SCOTLAND took three gongs at this year's Baftas, as Brit Daniel Day-Lewis took the Best Actor prize and James Bond film Skyfall was named outstanding British film.

Edinburgh student animators Will Anderson and Ainslie Henderson took the short animation gong with comedy documentary, The Making of Longbird.

And they celebrated their achievement in front of a star-studded audience at London's glittering Royal Opera House in kilts.

Mr Anderson, from Alcaig, Ross-shire, said: "Thank you, I'm very honoured. I'd like to say a big thank you to the Edinburgh College of Art, where this was made as a graduation film."

Glasgow-born director, writer and producer Lynne Ramsay took the short film award with Swimmer, which follows a journey through the waterways and coastline of the British Isles.

Brave, set in the Highlands, took best animated film.

And Scots comedy legend Billy Connolly made a different kind of mark with the laugh of the night when presenting the outstanding British debut award to Bart Layton and producer Dimitri Doganis, saying: "I'm overcome with joy. I'm awash with bliss, at the very thought of presenting an unsuspecting stranger with a death mask on a stick..."

Frontrunner Lincoln, Steven Spielberg's biopic of Abraham Lincoln, had led the pack with 10 nominations but finished the night with one win – Best Actor for Daniel Day-Lewis.

Day-Lewis was joined at the event by some of the biggest names in Hollywood, who braved the wind, rain and sleet to meet fans on the red carpet outside the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden.

Host Stephen Fry introduced the show, which started with a performance by Paloma Faith of the INXS hit Never Tear Us Apart, before the first big award – for Outstanding British Film – went to Skyfall.

The best actress prize went to Emmanuelle Riva, the 85-year-old star of Michael Haneke's Amour, which also took best foreign film.

Actor and director Ben Affleck's Argo, about the Iranian hostage crisis in 1979, won best picture and best director, as well as the top prize for editing.

Les Misérables, the film version of the famous musical, won gongs for hair and make-up, production design, sound and best supporting actress for Anne Hathaway.

In the best supporting actor category, Christoph Waltz took the top prize for his part in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained with that film also taking best original screenplay.

Director Danny Boyle presented the award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema to FilmFour boss Tessa Ross, who he described as a "shy genius".

The next award, for Special Visual Effects, went to the 3D spectacular Life Of Pi.

The Bafta fellowship this year went to Sir Alan Parker, perhaps best known for his 1976 film Bugsy Malone. Parker praised his long-time editor, Gerry Hambling, who died last week.

AND THE WINNERS WERE...

Best Film: Argo

Director: Ben Affleck (Argo)

Leading Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)

Leading Actress: Emmanuelle Riva (Amour)

Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)

Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables)

Bafta Fellowship: Sir Alan Parker

Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema: Tessa Ross

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer: Bart Layton, Dimitri Doganis (The Imposter)

Film Not in the English Language: Amour

Animated Film: Brave

Documentary: Searching For Sugar Man

Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained)

Adapted Screenplay: David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook)

Production Design: Les Miserables (Eve Stewart, Anna Lynch-Robinson)

Special Visual Effects: Life Of Pi

Cinematography: Life Of Pi (Claudio Miranda)

THE EE Rising Star Award (voted for by the public): Juno Temple

Best Short Animation: The Making of Longbird

Original Music: Skyfall (Thomas Newman)

Editing: Argo (William Goldenberg)

Costume Design: Anna Karenina (Jacqueline Durran)

Make-up and Hair: Les Miserables (Lisa Westcott)

Sound: Les Miserables

Short Film: Swimmer