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Title: PERFECTION UNDERFOOT

Reference number: 7748

Date: 1964*

Sound: silent

Original format: std. 8mm

Colour: col

Fiction: non-fiction

Running time: 34.31 mins

Description: A promotional film produced for William gray & Sons, 'ayrtoun carpets' of ayr, demonstrating the processes involved in carpet manufacture from start to finish.

Shotlist: grayS OF ayr - PRESENT - title - shots of Caledonian Steam Packet Co. steamer Duchess of Hamilton? entering ayr harbour, tying up at pier - gangway is raised and passengers disembark - gvs harbour, fishing boat and fish lorry (1.47) gvs of Sandgate in ayr, looking towards town hall, traffic and Western SMT buses - view along Sandgate from above - shots of Robert Burns statue, Burns' Cottage in Alloway, Burns Monument and Burns Monument Hotel (3.03) shots of designer Helen Turner painting rose bush beside Brig o'Doon at Alloway, c/u shots of roses and painting - cut to int shots in designing room in gray's factory, Turner copying rose painting to squared paper - shots of designer painting floral design on paper - shots of head of department Jim Galloway talking to design staff - c/u designer working on pattern - gv of designing room, shots of women transferring designs on to squared paper, Jean Scott tracing a design outline - shot of woman painting coloured background on paper - Helen Turner and other staff discussing designs (6.26) shots in loose wool blending department of gray's factory: wool in canvas bails being fed into hopper - teased wool blown into holding bin, then removed and thrown into vacuum duct - shots in spinning department: operator loading wool into carding machine hopper, wool being weighed on pivoting scale, shots of wool passing over carding rollers then on to narrow conveyor belt - gvs start of spinning process, strips of wool passing through rollers, strands of wool wound on to reels, reels placed on to spinning frame - shots of wool being wound on to bobbins (10.11) shot of colourist checking wool colours for a design - shots of woman working on test design by hand, design checked by head colourist Mr Cahill (11.36) gvs in dye house: trolley of wool being prepared for dye vats, placed on suspended poles - shots of dyer measuring dye on to paper, adding it to vat, lowering wool into vat and removing it (13.40) shots in laboratory: woman checking fibre under microscope, machine checking dye quality, testing yarn for tensile strength, machines testing carpet for durability and abrasion (14.59) gv spool winding department for Axminster carpets, shot of bobbin table and carpet design - shots of yarn being wound on to metal spool, spools placed on pallet and numbered (16.52) shots in weaving shed: spools of yarn fitted on to machine, wool fed in by hand - shots of women placing spools on chain of loom - shots of electronic diagnostic panel - shots of narrow Axminster carpet being woven - c/u shots of shuttle moving back and forwards across the loom (20.00) shots of broadloom carpet being woven - fun sequence in which lab assistant demonstrates practical versions of the lab tests, stamping on a carpet square with heavy boots and flattening it from the top of a fire escape with a '5-ton' weight (22.10) shots in Wilton weaving department: shots of operator and loom - shot of woman preparing punched cards to operate loom - shot of bobbin creel behind loom - shots of carpets being woven - gvs of finishing room, women at tables correcting weaving errors by hand - gvs of broadloom cropping machine at work, carpet surface being trimmed - shots of carpet going through back sizer machine, to stiffen the back of the carpet - carpet coming off conveyor, lapped on to pallet - carpet passing through broadloom cropper - shots of woman inspecting carpet before measurement - narrow carpet passing through measuring machine on to roller - shots of women cutting carpet into short lengths for 'bed sets', then ironing on 'ayrtoun carpets' label on underside, stitching end on Singer machine (28.51) shots in stockroom: men remove carpet roll from shelf, open it out on floor and cut it to size, then package it in canvas bag and mark it 'Copenhagen' - workers tie up bag ready for transportation - shots of packages with c/u shots labels, 'H.E. The Governor, Malta, The Palace, Valletta', 'Nigeria, Tanganyika, Dar-Es-Salaam' - shot of barrow coming out of doorway, ayrtoun carpets lorry driving away from factory (32.08) gvs of 'Empress of Canada' at pier at Greenock?, shots of packages being craned on board from tender, then sailing away down Clyde, past Cloch lighthouse - THE END (34.31)