Award-winning film set in 1980s Hartcliffe

To the soundtrack of On my Radio by The Selecter, a lad in drainpipe jeans hurtles his bike through the estate to his house.

It’s the opening sequence to the first award-winning short film by Will Stone, set in 1980s Hartcliffe and made as part of his final year university project.

For the 24-year-old, The Fence – inspired by his dad’s many tales of growing up on a council estate in south Bristol – is not only a labour of love, but a chance to reconnect with his roots.

“My dad’s from Hartcliffe, and most of the family are still there,” says Will, speaking over coffee in Costa at the Imperial Retail Park, just streets away from some of their old haunts.

“He grew up in the 70s and has loads of stories.”

Will did an art foundation diploma at South Gloucestershire & Stroud College Filton, where he discovered his love of film, and went on to study film production and cinematography at Bournemouth University.

“Throughout the entire course, I had an idea of what I would do for a film at the end of the year,” says the filmmaker.

“I wanted to tell a story of my dad’s. He has always been into motorbikes and cars and he bought a bike when he was 17, which he worked his ass off for. On the day he bought it, it was stolen.

“It would have been about three months wages at the time. He and my uncles just started banging on doors and taking to fences until they found out who it was.”

Will says his dad did go to the police at first but, as depicted in the film, the officer was not interested in helping the council estate boy, who went on to take justice into his own hands.

The film was based on life in Hartcliffe in the 1980s

“He tries to do the right thing and avoid violence but, as a product of the environment, he can’t help it,” explains Will, adding that he isn’t condoning violence, but wanted to realistically portray a time when people sorted out their own problems – and with that came a certain level of respect.

“Part of the thing about my dad’s childhood is he had so many mates and they had it so hard but they got on with it and got things done. The Fence is about a kid who has no choice. Nobody helps him to try and resolve it in a nice way.”

Will completed the film in seven days with a crew of five and £1,000 of his own savings after being told by teachers it was far too ambitious a project.

It went on to win two industry awards, including best film on a low budget at the British Independent Film Awards and an award for cinematography, thanks to the work of cinematographer Adam Pickford.

“I stuck it online last year and it just went mental, it’s on 1.4million views now,” says Will.

“Most of the comments are asking for a sequel, but I don’t really have the means. I guess it could be made into a series. I’ve written a series of episodes so would like to get it out to production companies, but it’s not easy to do.”

Will moved from Hartcliffe to Whitchurch when he was ten and says his dad has always wanted him to have the choices he never had.

“I’ve been really lucky,” says the filmmaker. “The film, for me, was maybe a way of connecting with my roots. It meant a lot to me, I was very determined to get it done.”

It wasn’t an easy process getting the film made. “I was basically getting people to give me their cars and bikes for free, but what I found was that a lot of people understood where I was coming from and they were happy to lend me the bikes,” says Will.

“I went round looking for council estates to film the exteriors and had to knock on the door and ask if I could film on someone’s doorstep. Again, a lot of people said yes.

“Then we have the fun and games of trying to schedule it because we’d have a guy with a bike here and a guy with a car, and then someone with a house. We stopped filming on the last day just as the sun was setting.”

His dad loved the film, but Will says he still gets stick from members of the family who tell him to get a “real job”.

Will went on to win a Royal Television Society award for his film, The Manor

Since finishing work on The Fence, the Whitchuch-based filmmaker has shot short film, The Manor, which won a Royal Television Society award.

He is proud of where is from and says he’d like to see Bristol put on the map more in film and television.

Will has also written a feature film and his goal is to get it made by the time he’s 27.

Read more: The heart of Hartcliffe