Project Overview
Death Co Animation
Death Co is a short film which is planning to be pitched to Cartoon Network and BBC in animation festivals over the Summer. It is a horror-commedy animation about a nervous boy who meets two grim reapers and is forced to become one of them. The animation takes inspiration from animations such as Johnny Test, Powerpuff Girls and Spongebob. Full description of the animation can be seen in Apendix 1.
Collaborators: Velcrofridge (Val) – An animator from Leeds Arts University, who has worked on countless animations. Previous work can be seen on her website below:
Jack Derbyshire (Me) – Music producer of 4 years and songwriter who specialises in Rock and Metal music. Previous work can be seen below:
Within this project I have been tasked to create music to follow the animation which helps enhance comedic elements, create a fitting atmosphere and help the animation move along smoothly.
The end goal for this project is to create a professional product which can be pitched towards animation companies in an attempt to gain funding for future episodes. As Val’s projects aren’t until mid May the music will be finished before the final product is complete so some of the visual aspects within this project will be incomplete
Youtube Style Video
This project is an investigatory Youtube style video which investigates the current state of the music retail industry. It is in collaboration with my local music shop Austin Guitars to help promote the store and vocalise issues they are facing as well as their thoughts on the current industry.
It investigates the closures of retail giants PMT and GAK, exploring the financial issues many stores are facing right now and what could be causing. It features an Interview with Reg, the owner of Austin Guitars, in which we discuss the importance of music retail, the issues currently facing the store, and what brands such as Fender and Gibson are doing to aid their business.
Collaborators: Austin Guitars – A family run Music Retail store in Kirkby, Liverpool which was established in 2016
Jack Derbyshire (Me) – Producer and guitarist.
Luke Blake – Photographer/videographer from Liverpool who has worked with countless artists doing gig photography and music videos. He has knowledge in video editing and will be doing the colour correction stage of the editing for this video. Luke’s portfolio is included below:
https://lukeblakephotogrc82e.myportfolio.com/work
The end goal for this project is to create a video that Austin Guitars can use to raise awareness of the situation they and many other retailers across the country are currently facing and to bring business to the store. The video is planned to be published onto Youtube and shared across social media communities within Liverpool which will help bring as many views to the video as possible.
Chronological Monthly Diary
January – I planned the interview with Reg and Paul at Austin Guitars. Discussions about the project began in December, with both agreeing the project could be a positive way to advertise the shop as well as highlight issues they are currently facing. The interview was planned to take place on Saturday the 24th January and all things went to plan.
As it was me filming the video I conducted some research into camera techniques and tips on how to properly set up lighting, so that I had the knowledge on how to record a professional looking product. I had some previous experience filming Tik Tok videos for one of my mates so I had a slight bit of knowledge coming into the filming process but this research helped enhance the product. This research can be seen in Appendix 1.
I provided them with the interview questions a few days before it was scheduled, so that they could prepare answers and so that they could plan to speak about anything they would like to mention in the video. The video was filmed by me using, Cameras, lighting and recording equipment hired from The Conservatoire and later edited at a later date
I also conducted further research into what music is used in investigatory Youtube style videos to see what would match my project. From this research I came to the conclusion that a guitar based rock production would fit well in terms of both the contextual and visual aspects of the video as a lot videos in this catagory don’t have music that follows what is happening on screen like an animation, but rather traditionally produced music, which sits in the background of the video to fill silence.
February – During February, I attempted to find a video editor who could join the project. I was in contact with a Videographer from Liverpool and was discussing the project with him but he unfortunately stopped responding and I was unable to find anyone else who could join the project so I made the decision to edit the video myself to keep the project progressing.
March – I joined the Death Co animation project. After meeting at the Leeds Arts University collaboration event, me and Val discussed over Instagram project goals, deadlines and also reference material that she would like to be used. She had previously come up with a few ideas herself, which she said she would be happy for me to use and gave me the reference track Broadcasting From Beyond the Grave: Death Inc by Motionless in White. From this I created the idea which we decided to use for the end credits scene. We also set a deadline of the end of April for the music to be completed for the animation.
April – I created the opening credits which follow the same referenced sound as the end credits. I also completed the main music for the animation which was completed on Monday 27th April. During this month I then completed the editing for the Austin Guitars investigatory video and created two tracks which are used throughout the video as background music.
Luke Blake joined the project this month, as I met him whilst touring with The Kairos. As the edit had already been completed for the video, he agreed to do colour grading for the video as he has much better knowledge on this subject compared to me and it would result in a more professional looking product. We set a deadline for colour grading to be completed by the 27th April.
Evidence of Planning Process
Death Co Animation.
Planning for this project began on the 18th March with Val sharing some initial ideas with me for music, as well as sharing a playlist filled with potential reference material. This playlist included tracks which we had earlier discussed with it featuring artists such as Motionless in White, Ice Nine Kills and Bring Me The Horizon. Val also shared a shot list for the animation which included notes for musical ideas in each scene. This helped me gauge the type of vibe she wanted for each scene and made the creative process much easier. This shot list can be seen below in Appendix 2
Apendix 2
https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/6IOsuQNvJloCpX2iDxkrLI?utm_source=generator
We then later discussed deadlines for the project and Val shared the projects current Gannt chart with me. We decided to set a deadline for music to be completed for the animation by the 21st April. However, this got delayed as I received an opportunity to gain work experience as a stage tech touring with a band, meaning the music wasn’t completed until the 27th April. (Apendix 3 and 4)
Apendix 3 and Apendix 4
I sent the first ideas for end credits on the 26th March with the final product being sent over on the 14th April. During this time I began working on ideas for the main animation with me constantly sending over ideas whilst I was writing to get Val’s opinion.
As i was working on this I had a master track which I could use to help fit the music in with the character dialogue. However, some of the scenes have now become slightly longer and some slightly shorter meaning this is now outdated and Val is working on adding an updated one to the finished music once the animation is finished.
Work for this project is still on going with the end project not being scheduled to be complete until midway through May meaning the animation isn’t fully rendered and audio isnt fully complete.
Youtube Style Video –
Planning for this video began in November when I asked Reg and Paul wether they would be interested in creating an investigatory video into the challenges facing music retailers. We agreed to film the video in January as this tends to be their quiet period after Christmas.
As I ended up doing the filming myself I researched into types of shots. From this I decided majority of my video should be filmed as a medium shot or a medium close up with some b roll footage added in to separate the footage and make it look more interesting as it appeared that this was common in some of the videos I used for inspiration.
This can all be seen in appendix 5 as well as the project Gaant chart in apendix 6 project In apendix 10
Appendix 6
In the initial planning for this project I planned on the editing to be complete by the end of March. However this got delayed as I had planned for videographer to edit the video to ensure it looked professional. I was in contact with a videographer called Dylan Cox (Appendix 7) but he stopped replying and I later decided to do the editing myself to ensure the project continued progressing.
After the editing had been completed I met videographer Luke Blake and asked him if he could do colour grading for me as this is something I was quite inexperienced with and he joined the project in April. (Appendix 8)
Appendix 8
I received this on Monday the 27th April which completed the Austin Guitars Project
SWOT Analysis:
Risk Assessment:
Research Into cost and funding for this project can be seen in Apendix 9
Reference Material / Inspiration
Youtube Style Video
All of these videos use music to help the video become more interesting as it fills silence, making it easier to watch which is what I have done within my video.
Use of Technology.
Death Co – Throughout the Death Co project I use both programmed drums and amp sims to create the guitar, bass and drums. The main inspiration for the credit music in project was modern metalcore and according to Keyan Houshmand (Youtube, 2026) many bands are now using Drum VST’s. The same thing is happening with Amp sims with Electrikjam.co.uk stating in 2024 that many modern metal albums are now using amp sims rather than real amps, with Spiritbox’s Eternal Blue being a standout in the albums listed as only using Amp VST’s. With that being said I felt like It made most sense to use these simulators to get a sound as close to our references as possible.
Drum VST: GGD One Kit Wonder – Nu Metal
I chose to use this VST as it has been used by the likes of Mike Stringer (Spiritbox) and Misha Mansoor (Periphery) (GGD.co 2026). It is a VST designed for modern metal and makes it easier to get that massive drum sound which the genre is known for. I combined this with some traditional mixing techniques such as Bus compression to glue the drums in with the rest of the track and added another compressor called Stressbox which makes the drums sound slightly larger again. .
Guitar VST: – Amplitube 5 SLD 100,
In the beginning and end credits of the project, I chose to use Amplify’s SLD 100 Amp which is a replica of Soldano’s SLO 100, a high gain amplifier which has been used in hard rock for decades. (Music Radar, 2024). I chose this amp as according to equipboard.com (2026) Motionless in White use a Peavey 6534+ Amplifier which, like the Soldano is a high gain tube amplifier, (Live Louder, 20206) meaning I could get a similar tone to which they use within their music. I also chose to only add reverb to the guitars whilst mixing, as I find with high gain amps, it is really easy to overcompress and take the life out of the guitars, as distortion also compresses the dynamic range of a guitar signal, as stated by Korneff Audio (2022).
Shop Scene:
For the scene inside the shop, I had the idea to write a My Chemical Romance inspired song which is being played through the shops radio, as I thought it would fit well comedically with the shop being called Saintsbury’s and the shop worker wearing a My Chemical Romance t-shirt. To do this I used a high pass filter to remove all low and some mid frequencies from the mix, which created a very tinny sound reminiscent of a poor quality radio in the background.
I used a similar technique in the Ghost Fight scene where I automated a Low Pass filter to open and close removing all high end and some high mids. This gives the effect reminiscent to music being played loud in another room which helps enhance the story of the animation, and also adds to the comedic element when the two reapers walk back into the room.
Youtube Style Video
Again with this project I used IK Multimedia’s Amplitube 5 guitar VST and GGD One Kit Wonder Nu Metal, to create both tracks in the video rather than recording them traditionally with a microphone. I aimed to create two rock tracks for the video which are used throughout and by using these two VST’s it allowed me to have a lot more creative freedom than I would have had in a studio.
By being able to record through a DI signal, it also meant that my workflow sped up, as I could get a mix ready recording whilst writing the songs.
Evaluation
Both projects have been successful but have room for improvement. If I had the opportunity I would have liked to have joined the Death Co project earlier, as I could have been involved in more such as the recordings of the voice actors, which could have resulted in a higher quality final product as they haven’t been recorded in an isolated room leaving audible background noice. I also believe If I had been given more time I could have made some scenes more detailed such as the scenes only involving bass, but due to the short amount of time I had this wasn’t possible as I only had 5 weeks to complete the work.
We initially set a deadline of the 21st April as this was a week before my assignement was due and gave Val extra time to embed the music into the final animation. I suggested this date knowing that we would have an extra week to complete work should anything get delayed in the project and fortunately by giving myself that extra week within my contingency plan, I managed to complete all the work on time.
Considering this is the first time I have wrote to film in 4 years I believe I’ve done a good job and delivered a good quality product for my collaborator and based off feedback from Val, she is very happy with the work I have done, as can be seen in appendix below, so I have achieved what I set out to within this project.
Within the Youtube project. I would have liked to have been more organised both before recording, and throughout the project. If I were to do this again I would hire a bigger team to work with me who are more experienced within their field as this would have resulted in better camera quality and a more well rounded and directed video. I also belive having a bigger team would have helped me stay more motivated in the project as I would have deadlines to meet for other people rather than working towards most things myself as this is something I struggled with.
Overall I have achieved all the goals which I laid out and created music for two good projects, which could potentially continue in the future.
Apendicies
Apendix 1
Apendix 5
Apendix 7
Apendix 19
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