STUDENTS at a South Yorkshire academy have been inspired by two filmmakers who visited fresh from collecting prestigious accolades at the Royal Television Society Awards.
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 Trinity Academy, Thorne.
Andrew Palfreyman won for sound in a non-fiction piece and Nyle Hunt and Joe Green won for cinematography in a non-fiction piece, a concept that has been picked up by NBC Universal, which has plans to develop it further.
All three recently graduated in film and TV production from York St John University having been at Trinity Academy together. They all studied film with head of media Catherine Derry and left in 2013.
Miss Derry 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 returned to the academy to meet sixth form students, 30 of whom are studying film and a further 25 are taking media, and to answer their questions about the industry.
Miss Derry explained: "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."
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.
Miss Derry 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 making an open offer to my students to get involved, which will give them a fantastic opportunity to develop their portfolios."