Matthew of Bristol Trust: 30 Minute Documentary completed

The Brief

As part of a heritage project to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the modern Matthew, Empica was commissioned by the Matthew of Bristol Trust to produce a documentary charting a year in the life of this much-loved and iconic ship; a reminder of Bristol's 'age of discovery' and its seafaring past.

What we did

Our videographer Grace Fox filmed the Matthew, a familiar site around the historic Bristol Harbour, over a two-year period, capturing significant events, people, sights and sounds of the ship in action.

The filming also allowed us to capture the memories people had of the Matthew, from construction to launch and the historic voyage to Newfoundland in 1997. We also filmed students from the City of Bristol College who were helping to develop learning resources about the Matthew and medieval Bristol, for use across the city's Secondary Schools.

The footage was edited with a commentary by the BBC’s Sally Challoner to provide a 30-minute film that could be shown at anniversary events in 2022.

The Outcome

The film will now form part of Matthew 525 – a cross-curricular learning resource for children aged 7 to 9 in Bristol schools – to be launched in 2023. See link https://matthew.co.uk/the-matthew-525-project

The Matthew 525 Project is a local collaboration. The Matthew of Bristol Trust, in association with Historic England’s Heritage Schools Initiative, are working with Myers Insole Local Learning CIC; Bristol Books CIC and City of Bristol College.