Paisley's bid to become the 2021 UK city of culture has been boosted by a teenage filmmaker who has been building quite a following.

At just 17, Morgan Spence has already been praised by US chat show host Jimmy Kimmel for his short films, which are created using Lego and stop-motion animation.

Now he is using his skills to boost the town's chances of being selected through a new video using the children's toy blocks to highlight the famous places and faces of Paisley throughout its history.

The video features landmarks from the town including Paisley Abbey and the town hall, famous faces such as Paolo Nutini and David Tennant and even references to Paisley pattern - all painstakingly rendered in Lego and animated.

Mr Spence, who lives in nearby Kilbarchan, gained recognition for his block-based movies after releasing Brick Flicks - a series of stop-motion animation films using Lego of famous movie scenes.

It came about after Lego artist Warren Elsmore gave the then 15-year-old a two-week deadline to create a promotional video for his upcoming book of the same name.

The film has been viewed more than a million times on YouTube and led to the teenager appearing on US TV, being interviewed by Jimmy Kimmel and creating an animated version of Grand Budapest Hotel.

The youngster, who has been making movies since 2011, also found viral fame after creating a proposal film -made of Lego of course - for a Birmingham man to create a marriage proposal screened before a film he had taken his partner to see.

Speaking to STV News as the film was released on Wednesday, Mr Spence said he was excited to have the work finally seen by the public.

"It's excellent to finally reveal my Paisley 2021 film," he said.

"I've worked on it for a number of months now and its great that everyone can see it."

But why does he use Lego for so much of his work?

He explains: "Lego has a universal appeal and as part of this project I wanted to put across what Paisley has had to offer for decades, and I think whether it's modern actors such as David Tennant or playwrights like John Byrne I really wanted to span the decades and I think Lego is a great tool for doing that.

"It is also really colourful and visually appealing."

The colourful building blocks are almost as popular with adults as children, and Mr Spence thinks this gives his films their wide appeal.

He said: "One of the beauties of Lego is how appealing it is no matter what your age is and that's why I love working with it.

"I had to spend a lot of time building the sets. Surprisingly with stop-motion, although that takes a long time sometimes the set building takes longer.

"But it was a lot of fun, and since it's a personal project you're more enthusiastic about it at the same time."

Paisley's city of culture bid was launched in 2015 has already secured some other influential local backers.

Singer Paolo Nutini announced he was supporting the cause in a video message at the town's Christmas lights switch-on.

He said: "I'm backing the bid because Paisley is and always has been my home. I love the town and want to see it grow.

"It's a town that needs the investment but it knows what it's going to do with that investment and I think the potential is really clear.

"I see the romance of the town - when you walk into the centre it's got a beautiful composition.

"The bid is about building a structure that can tackle the more deep-rooted problems and it's important we get behind that."

Local Scottish Premiership team St Mirren also got behind the campaign, changing the name of their ground to the Paisley 2021 Stadium last year.

Councillor Mark Macmillan, chairman of the bid, said: "The name Paisley is already known around the world thanks to the pattern which bears its name," he said.

"Paisley's bid for UK City of Culture will take the town's unique story and retell it to the world.

"For its size, Paisley's contribution to the world has been massive and we are not going to be shy in shouting about it."

You can see more of Morgan Spence's work on his YouTube channel.