The normal low-budget film costs between £60,000 to £100,000 these days.

But a group of Bradford students have proved that cash is no obstacle when it comes to making a mark on the film industry.

With a budget of just £900, four media, technology and production students have used state-of-the-art technology to produce a half-hour pilot film with impressive animated special effects.

And now they are hoping their painstaking work will catch the eye of programme makers around the country.

UGRP (Untitled Giant Robot Project), a dark sci-fi thriller which follows the struggle of a man transformed into a robot by an alien virus, combines live action and animation techniques similar to those used in Toy Story and Terminator II.

Sponsored by the University and three local firms, Planet PC, Benshaws and Princes, it is part of the student's final-year degree project and has included filming on locations as diverse as Bradford's Odeon cinema and the windmill farm at Hebden Bridge.

But the real work is done back at the university, where actors are transformed into mechanical, animated robots with the help of a specialised computer package.

"It is labour intensive," explained director Jaron Ghani. "You have to match all the movements and it can take about half an hour for a couple of seconds of film. You have to match the camera view point and the depth of field, and the lighting is really important."

Christopher Briggs has co-produced the film with Jonathan Farrell and its special effects were co-ordinated by Andrew Harrison.

And tutor Richard Woodcock, who already boasts former students who have won awards for their animated work, said the group really were at the sharp end of film technology.

He said: "It's an example of the high quality of the work and standards this department produces generally, but we have got very high hopes for this one. They're doing on a tight budget what James Cameron does with Terminator II and Titanic and they're undergraduates. It's fantastic."

The film will be screened at the department's final degree show on May 25 and 26.

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