A University of Staffordshire student has won an international award for a documentary about beekeeping
Taylor Smith (right) and course mates on the film shoot
“It feels amazing to have won this award because I am incredibly proud of this documentary (...) I was happy with how it turned out, so it's really nice to know that other people also felt this way when they watched it.”
Film Production student Taylor Smith won Best Documentary at the recent Napier Student Film Festival, which celebrates student filmmakers from around the world.
Taylor, 21, from Telford, said: “It feels amazing to have won this award because I am incredibly proud of this documentary. It was really fun to make and it felt very rewarding when it was complete. I was happy with how it turned out, so it's really nice to know that other people also felt this way when they watched it.”
Her short film In The Company of Bees is about family-run beekeeping business Happy Valley Honey, based in Macclesfield. In the documentary, owner Paul Beardmore shares what life is like as a beekeeper and why he is so passionate about it.
“When I was trying to come up with an idea for a documentary, I started to think about the things that I like and that lead me to Winnie the Pooh and then honey, which I love!” explained Taylor.
“When I stumbled across Happy Valley Honey and saw how lovely their website looked and read about what they do, it felt like a no brainer to contact them. In the film, Paul talks about his experience with beekeeping and setting up the business. But more importantly he talks about why he loves it so much and why this allows him to persevere through the tough times.”
Taylor made the documentary in the second year of her BA (Hons) Film Production studies. Students on the course get hands on with industry equipment right from their first week and spend much of their time working on location or in professional film production studios and post-production facilities on campus.
Taylor said: “The course is the reason for my filmmaking ambitions and I'm always pushed to make the best possible film that I can. We’re shown examples of really great pieces of work that have been produced both on the course and outside of the course, which inspire me to make something great and give me ideas for all sorts of things, from shots to lighting to editing techniques, as well as just showing me the value of a really good, emotional story.”