Following a conversation at Ffresh with Becky Cheeseman, Luke Murphy and Becky approached me to record a music video and a campaign video for their upcoming election campaign. Luke is running for President in the Student Guild and Becky is running for Vice President. Although I was stood on the Collective stand at Ffresh when I met Becky, they requested that I as AndrewsProject undertook this job even though they knew I was part of the Collective, as it was my skills they were interested in, as they had seen some of my previous work and felt I had shown a personal interest in them, they wanted my personal touch, as they were also aware that some of the other election candidates had already approached the Collective and they didn’t want a conflict of interest.
I arranged a meeting with them both, and Luke filled me in on an idea he had for their music video. He wanted to do a film backed by the Black Eyed Peas hit song Where is the Love. The only downside to making this music video was that the background music was copyrighted and therefore I was fully aware I would be unable to use this in my showreel, or reference it in any way once I had left university. I did confirm with Luke and Becky how they stood with the use of a copyrighted song for an election music video, and they confirmed that providing once it was finished editing it clearly displayed the Glyndwr Student election details, and was clearly advertised via Facebook and You Tube as an election video then the use of a copyright song was permitted. 
Luke then went on to explain that as election candidates they had both been given the Student Guild Rules for Election campaigns, this included certain areas of the University campus that were not allowed to be used as campaign areas, where the candidates were not allowed to actively recruit followers, and therefore their behaviour could not even cause students to ask what they were doing. Luke and Becky both confirmed that they were fully aware of these areas and would ensure we would not breach any areas whilst recording the videos. Luke wanted the video to show him and Becky in effect campaigning round the university campus. Luke had various ideas for the different shots he wanted included in the video, some which were random but some which linked to the lyrics in the song.
With the fact that both Luke and Becky had lectures and various commitments, whilst I had a more flexible schedule, Becky agreed to create the filming schedule for the various shots for when Luke and her were available for recording and to coordinate any extras they needed as well, (they both have friends which are supporting them in their campaign). Recording this film came at an interesting time for me as I was also attending Creative Futures 2013, and it really illustrated to me the benefit of networking and building up your business. As the turnaround from initial discussions with Luke & Becky to uploading the completed film to You Tube was a matter of days, it really gave me a great opportunity to work under tight deadlines, as in addition to the Music video Luke & Becky also asked me to film and create a campaign video expressing some of their manifesto promises, not forgetting I was filming these films between attending sessions at Creative Futures 2013.
Luke & Becky really loved the music video I created, and appreciated the work I had put in for them, I enjoyed the challenge of creating a music video for a client, as it enabled me to use my artistic film and editing talents whilst having to ensure it met a client’s approval.
The Campaign Film was a different type of challenge, as Luke is part of the Rugby club, he wanted to film in the football/rugby stadium and on the hockey pitch. We struggled with the weather, as the sun kept shining then hiding behind the clouds which caused trouble with continuance for close ups, then later we struggled with the wind on the hockey pitch, which made the sound recordings extremely difficult although I did use it to effect in the film as a humour point.
Luke & Becky between them had written the script, and they had based it on a brainstorming style, of making it feel like the watcher was part of a discussion, having some moments which look at current trends (like Harlem Shake) but deciding these were too cheesy and had been done by others, it also had some comedy moments, as Luke and Becky discuss what needs to be in a campaign video. It was interesting to create a film where someone else had a creative input, although I have worked on group film projects for previous university assignments, this was technically me working for the clients where they had the overall say. Luke & Becky did listen to my suggestions and even implemented a few of them to improve the film, but I did feel the difference in producing a film that would meet a client’s approval, and in this case was my sole responsibility. Both Luke & Becky seemed very happy with the finished results of both the films, and I am pleased to report that Luke will be the President of the Student Guild next year after clearly winning the election, sadly Becky will not be his vice president as she came second, losing by only one vote.
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