Boy and Bicycle

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Boy and Bicycle
Directed by	Ridley Scott
Written by	Ridley Scott
Release date(s)	September 7, 1997
Running time	27 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Boy and Bicycle is the first film made by Ridley Scott. The black and white short was made on 16mm film while Scott was a photography student at the Royal College of Art in London in 1962.

Although a very early work - Scott would not direct his first feature for another 15 years - the film is significant in that it features a number of visual elements that would be become motiffs of Scotts work. The cooling towers of the Imperial Chemical works near Stockton that is featured in the film foreshadow Alien, Blade Runner and Black Rain while the central element of the Boy and the Bicycle is re-used in Scott's advert for Hovis of the early 1970s. The film features Tony Scott as the boy.

Scott secured finance from the British Film Institute to complete the editing and sound in 1965 including a score by John Barry. Scott wanted to use an existing recording by Barry but the composer was so impressed by the young film maker he agreed to produce a new recording for the film at limited cost.