One of the most spectacular events of the Edinburgh festival, a huge sound and light show on Sunday night, is "terrifying" the director of the annual International Festival.
Deep Time will take place at 10.30pm on Sunday, with a light and laser show against the canvas of Edinburgh Castle and Castle Rock, with music provided by the Scottish rock band Mogwai.
READ MORE: 18 things you can count on happening at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
It is expected 27,000 ticket holders will gather to watch the digital display, but Fergus Linehan, director of the festival (EIF) admitted his profound nerves over the event, which cannot be rehearsed all the way through because of its size, volume and particular scale.
He said: "How am I feeling about Deep Time? Terrified.
"Everytime you decided to do a public event in a site that hasn't been used for a public event before, the variables are ridiculous, the amount of things that can go wrong.
"We have a couple of huge advantages in Edinburgh, the actual architecture is so spectacular that you can just turn up and feast your eyes on it, so you are a bit ahead, and the other thing is that people will come out in any weather and it won't bother them.
"Look, I think it's going to be very good, but because we can only work on it in hours of darkness, and there are only four of five of those, it's a crazy brief."
Linehan added: "It might be amazing. I was more worried last year [for the opening event].
"At least we know the number of people this year, we have a finite number of attendees and the tickets are going great.
"I am pretty sure I know what is going to happen with [opera] Norma or [opening concert] Rossini's Stabat Mater the
the margin for error for this is a lot smaller."
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Deep Time is inspired by the geological history of Edinburgh and the work is created by 59 Productions.
The Edinburgh International Festival (EIF), Festival Fringe and the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo have now all officially started
EIF got proceedings off to a start with Linehan, MSP Christine Grahame and members of the EIF young people's award jury unveiling the Anything That Gives Off Light installation at the Scottish Parliament ponds.
The design features 1,000 yellow 1ft figurines placed on plinths in various positions and is the result of a collaborative project between EIF and 1,000 primary school pupils from across Edinburgh.
Mr Linehan said it is "crucial" to involve young people in the festival to make sure it carries on in the future.
He added: "It's going to be important that the people of Edinburgh have a sense of ownership of the festival because they created it and they are the ones that are going to carry it on, so I think it's absolutely crucial.
READ MORE: 18 things you can count on happening at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
"From a financial point of view, the festivals deliver £313 million worth of economic benefit to Edinburgh and Scotland each year.
"They sustain 6,000 jobs each year and so there's a very practical reason for it."
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