Stirling University’s film-making society AirTV has recently turned twenty one years old. This anniversary is a big deal for the society as their history is one of determination and unbelievable creativity. To celebrate, the Celebrate a Special documentary has been produced and is set to release sometime this month.
This year not only celebrates the societies creation, it also marks the tenth anniversary of the AirTV YouTube channel and the first year of the soon to be completed AirTv studio.
Founded in 2003, AirTV fought an uphill battle towards its creation. Prior to the original committee helping to form the identity of the society, AirTV was known as ‘Video Works’, and functioned very differently to how AirTV operates today. The society functioned as an avenue for students to submit their end of year “Oscar films”.
The idea to change ‘Video Works’ came from three students, those being Vito Milazzo, George Roundtool and Neil Davidson. The trio wanted to form a society that would run year round, just like other media societies like Brig and Air3, except their society would be focused on film-making.
Milazzo was dedicated to getting AirTV off of the ground in 2003, however due to a number of copyright issues the creation of AirTV was pushed back constantly. This didn’t stop Milazzo, if anything it made him more determined as he spent a majority of that years summer working around the issue, getting the society ready for its launch during the winter season.
After successfully launching the society, Milazzo became the president. In its early days, AirTV would film events at the university and play them for students once every two weeks.
The documentary will feature a mix of interviews with prior AirTV members and archive footage of the societies inception. Though a date hasn’t been confirmed for the documentary, plenty of images have been shown including images of the McQuaid twins interacting with Vito Milazzo.
Image credit: AirTV
Brig had the chance to talk to some important AirTV, including the McQuaid twins, to ask what the anniversary means to them and how they feel about being a part of AirTV.
The current station head Ben McQuaid and his twin brother Nathan McQuaid, deputy station manager, were very open about their love for AirTV, speaking highly about their time filming the documentary:
“For us as filmmakers this documentary is really a love letter to AirTV. AirTv has been so important to us throughout our whole time at Uni and it has very much shaped us as people and filmmakers…We hope that people watching will appreciate how much airtv has done for the university. The station has recorded so many moments from over 20 years, capturing life at Stirling and giving students the chance to express themselves through film.”
Though they are the current heads of the committee, the twins celebrated all of those that came before them, giving a lot of praise to the original committee.
Secretary and Head of Features Tom Broekhuizen had this to say about AirTV’s anniversary:
“I think it’s a good benchmark, a lot of societies don’t last this long, I think it’s great we’ve managed to keep it afloat all these years.”
Tom also talked of how he first joined AirTV because the university don’t offer practical film-making till third year. He talked of this decision being a great one as AirTV has provided him with lots of great experience.
Another prominent member of AirTV, Dylan Antscherl, gave a comment. He expressed his respect for the MacQuaid twins and talked about how much work they have done for both the society and the upcoming documentary:
“So I’d like to highlight how Ben and Nathan trying so hard to make this video, and bring all of these people from the past together, is a testament to how much they do for the society…So even though this films a celebration of the 21 years of airtv, I’d like it to be known that they are just as essential to the society’s success than anyone that came before them.”
AirTV has some of the most dedicated students the university has ever seen. They are a group of creatives constantly striving to innovate, change and above all create art, if you’re an aspiring film maker, or just someone that has a love for the arts AirTV may be the place you’re looking for.
AirTV’s unofficial motto is a great bit of motivation for those of us that have dreamed to create but fell into the trap of procrastination. All members swear by one quote that being “Start making films, not excuses”.
Featured image credit: AirTV
Fourth year Film and Journalism student
Deputy editor
Contact - deputyeditor@brignews.com
