William Hill Jumps into the Drama of Cheltenham Racing Festival

FAMILIA brings the excitement and drama of Jumps season with a new TVC for William Hill in the lead up to Cheltenham festival. Francis Wallis (director) and Toby Walsham (producer) highlight the toil, grit, and pre-game nerves of race day, bringing a beautiful and cinematic take on the Cheltenham race day experience 

Authenticity to the sport was of key importance throughout this project. This played a huge role in bringing the visual to life, however it did mean having to adapt our shooting schedule around our professional Jockeys and finely tuned racehorses. There was no space for more than two or three takes with our horses due to their strict daily regimes, so getting it right the first time was of the utmost importance. 

Director, Francis Wallis: “There are few spectacles as dynamic, compelling, and even emotive as galloping horses, and from a directorial perspective this was something that I was drawn to from the beginning. William Hill and Angus Gordon (head of global creative@William hill) in particular were great in the manner in which they let me approach this project. 

I knew from the start that we would be best served through a deeply cinematic approach. I drew comparisons with films like Ridley Scott's 'Gladiator' in terms of capturing tension and nerves that the gladiators or in this instance Jockeys had to go through before each race. Callan Green was the perfect director of photography to help paint a visual aesthetic that not only resonated with the brand but could bring out the emotion, tension, and grit from the visual and narrative. 

It is clear that there is a common bond and 'brotherhood' between the groups of people and dynamics involved in horse racing as a sport, and this was always something that I wanted to stay true to and portray accurately, be it through the punters, the experts in the field, or simply through the jockeys themselves."