FCET Film Technology Students nominated for THREE Royal Television Awards

Students studying on the BSc Hons Film Production Technology Award have been nominated for THREE awards by industry professionals including the BBC and ITV in the following categories: Best Entertainment, Best Documentary and Best Drama.
 
BSc Hons Television Studio Production module students have been nominated for their comedy panel show Hot Off The Press which in its Mock The Week style format hosted top comedians from around the country on two live shows which are now streaming online. The group of studio students completed the programme as part of their third year studies on the BSc Hons Film Production Technology Award. The group which was run by Sophie Dewing, producer, and Alex (Leppi) Campbell as Director, now working with steadicam across Film and Television productions in London, has been nominated for Best Entertainment programme in this year's Royal Television Society Awards in the student category.

Sophie Dewing went on to work at BBC Vision and is now working on a documentary for the National Geographic Channel with the company Inclusive Digital TV in London.
 
"It was a great opportunity and great fun to work on. We worked with comedians from across the country and many were well known on the comedy circuit so the production felt very professional. It was a team effort and we spent hours rehearsing.
When you get a good grade at university you feel as though you've achieved but to get the recognition as well from industry itself for our programme we feel as though it's maybe not a dream and we really could be successful in industry! What's amazing about the module is it's exactly like it is in the industry , the fact wthat we could replicate the real world in the university was fantastic and having a whole television studio to ourselves to use the technology and production skills was exciting to do".

Staffordshire University's 2009 Graduate Exhibition winner Jakub Jedrzejewski has been nominated for Best Documentary for his GRADEX winning production about a Polish secret service soldier in World War Two called Pseudonym Jackal. Jakub later worked on the broadcast production documentary for Sky History Channel, and the Crime and Investigation Channel, called the Brinks Mat Robbery as boom operator. The programme was developed by Film lecturer Fiona Graham and saw lecturer Paul Ottey as Camera Assistant.  Jakub is now working on a feature film in Poland.
 
The final category nomination is for the stunning short film by former second year BSc Hons Film students Stuart Hackshaw, Oliver Truswell, Alistair Little, and Matt Holmes, entitled Olivia as part of their second year studies on the BSc Hons Film Technology module. They are nominated for Best Drama in the Royal Television Society Student category Awards.

It's only the second year Staffordshire University's BSC Hons Film Production Technology course has entered the industry awards. Last year the students were nominated for Best Drama for the film A Soldier's War. The RTS Award entries are compiled every year by Film lecturers Fiona Graham and Paul Ottey and this year they are delighted the students have been recognised for their productions.
 
Fiona Graham, senior lecturer in Film and Television Studio Production, who is also a Development Producer in Documentary, said: "It's fantastic news for the students who have worked so hard on their productions. The level of work achieved is being recognised from industry professionals and we wish them all the best of luck for the Awards.
 
"With such a hotbed of young talent here it's wonderful to see their productions are right up there with the very best from Universities across the Midlands region and they have fought off tough competition from many to be in the position they are now."

Paul Ottey also a lecturer on the Bsc Hons Film Production Technology Award and a broadcast camera operator said: "These nominations show just how diverse the BSc Hons Film Production Technology course is, to achieve one nomination is amazing but three shows the range of talent and opportunities that are available to our students. We wish them all the best in the RTS awards this year and hope we can continue working with our students now and in the future to achieve such industry excellence."
 
The star-studded Royal Television Society Awards host the regional awards at the end of October in Birmingham where the Staffordshire University students will join colleagues from across the region to go head-to-head for the final winning place. They will rub shoulders with producer and directors as well as actors from across the television industry at the prestigious award ceremony. If successful they will join the national ceremony televised programme hosted by the BBC next year.