Fig. 1: “Sizzle reel” for the documentary created to apply for grants in early 2023.

“OUT OF BOUNDS” DOCUMENTARY

Our friends over at Cowboy Creative Productions are working on “Out of Bounds”, a documentary about urban explorers, told by urban explorers. Director Andrew Balch has created a window into the world of those who go to extreme lengths to experience secret spaces. The documentary has concluded filming and is aiming for a release of the feature-length final product in early 2024.

THE CONCEPT

‘Urban exploration’ or ‘urbex’ is a niche subculture which seeks to explore abandoned buildings, rooftops, and underground spaces. While other documentaries have touched on urban exploration, it is typically from a very externalized viewpoint. This project is dedicated to diving into the world of urban exploration from the perspective of a documentarian who is an urban explorer himself.

Frequently trespassing and risking everything from their work to their lives to see secret places, urban explorers are a strange and wonderful gathering of people. Daredevils, historical enthusiasts, all forms of curious people, and an endless number of other disparate individuals unite with the simple goal of exploring abandoned locations together. Speaking with them, while the goal may be the same, everyone has a different reason and story for what brought them to urban exploring and why they continue to do it. With this project, we’ll speak with a number of people to hear their individual reasons and background for why they explore. Furthermore, we shall seek if there is a common thread that brings them all together.

Andrew Balch is a relative newcomer to the world of urban exploration, with numerous friends who are more deeply embedded in the national community of explorers across the United States. In this documentary, we will accompany Andrew from mines to rooftops to vast tunnel networks at various meetups of urban explorers, seeing the world from their eyes and hearing what stories they have to tell.

THE TEAM

Director: Andrew Balch is the director and chief documentarian featured in the film. He has a degree in Writing and Directing from Colorado Film School, has experience on several short documentary projects as well as directing several short films.

Cinematographer: Garrett Williams is the director of photography of the project. He has a degree in Cinematography from Colorado Film School, works as a professional photographer and videographer.