Students’ Grim Reaper film wins award

A comedy film about the Grim Reaper made by University of Portsmouth students has won a Royal Television Society (RTS) award. 

When Death Comes Knocking won the Comedy Drama and Entertainment category at the RTS Southern Centre Awards ceremony on Friday night at Winchester Guildhall.

The 18-minute film is a heart-warming dark comedy about Jim, a lonely man whose life takes a turn for the worse after his divorce. 

A team of students from the BA (Hons) Film Production course worked on the film, which was written and directed by Joe Burbidge.

When writing the script, Joe wanted to humanise a character so often portrayed as unearthly and scary in nature. 

He said: “The film tackles ideas of life, death and the battle of loneliness, exploring its effects and the toll it takes on people - something many of us can relate to all too well, especially due to lockdown and isolation. 

“We wanted to explore these topics through a comedic manner so we could have the audience laughing one second and then pulling on their heart strings the next. The film has a very powerful story of the most unusual friendship forming from a dire situation.”

Other students who worked on the film include cinematographer Bree Mahoney, editor James Gilbert, sound designer Aaron Eyre, producer Finn Staples and assistant director Matt Mossman.

The RTS judges said: "When Death Comes Knocking from the University of Portsmouth is an engaging film with a fresh take on the Grim Reaper! The lighting and locations brought atmosphere to an excellent script which had irony and wry humour - but with several twists and laugh out-loud moments - along with an effective use of musical score. 'Grim' was a well-drawn out character with a bloke-next-door approachability who ends up just wanting to make a friend of the man whose soul he originally (mistakenly) thought he'd come to collect.”

The RTS Student Awards encourage, nurture, support and reward talent, potential and enthusiasm of students in universities for the creation of film and TV content. The awards offer an opportunity for students to put their creative talents before the critical eye of professionals and win recognition for their skills. 

Sinead Rocks, Channel 4 Managing Director, Nations and Regions Chair of the RTS Student Television Awards, said: “The RTS Student Television Awards have a proven track record in discovering and nurturing the next generation of world class talent in video production, film making and television journalism.

"They provide a fantastic opportunity to have ambition and creativity recognised and celebrated by top media professionals and crucially, for students to sell their skills to people at the very top of the broadcasting industry.

"Put simply, winning an RTS Student TV Award is a real badge of honour on any CV and one that is taken incredibly seriously by professionals."

Ben Thompson, Principal Lecturer and Academic Lead (Film and TV) within the School of Film, Media and Communication, added: “This is such a fantastic achievement for our students in recognition of their efforts in producing these ambitious graduation films.”