Solent Creatives Magazine_Abbey Road Feature_Jodie Ferguson

Head: Creating a music video at Abbey Road

Sell: When a student was offered the rare opportunity to record at the world-famous Abbey Road Studios in London, Solent Creatives were there to film it.

From Queen, Oasis and the Beatles, right through to the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson, the list of famous names who have recorded at Abbey Road is endless. So student Yasmin Corrigan was thrilled to get the chance to sing an original song in the studios.

To create an accompanying video, third-year TV and Video Production student, Jake Calvin, took a leading role and put together a film crew, storyboard, and a script, and produced the film.

To help get the creative juices flowing, Jake was given a demo recording of Yasmin’s track. Together with cameraman and second year student Joe Manning, the pair began planning.A key decision was to take as little gear as possible, as they felt it was important not to get in the way, and enable Yasmin and the musicians to concentrate. ‘Invisibility was key’, explained Jake. ‘So we filmed everything on SLRs, using various lenses and LED lighting.’

Behind the scenes

Jake was initially given quite a broad brief, which he says was useful in terms of creativity and being able to put his stamp on the project.

His initial idea was to create “behind the scenes” video, showing each member recording their part of the track. However, at the end of the day he had a change of heart and rounded up the musicians into the live room and filmed as they played along to the track. After just three takes, Jake had an organic and natural-looking live session, just as professional artists do at Abbey Road.

After post-production work, which Jake juggled around his final major project and other university responsibilities, the project was complete. The resulting video showcased the energy of the day.

“Having the chance to film a band in any studio would have been a great experience, however this wasn’t just any studio. This was Abbey Road Studios, probably one of the most famous and reputable music studios in the world! Having access to opportunities such as this helps set Solent out from the competition, and there’s no question that this experience is going to push my future career in the right direction.”

Jake Galvin

Solent Creatives Magazine_Abbey Road Feature_Jodie Ferguson

“Recording my original song at Abbey Road studios has to be my best professional experience to date. It was so valuable to have a day working in such an incredible studio, and has really helped me in my ambition to pursue a career as a singer since graduating from Solent.”

Yasmin Corrigan

Client: Abbey Road

Student: Jake Galvin