The successful business, founded by Staffordshire University graduates, has awarded cash bursaries to two students to help fund their final year projects.
Six students were shortlisted to pitch to company directors Mike McDonald and Ryan Lloyd this week. BA (Hons) Advertising Film and Music Video Production student Sam Rayner and BA (Hons) Experimental Film Production student Anna Tyler both impressed with their ideas and will receive £250 each.
Sam, 22 from Essex, was inspired by his favourite app and will create an advert for Sleepiness which uses different sounds to help users drift off. Sam plans to build a set with moving walls for the advert and will shoot it in studios on campus.
He said: “I’m overwhelmed to be honest, a lot of work has gone into this and the money will help me massively.
“My project involves a lot of set design so I have to buy all the materials. The character in the ad can’t sleep and the walls of the bedroom move outwards to create space and a calm darkness.”
Anna, 22 from Dartford in Kent, plans to make a period drama set in the 19th century which follows a young woman who has to choose between romance and her education.
She said: “I’m so happy! The outfits and locations are fundamental to making my film authentic and this money will go towards that. It’s going to help so much.
“There’s not a lot of places locally where it’s free to film on location so this will also help to pay for travel.”
Inspired Film and Video's founding members met while studying at Staffordshire University and started the business through the University's Fellowship Enterprise Scheme in 2006. They have maintained strong links with the University and 80% of employees are graduates.
It is the second year that the grants have been made available through the Staffordshire University Horizon Fund which provides scholarships, bursaries and opportunities for students funded by donations from alumni and the public.
“The thing that impressed me the most was the ambition that the students had for their projects. The projects blew me away and that was real breath of fresh air.” Mike commented.
Ryan added: “We chose the winners, because we felt the bursaries could make the biggest difference to them and help them to reach their goals. That is the core thing about these bursaries – helping them to do something that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to achieve.”