There are some films that come together quickly. This definitely wasn’t one of them.
Almost 11 months ago, I first had a chat with Abigail Rudkin about potentially creating a short doc about her life as a freelance artist and her connection and love for Liverpool Football Club, something we both share. My biggest aim as a filmmaker is to make films about interesting people, doing interesting things. It really is as simple as that. But it’s not often that there’s already a shared love and passion in common between filmmaker and subject. I love Liverpool Football Club just as much as Abi does, and that made for a really wonderful filming experience and this translates in the film.
What started as a simple idea turned into something a lot more meaningful; a short documentary about losing your passion for something you love, finding it again, and combining two things that have always been a huge part of Abi’s life: football and art.
From watching Liverpool with her dad as a kid, to selling her first football painting for £70, Abi’s work has grown into a full time career. She even had her work on the front of the match day programme last week!
It’s been a bit of a labour of love, with the film going through plenty of reworking, restructuring and eventually a pickup filming day to capture some of the material I knew the finished film needed. But in hindsight, that process was probably exactly what the film needed.
The Story Behind the Documentary
The film follows Liverpool artist Abigail Rudkin and her journey from studying Fine Art at University to finding a new passion for painting through her love of football.
At the heart of the film is the connection between art, football and Liverpool, and how those things have shaped Abi’s work. Rather than simply being a film about a football artist, I wanted it to explore the personal reasons behind the work and what keeps her excited about painting. That became the central thread of the documentary and ultimately shaped the way the film was structured.
From Fine Art Student to Full-Time Football Artist
During covid, Abi painted a portrait of Jürgen Klopp, posted it online and the rest is history, so to speak…
Requests for paintings of Liverpool players and managers started coming in, commissions followed and Abi eventually took the leap to become a full-time artist.
Her work is now closely connected to Liverpool, community and the emotion of watching football. The film explores that connection, including her experience creating work connected to Liverpool Football Club and the influence of Jürgen Klopp on her relationship with the game.
The film is ultimately less about football itself and more about finding your passion again, and what happens when you manage to combine the things you genuinely love.
Finding the Narrative in the Edit
One of the biggest challenges with this film was figuring out exactly what the story was.
The initial idea wasn’t necessarily what the final film ended up being. As I spent more time with the interview and started putting the edit together, the narrative began to reveal itself.
Once the structure was nailed down, the film took a different direction. Rather than simply making a profile piece of an artist, the film became more about Abi’s journey. Losing her passion for art, rediscovering it through the football and ultimately finding success by combining the two. That meant a lot of reworking.
Sections were moved, cut, shortened and rebuilt. I stepped away from the edit, came back to it after a few months and looked at it again with fresh eyes. Eventually, it became obvious that there were a few things missing visually, which led to a pickup filming day.
That extra day was important because it allowed me to shoot specifically for the story we had discovered in the edit, rather than simply filming coverage and hoping it would fit later.
Visual Style and Creative Filmmaking Techniques
Visually, I wanted the documentary to feel cinematic without losing the observational and personal nature of the story. A lot of the film is built around Abi in her own environment, particularly the space where she paints. Rather than constantly cutting away to generic football footage, the aim was to keep bringing the audience back to Abi and the process of creating the artwork.
We used a mixture of controlled camera movement, handheld shots and more composed static frames, alongside close-up details of the painting process.
One of my favourite techniques was using a small piece of perspex glass between the camera and Abi. The idea was to let Abi paint onto the perspex as though she was painting directly onto the camera lens. It created a really tactile shot where the brush, paint and artwork could interact with the image itself.
It’s a relatively simple setup, (apart from battling with all the reflections!) but it gives the sequence something more visually interesting than simply filming someone painting over and over again. It also made for a great title card! It also felt appropriate for the film because it blurred the line between the artist, the artwork and the camera observing her.
Capturing the Spirit of Liverpool
Liverpool itself was another important part of the visual language. The city isn’t simply a backdrop to Abi’s story. Her connection to Liverpool is a huge part of why football and art became so intertwined for her.
We filmed around Anfield and across Liverpool, using the city to give the film a sense of place without turning it into a tourism video. The streets surrounding Anfield and the stadium itself, murals and the wider visual identity of Liverpool all help reinforce what Abi talks about in the interview: the sense of community, music, football and creativity that exists within the city. The football footage and Liverpool imagery were also used carefully around the interview rather than simply dropping in whenever the word “Liverpool” was mentioned. I just kept reminding myself that it isn’t a football film, it’s a film about Abi.
That was part of the wider approach to the edit: the visuals needed to progress the story rather than just illustrate the dialogue.
Rediscovering Passion Through Art
At its heart, this is a film about Abigail Rudkin, but it’s also a film about rediscovering something you thought you’d lost.
Abi went from questioning whether she even wanted to continue with art to building a career around painting some of the biggest moments, players and personalities in football.
Her work has since become closely associated with Liverpool FC, with her expressive paintings capturing the emotion and atmosphere that surround some of the biggest moments in the club’s history.
That combination of football, art, and Liverpool is what made Abi’s story so interesting to me in the first place.
I’m really proud of how it turned out. More importantly, I’m grateful to Abi for trusting me to tell her story.
Watch the full documentary: Abigail Rudkin | How a Liverpool Fan Turned Football Into Art.
Production: Coolbox Video Studio
Self-Shooting Director: Calum Knight
Camera Operator: Marc Grundy
BTS Photography: Jessica Baillie
Edit & Grade: Calum Knight
Edit Producer: Connor Alderson