Hidden away, behind old binders that haven't been touched in years, and boxes of filing that no one is planning to do, is a forgotten gem. Something that will start an investigation into the lives that built our world today. 

Knox Academy is one of the oldest schools in the world, first created over 600 years ago in 1379 as a mediaeval grammar school. Later on it was re-christened Knox Academy after the Scottish protestant Minister John Knox, who was born in Haddington around 1515. 

With the age of the school comes thousands of stories, and a rich history which we are fortunate enough to get a glimpse of  – through school records, and registers that have been preserved in a rather battered box, waiting to be brought back to life. 

The records date back to the early 1940s, during war time, where we can experience the evacuations through the pages. We can see what classes people took in the 50s, the money that was spent in the 60s when people were managing to get back on their feet, how many people passed maths in 1980, the school rugby club in the 90s,  and where we went for school trips in the 2000s. 

Using these records, we have managed to get in touch with some ex-pupils, and hear about old Knox,  and what their lives were like. We have also been able to look at things like money log books, and the different classes taught at the time – Latin anyone? 

If you know somebody that has attended Knox Academy, and may be interested in sharing some stories, or doing an interview then please reach out! We are particularly interested in hearing from older generations, their words might be a valuable addition to the Knox archive.

• Aubin Motion

At the end of August, I went to the Lorde Summer Sessions in Ingliston, Edinburgh which was an amazing experience and my first ever concert. Sadly we missed the first opener Alessi Rose, but from what we heard she was excellent. Alessi Rose is a rising British pop singer-songwriter, who has opened for artists such as Noah Kahan, Tate McRae and Dua Lipa. Her setlist included some of her hits: “oh my”, “That Could Be Me” and “Dumb Girl.”

Next on the setlist was Audrey Hobert, who walked out in stilts and a super sized trench coat. Eccentric and iconic, Audrey performed “Bowling Alley”, “Phoebe” and “Silver Jubilee” as well as other songs from her debut album ‘Who’s the Clown?’ which was released last August. Audrey closed her set with her most famous pop anthem “Sue Me” after starting the song by jumping and dancing on a mini trampoline! One of the best parts of her performance was the crowd, screaming out the lyrics and dancing along to the music.

Zara Larsson's show as the last opener was incredible. With an amazing stage backdrop of flowers and even a life size pink cardboard barbie car! Although there wasn't really enough room for us to do the Lush Life dance when the song came on, the crowd had a great time and Zara was amazing at involving the crowd and hyping everyone up. For her song “Lush Life” Zara always brings out a fan to do the viral dance with her on stage. This time she brought out 18 year old Jula, holding her sign saying “I had a car crash while listening to Lush Life so maybe I can be a Lush Life girl tonight”. For her hit “Midnight Sun” some people in the crowd even lifted each other up and hit the dolphin pose, to recreate the rainbow and dolphin meme associated with her song. 

After a quick break of chips without ketchup - much to Aggies’ outrage and indignation - we headed back into the crowd to see Lorde take to the stage. As soon as the first beat dropped the crowd went into a frenzy, screaming the words back to Lorde as loudly as they could. Some of the best songs of the night were ‘Great Light’, ‘Team’ and “Girl, so confusing”. For her song ‘David’, Lorde brought out a huge banner that was held up by the crowd, proclaiming the words ‘I DON'T BELONG TO ANYONE’. This banner has travelled with Lorde on her Ultrasound tour, from London to Luxembourg, Italy to Ingliston, her fans from all over the world have signed their name and messages to be seen millions of miles away. As the night drew to a close under the full moon, Lorde chose her song ‘Ribs’ to end the concert - over 21,000 people chanted the closing lines “And that will never be enough.”

• Karis Hutchison, Aggie Darby

Christopher Nolan has directed 21 films, including 2023 Oppenheimer, 2014 Interstellar, and many of the Batman films. But today we will be talking about his most recent motion picture The Odyssey based on the book by ancient Greek poet Homer. The film is led by Good Will Hunting star: Matt Damon as Odessyus, Tom Holland as Telemachus, Anne Hathaway as Penelope, Zendaya as the goddess Athena, and Robert Patterson as Antinous. 

A kingdom has been left unruled for twenty years. Suitors have taken over the castle -constantly violating Zeus's law-, waiting for the abandoned Penelope to come round. But she is busy, waiting for her husband Odysseus, and his army to return from their journey, after fighting in the Trojan War. Only three people believe that Odysseus will return, Penelope, his son, Telamachus, and his part-blind servant Eumaeus. Telamachus, worried by his mothers distress, decides to take Odysseus' friend Mentor as well as his army, to go search for Odysseus, and find out the fate of his father. 

While it is  highly regarded as a very good film -with 92% on Rotten Tomatoes- it is not considered to be completely  true to the book. Of course there always has to be some creative license, but some parts are considered to be a big departure from the works of Homer. Some of the main differences were Odysseus’ motivation, the book shows him as crafty and mischievous while in the movie he is more serious, and is portrayed as more of a traumatised man wanting to get back to his family.  

A consistent theme within the film is talk about Zeus's law. The Greek name for the law is Xenia, and it basically means that strangers should be taken care of, fed, sheltered and treated kindly, with respect. And the guests would maintain this respect towards their hosts, and not exploit their generosity. 

The thing that makes this film really quite special was the fact it used very minimal CGI (Computer generated imagery) most of the special effects were actually props and puppets. And many scenes were shot in real locations, instead of everything being recorded in a studio with green screens. The recording was spread throughout Europe, in countries such as Morocco, Italy, Greece, Scotland, Iceland and with some indoor scenes in the Los Angeles studio. 

The Cyclopes, for example, was a 60ft animatronic puppet, brought to life by  Bill Irwin, who also did work on Nolan's previous film Interstellar. Iwrin did the voices and noises for the Cyclops and choreographed the performance; pulling together the harrowing view of the one-eyed giant. This scene was recorded in Voidokila Beach, Peloponnese, Greece. The Cyclops’ cave is actually a real place, and all the scenes inside the cave were actually shot, in the damp, cold lair, instead of being done in a studio. 

In the scene with the man-eating giants (Laestrygones), they hired 7-foot tall stuntmen to play the giants, and to make him look bigger, a woman at around 4 feet 7 inches as Matt Damon's stunt double as well as using forced perspective. To bring life to the battle, Nolan used wirework to show Odssyeus’s men being thrown, and pulled by the Laestrygones. For this, the team travelled to Culbin Forest in Scotland. To create the home of the giants, in the ominous foggy pine trees. 

The home island to Odesseys and Telemichus is located in Italy. All of the interior of the castle was in Los Angeles, but the scenes on the hills were taken in the western coast of Italy. But because there was no access road to where they were shooting, and they couldn't get permission to build one, they used funicular lifts to carry things, and the cast and crew members had to walk to and from there during the two weeks of recording on the coast. 

Even the scenes in the water were recorded in real places. The scene where Odessey' s crew has to sail through siren inhabited waters, was filmed in the western coast of Lipari, in the waters of Pietra del Bango. 

We live in an age where CGI is so frequently used in films that the beauty of film making is taken for granted. Some films these days have so much CGI and special effects that it no longer feels like a piece of art, like it was something that proper effort and work was put into, where things went wrong but were then resolved with actual human trial and error, with experience. It’s when you watch films like this, you really appreciate the genius of human creation, and the hard work that goes into it.   

The thing is, when people actually put in the effort to be creative, and build and make their own sets and props, when people use animatronics, and perspective, it is rewarded so much more than when CGI is used. This is because nowadays we are so deprived of this type of creativity. Social media is filled with AI,  and filmmaking is 99% CGI. Films like the 2019 The Lion King – the whole thing is CGI. And of course it did take effort, it did take creativity, but it has no emotion, no passion, not nature. You can’t see the eyes glimmer, the fur doesn’t move naturally. But in films like Wes Anderson’s 2009 Fantastic Mr Fox,  you can see the animals' fur move where they have been touched, they look like they have lived, they look like they have been loved. Or in Jim Henson's 1986 Labyrinth where the creatures were sculpted with human hands, and created by someone who has dedicated their life to creating and sculpting, who has spent hours improving and learning their art.

• Aubin Motion