One Year to Go! A film by Fresh Cuts Graduate Murdo MacGillivray

Hi I’m Murdo, I’m a Fresh Cuts Graduate, film maker and cyclist from the Isle of Skye – now based in Aberdeen.

I applied to Fresh Cuts because the opportunity came at the perfect time towards the end of my studies as I was looking to build my creative skillset and challenge myself with projects that were based on cycling and mountain biking.

Fresh Cuts has been a great experience and I’ve enjoyed all of it, from working on our individual briefs and meeting track cycling legends to residential trips and making films in the Tweed Valley with the rest of the cohort. Getting to know such a great group of people through the programme was also one of the main highlights of Fresh Cuts.

My brief was a bit different to the others in some ways as it focused on track cycling instead of mountain biking, but this meant I had the opportunity to learn more about a sport I hadn't previously known too much about. The brief was to tell the story of the impact that the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games had on track cycling in the country, while also helping to build some momentum for the upcoming 2026 Commonwealth Games.

There are so many talented track riders in Scotland, so I knew I had to tell their stories through the film. Speaking to Jack Carlin about the impact the games had on him and turning pro, to Katie Archibald about how the velodrome in Glasgow accelerated her success, then talking to Sir Chris Hoy about how special the legacy of 2014 was to Glasgow and then to future track stars like Erin Boothman about what 2026 will mean to them.

There was definitely a few great moments and a few challenges along the way! One of the nervous moments was setting up for the interview with Sir Chris, I was accompanied by friend and photographer Andrew Leinster and as we were prepping, the nerves were building and things started to go wrong, some electrical failures, lighting not looking as planned and audio issues.

Thankfully we got everything fixed in time, the shoot went to plan and it was a pretty special morning getting to interview Sir Chris in the velodrome named after him.

Through the making of the film I’ve learned plenty from so many different people, getting to practice my interviewing with professional athletes, production and editing skills from the team at Cut Media, and plenty encouragement and support from the staff at DMBinS and Scottish Cycling - especially Pete and Alex who kept me on track, said yes to all my ideas and made lots of things happen!

I’m not sure what’s next, but it’ll probably include bikes and cameras. I’ve learnt plenty on this film that I’ll take to the next project, so I’m excited to get stuck into something new!