The Gavin Murphy Achievement Award (Film Student of the Year Award 2024) is award to the BA (Hons) Film, TV & Theatre Production student who has displayed an excellent attitude in helping others and commitment to excellence throughout their studies. The award is made in memory of Gavin Murphy, a former student and staff member who would always go the extra mile to help others in pursuit of their dreams.

This year the award was presented to Elliot Watson, nominating staff picked Elliot because he “has been with the School for five years, starting in the new FE Film & TV course and advancing to the BA Hons Film, TV & Theatre Production programme. During this time, they have developed into a dedicated, meticulous, and highly committed student of filmmaking. Not only have they excelled in their own projects, but they have also quietly assisted and enabled others to achieve excellent results. We commend them for their journey with us and believe that their skills and attitude will take them far in the collaborative industry they are entering.”

Read on to find out more about Elliots work and time as a film student at our school:

Hometown and school/college you joined from:

I am originally from Hartlepool and studied previously at the old The Northern School of Art college campus in Middlesbrough where I studied the film production LVL 3 extended diploma course.

Why did you choose to study at The Northern School of Art?

I chose to study at NSoA because I liked the fact that it was a smaller university and therefore you have more time with the lectures, and everybody gets the chance to know everybody.

I was also drawn in because this university worked on 16mm film as apart of one of the modules which is a skill that I really wanted to have.

How did you find your degree programme? 

I really enjoyed the past 3 years working on this course. It has allowed me to work with different people collaborating on a collection of short films alongside getting experience working with clients on a multitude of different types of projects. I even enjoyed the theatre side of it especially contemporary practice which was something outside my comfort zone and something I never expected I would enjoy so much.

The course has definitely allowed me to feel more confident in my technical and creative skills needed in order to step into the industry as well as letting me specialise and focus on the specific department I was interested in.

Tell us about your FMP project:

I was apart of two films for my FMP work, reworking with both Curtis J. Burnett and Natasha Drymon on their respective films “Promise Me?” & “Feel” as the director of photography. Visually these films demanded two very different looks. These looks were curated through research and prep where we had test shoots with the whole crew to experiment before the films went into their final production.

“Promise Me?” leaned into its naturalistic style where I utilised natural lighting to be a tool as well as utilising tracking shots and whip pans whereas Feel demanded a more dramatic and stylised look when it came to the lighting. Feel also allowed me the chance to be operating a camera having planned multi-cam shoots on some of the shoot days where I also collaborated with Lauren Gillan as Co-DOP where she elaborated on some of the ideas we had built in R&P.

Overall, working within the two different crews was really rewarding and I’m proud of my contribution to each film, I can’t wait to use what I learnt on these two projects in the next films I’ll be working on.

You are one of our award winners, congratulations! How did it feel to win your award?

I was very surprised to have been given an award, but I was also very grateful. I think film is all about learning from others and then giving that back. I feel like I would have never grown as much as I did these past 3 years if it wasn’t for the staff and the people I ended up working with.

What’s your favourite memory of your time at the School!

Academically speaking my favourite memory happened a couple months ago at the Northern film. Festival at ARC. Seeing the films we have spent the whole Academic year working on collaboratively with everyone was a really good wrap up to the year and ultimately it was a really rewarding experience having seen the films I was apart of on the big screen for the first time.

Socially my favourite memories where everything that came from moving out during second year into my accommodation with three of my best friends.

Overall, I have truly had the best time and I tribute that to having such a great class and a great group of friends.

What are your ambitions for the future?

I am currently working on another short film directed by Rory Norton called ‘Lost In Yesterday’ that is happening over this summer with people I have met through the course.

I am also applying for film & TV specific jobs with the aim of moving up into the camera department roles learning from others as I work. The end goal is to eventually be working on films similar to Moonlight (2016), Aftersun (2020), and All of Us Strangers (2023).

Did you live in Hartlepool? What is your favourite thing to do in the area?

I have lived in Hartlepool my whole life; you are surrounded by loads of locations including the beach and different walks so I’d say definitely exploring the area.

Any advice for future students applying for the same course as you?

Make the most of it, you’ll never know what project you’ll look back on and miss and don’t be rigid, understand things will go wrong and take those failures as an opportunity to try something new.

Keep up to date with Elliots work by following his instagram @elliotwatson193 you can also see more on his website: Elliotwatson193.com

If you are interested in studying film our school offers courses for both college and degree-level students. Make sure you check out our web pages under School Leaver and BA (Hons) Degree!