British actress Daisy Ridley is set to be propelled to global superstardom, having landed a starring role in what is certain to be one of the biggest movies of all time, Star Wars Episode VII.

But before her blockbuster debut in a galaxy far, far away you can catch the 21-year-old rising star in an altogether smaller production - a film by students at Andover College.

The feature length horror film Scrawl (pictured), which was two years in the making, sees student actors perform alongside professionals.

It charts the story of two friends living in a rundown seaside town and the comic book they create to escape their reality. All goes well until events in the comic book start to invade their reality and situations in the story come to life.

Daisy plays the role of Hannah, the film’s main antagonist, who uses her powers to make the comic book come to life and causes mayhem for the two friends.

The idea behind the project was to prepare students for a career in the film industry and give them a step up the ladder by working alongside professionals and gaining credits on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), and it is already paying dividends.

For example, BTEC Performing Arts student Ellie Selwood, who plays one of the leads, is now working on student productions and independent films by other directors to get experience to take her on to drama school or into the industry.

Annie LeGresley, producer and one of the leads of Scrawl, has gone on to work as a runner on various BBC productions and is set to work on a film being executive produced by Martin Scorsese, while cinematographer Matty Crawford has worked as an assistant editor on a project for actor/producer David Gyasi’s (Cloud Atlas) Indictus Films.

Lecturer Peter Hearn, writer and director of Scrawl, said: “The benefits of working on this project have been countless.  Whether picking up tips from the professionals, to being given the heads up on work opportunities, our students have grown both personally and professionally.  

“Scrawl was always about giving students a step up the ladder by getting the all-important professional IMDb credit which we have achieved but the opportunity and experience has been immeasurable.”