Award-winning film makers inspire Doncaster school pupils

Students at a Doncaster Academy have been inspired by former students who are award-winning film-makers.
Andrew Palfreyman and Nyle Hunt returned to their former school, Trinity Academy, Thorne, Doncaster, in April 2017 shortly after scooping awards at the Royal Television Society Awards, (RTS).Andrew Palfreyman and Nyle Hunt returned to their former school, Trinity Academy, Thorne, Doncaster, in April 2017 shortly after scooping awards at the Royal Television Society Awards, (RTS).
Andrew Palfreyman and Nyle Hunt returned to their former school, Trinity Academy, Thorne, Doncaster, in April 2017 shortly after scooping awards at the Royal Television Society Awards, (RTS).

Andrew Palfreyman and Nyle Hunt returned to Trinity Academy, Thorne, earlier this month shortly after scooping awards at the Royal Television Society Awards, (RTS).

The RTS awards are the gold standard of achievement in the television community, and of the six awards in the Yorkshire Student Television Awards three went to former students of the school, Church Balk.

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Andrew won a craft award for sound in a non-fiction piece about sleep paralysis called ‘Trapped in Terror’. Meanwhile, Nyle and fellow class-mate Joe Green won for craft award for camerawork in a non-fiction piece a web series exploring how movement can be used for escapism called ‘We Are Only Human’.

All three recently graduated in film and TV production from York St John University, but they all studied film with head of media Catherine Derry at Trinity Academy before they left in 2013.

Catherine said: “We are very proud of them. They were very enthusiastic and passionate about the subject when they were students here and they clearly remember me saying at parents’ evening that they could have a career in film and television.”

Andrew and Nyle met current sixth form students during their visit, including 30 young men and women who are studying film and 25 who are taking media, and to answer their questions about the industry.

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Catherine said students are given the chance to base their work around subjects that interest them - and Andrew, Nyle and Joe produced some of the best work on the course.

She said: “Ours are popular courses because we allow the students to pursue their own interests.

“They aren’t dictated to, we ask them to think about what their passions are then allow them to build on that in their work.

“For instance, Andrew, Nyle and Joe were interested in free running and they were able to include elements of that into their A grade coursework, which I still use as examples to inspire current students.”

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Since graduating, Andrew has been involved in game-testing work on FIFA games and is aiming to start a production company with Nyle, while Joe is working on independent filmmaking projects.

Catherine added: “They have made really strong networks with directors and production teams and they are now having people contact them to ask for their help.

“They are going to be producing a promotional video next month and were very generous in offering my students a chance to get involved, which will give them a fantastic opportunity to develop their portfolios.”

Visit www.trinity-academy.org.uk.