The brief
Gravel and Grit asked us to tell the story of the first Bristol Backyard Ultra, held at Blaise Castle Estate: a race with no finish line, where runners complete a 4.167-mile loop every hour, on the hour, until only one is left. They wanted a documentary that showed what the format really asks of the people who run it, along with content to build the event’s profile before race day and keep it going long after.
The approach
Our work started months before the race. We shot a pre-event session at Blaise Castle, flew the drone over the course, and produced three short films to build anticipation: a founder’s film, a Backyard Ultra explainer, and What Makes a Backyard Special.
On race day the full team stayed on site in shifts for more than 24 hours, from the 10am Saturday start, through a night of torrential rain, into Sunday afternoon. Rich covered drone, B-roll and photography, Molly ran the interviews, Cat shot photography, and Laura worked across photography and B-roll. We came away with more than four hours of interviews with runners, crew and supporters.
The edit, The Fear of Stopping, balances the serious moments with the lighter ones, and leaves room for silence where the race speaks for itself.
The outcome
104 runners started. The winner, Jack, ran 26 loops, around 108 miles. Gravel and Grit received the full documentary, a cinematic trailer, vertical social cuts and more than 200 edited stills, along with a runners’ photo gallery for their own website and tailored photo sets for the event’s sponsors. Together they give the event a bank of marketing assets to draw in runners, sponsors and volunteers for next year’s race.
Ewan and Sunny’s verdict on the film: “We’ve watched the doc four or five times now in full, and still get goosebumps as we watch it.”
