operator to catch the ground scenes and pub, distillery scenes. Was in the Cairn Distillery which was nice to see as a new place. They let me sniff the 70 year old dram but not taste lol. Then an edit of the project until we had what the team wanted:)
Definately worth a walk through the Speyside Way or a cycle also. Enjoy the wee film that Visit Cairngorms shared for Spring coming. Has almost 100k views on facebook now:)
Had fun making this film with Andrew. A music video for the track ‘Isla’ from the ‘Slugs Bonnet’ Album. I filmed the aerial shots as the drone pilot here which we got a lovely day for. Andrew does the dancing on the hill. Which was a bit exciting at times for him as some reasonably drops off to the sides and tricky seeing anything in these masks. Lindsay his wife is Hula hooping and holding the signs, which Andrew filmed near home. The final shot we did last week. The one with the traffic cone.
All beautifully edited and turned to black and white by Andrew in the edit suite and obviously timed to his music to make a very entertaining, fun and different video. Be interesting to see what happens inside Andrews mind hahahahaha.
A great fun few days with Andrew and Blaine filming a new music video for a new song, not yet released. I was out with my new cameras which now match Andrews cameras which is a great bonus. The Sony FX6 and FX3
We were filming several scenes of Blaine all dressed up in tweeds and a flat cap crossing the wilderness with his backpack and stick. Starting in the sun and with the weather getting more grim as he goes on. Well that’s the story anyway but was filmed in reverse because you have to go with the weather you have. Canoes were also at hand to get us to some locations.
Always great fun with this pair and a good crack. We also entered the pub quiz in the Clachaig and came third. One of the questions was “What does the Acronym BBC stand for?'“ Now there are a few answers to this question. The poor quiz master got quite embarrassed with all the laughing. But we did get it right in the end with “British Broadcasting Corporation”:)
Oh and we finally filmed the last clip of Isla music video. I think we did the first clip in September or October hahaha. I see it will premiere Saturday night 1st march as Andrew drops in the final clip to his edit, tomorrow on Beluga Lagoon Films on Youtube.
A few pics below with some screen shots from my camera of Blaine striding out over the moors:)
Blaine dwarfed by the great Highland mountains
Blaine striding out through the lush mossy birch forest in the sun.
Camera operator Kirk with my new shiny camera and 200mm lens:)
Rannoch Moor near Glencoe. A lovely winters morning with ice covered trees so I decided to make a little flight with my drone to see the beauty of Loch Ba which was slightly frozen too. I think on this morning it was -8 degrees as we drove homewards. A loch I have paddled across a few times with my Canadian canoe. It is a very cinematic and very Scottish landscape to film.
I was just returning from filming a Beluga Lagoon practice with a choir so it seemed apt to put a little Beluga Lagoon to it. This track is 'Eas A'Chual Aluinn' (soft version). The version without piano which Andrew possibly made for use in films of his. It is very atmospheric:)
I used a DJI Mavic 3 pro CINE for these aerial shots.
www.belugalagoon.com to see more of Andrews work
Roaming in the Wild returns to BBC Scotland and iplayer for everyones viewing pleasure. Was great fun making these films with Andrew and Mark. Doing fun trips with two good mates, what is not to like:)
A superb few weeks up on these islands with wonderful locals, well worth a visit up here if you have not been yet. Season 2 of Jules and Greg’s Wild Swimming and this year it was Islands. I missed the first 2 weeks on the Western isles as I was is Norway on the Dana shoot for the same company the great Solus Productions.
We had the same team as last year with obviously Jules and Greg doing a super job of presenting and generally being lovely guys to hang out with for the few weeks. Then we have a brilliant and great fun team to work with. As last year Tony was at the helm directing again, Jim producing, Sean as DOP (main camera and gyros in water), also water safety, Colin on sound, Raonaid doing a bit of everything and myself filming the aerials and a little bit of second camera too:)
We swam in lots of different spots for the TV program with beautiful beaches, saunas, rum, vikings, shipwrecks, cliffs, waves, town swims etc and many swims on time off too:) So good being the only people on a lot of these beaches and we met some super characters along the way. A few pictures below to give you a flavour and it will be on BBC Scotland in January coming:)
An amazing two weeks in Lofted in Norway with a very familiar crew of the Dana TV now:) We are on season 4 now and got to head to Norway for what will be episodes 1 and 2 of this new series out later in Autumn.
Coineach is joined by Calum Gibb from Skye to climb, scramble, boulder, surf and bidi in Norway. Hamish was filming on his sony cameras while I filmed with my drone from the air. Rich and Becky did the mountain safety. For the first time in four years we actually got a day off to go climbing ourselves too which was brilliant:) Few pics below of the awesome trip. Looking forward to see what Hamish has done with it all in the edit:)
Our home for the two weeks
First days climb with Calum on it
The guys on Stentind ridge:)
Kenny on Ridge
A few great days with amazing weather filming the new advert for Wavesport Hydra 12’ kayak (a shorter touring boat) and some shorter clips of the tandem kayak and Ethos river kayak. Working with Ed Smith on this. He is a great photographer who has a gallery in Kingussie and we often do jobs together with myself doing the moving images:)
Matt from Wavesport is brilliant to work with and super chilled. We had Alex and Joe as models for the first day then Josh and Bronagh the second day of filming:)
just got a few days editing now to pull the footage together into something lovely hopefully:)
