SHR6E032F~002 HAR23083971 Collaborative project portfolio and evidence

SHR6E032F~002 Portfolio and video evidence TEMPLATE

1. Project Overview

My submission for this module consists of two projects which I will discuss within this document. I will cover the nature of both projects, the planning that went into each and my use of technology followed by an evaluation of each project.

The first collaboration is with a graphic designer and artist named Freddie Herdman who is a friend of mine from my hometown in Merseyside. We have both been looking for an opportunity to collaborate with each other for a few years and thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to do so. While I am a musician and a producer, my collaborator, Freddie, is an artist with a small social media following (See Appendix 1) and is currently studying graphic design at university in Manchester. For this collaborative project we decided to create a visual and audio representation of an emotional journey, initially this was planned to represent the journey through a relationship however we then broadened our idea to represent the emotional and physical journey through life. This piece is titled ‘Dancing Through life’ and is composed of a classical piano piece with accompanying ambient samples and a piece of video art which hopes to convey emotion and a sense of journey to the viewers/listeners.

Our aim within this project was to take our audience through a visual and sonic metaphoric representation of the journey that we all take through life. We hope to convey the transients and emotion of the journey so that our audience can empathise and project their own feelings and experiences onto our project. The nature of our final project is that of a piece of audio and visual art which hopes to inspire audiences.

My second collaboration is with a photographer named Kieran Holmes who I came into contact with through one of my flatmates. This photographer has an Instagram account with a small following (See appendix 2) where he posts a variety of styles of photography. As he is an up-and-coming photographer with a small following, this collaboration aims at providing him with some promotional material involving some of his photographs. The format of this project consists of two video compilations containing a selection of his photos along with accompanying music that aims to capture the nature and inspiration behind the pictures. The first compilation is entitled ‘Chasing the Light’ and features three silhouette-based photos which are captured using the sun and natural light as well as clever angling. The second compilation entitled ‘By the Mersey’ is a selection of four photographs taken in the city of Liverpool. Each compilation is accompanied by relevant music inspired by the photographs as will be discussed in more detail in a later section of this document.

2. Panopto Video – Final Product (10-12 Minutes)

Upload your video to Panopto and then embed it in the block below

3. Chronological Monthly Diary

Project 1

October 13^th: Collaboration Project proposal to Graphic designer – Freddie Herdman

November to December: Formatting and planning the nature of the collaboration

January to February: composing and planning the music aspect of the project

March: Recording and mixing the musical aspect of the project

April: Designing the accompanying art/graphics to the piece of music

April 22^nd to 28^th: compiling finished project and write up

Project 2

March: Contacting photographer and enquiring about a collaboration

March 15^th: Selecting photos for collaboration

April 1^st: Planning accompanying music

April 7^th: writing and recording music

April 18^th: Formatting video compilation

April 22^nd to 28^th: write up

4. Evidence of Planning/Process

Graphic design project:

For my first and the larger of my two collaborations, the planning began in November 2025 shortly after the initial proposal of a collaboration. Initially the planned project revolved around the representation of the emotional journey taken in a relationship represented through art and music, however this slowly began to change over the months that followed into the final concept of this project which represents the emotional and physical journey through life. All planning and communication for this collaboration was done via messages over both WhatsApp and other social media platforms as both collaborators (Myself and Freddie) are both full-time university students in two different cities and in addition both members also have part time jobs. These factors are things that we needed to consider during our planning phase as time constraints and deadlines could become more difficult to meet when balancing work and other prior commitments.

The musical element for this project needed to be thoroughly planned out as each part would represent a different element within the final project and so over the course of two months from January to February, I began planning out and structuring the piece of music (See appendix 3) before contacting a pianist to help compose and record it. As can be seen in the appendix below the piece is comprised of five sections, each representing a different stage of life. The piece itself is in the key of G and uses each chord (1 to 7) to represent different emotions and stages within the journey depicted. The piece begins with Chords one, four, five and six which are all used to represent happy positive and stable emotions and as the piece progresses motifs are introduced in the right hand of the piano to represent childhood and early life. Following this, the piece progresses through to its journey to the representation of the teenage years and early adult life which brings the addition of the use of chords two, three and seven which bring a sense of unease and change. This progresses into the fourth section representing adult life were the three and seven chords are more recurring showing the trials and unexpected emotional turmoil that comes with life. Lastly the piece moves on to the section representing later life, where the pianist revert back to mainly using chords one, four and five showing the acceptance of the unexpected. In addition, the note duration also increases showing the progression of time until the final drawn-out notes mimicking the noise of a heart rate monitor and representing life coming to an end. The visual art that accompanies this is a 30s loop representing the repetition and circle of life, the character within said visual art portrays her emotion through her movement with the use of a singular character being represented in the piece through the use of a single key signature.

For this project I created a Gantt chart (See appendix 4) to help summarise and visualise a schedule for each section of the process. As shown, the X’s represent the estimated/optimal schedule allowing set pieces of time for each component, the shaded sections (in red) represent the actual time taken to complete each section of the project. Due to external factors the project ended up running slightly behind the predicted schedule meaning that certain aspects were unfortunately given shorter time constraints.

SWOT Analysis:

Strengths: Both collaborators already know each other and are keen to work together, both know each other’s style and strengths and are effective at comunicating with each other.

Weakness: Both members of the project have other commitments such as work and University that could disrupt the schedule of the project.

Opportunities: this project provided a great opportunity to collaborate with a friend that I have been looking at collaborating with for a few years, in addition it provides both members of the project with a piece of work that can be added to their portfolio and help to promote their skills.

Threats: the main threat to this project was the time keeping and planning which was made difficult by other factors such as other assignments and other projects.

Photography project:

My second collaboration project was initially planned as a contingency to my first project in case of any unforeseen problems or disruptions and came about through contact with one of my flatmates who recommended a photographer to me in relation to a separate project. This collaboration ended up featuring in my final project as my first collaboration ended up facing more time constraints and so ended up being shorter in length than first thought. Due to this, this collaboration had a much shorter time period spread across just two months rather than across six. I initially reached out to the photographer in early March asking if he would like to collaborate with me on some promotional material for his photographs. From here we selected a range of six to eight photos and divided them into two themed compilations titled ‘Chasing the Light’ and ‘By the Mersey’ respectively. The photos chosen aimed to represent the diversity and skill of the Photographer and were also chosen as they are the photos that I felt I could best compose music to. The first compilation (Chasing the light) features three silhouette photos with the sun as the main lighting, in recognition of this I composed a bright acoustic piece inspired by country music featuring acoustic guitar along with an electric guitar playing a melody line and s simple programmed drum beat in the background. The second compilation (By the Mersey) features four architectural photos of the city of Liverpool accompanied by an electric guitar piece aimed at representing the natural warmth of the city along with the gritty filter used on the pictures taking some inspiration from bands local to the area including the Beatles. For this collaboration I aimed to keep the music relatively simple so as not to distract from the pictures and instead help represent the elements captured in each.

SWOT Analysis:

Strengths: Both collaborators come from the same area and have a similar background in interests. The collaboration aims at providing promotional material for both members.

Weaknesses: short time constraints to complete the project. Neither collaborator has worked together or met face to face potentially making collaboration difficult.

Opportunity: both gain experience collaborating with a different industry and gain material that can be used to promote each person work.

Threats: The short time constraint due to other projects will provide a big threat to the completion and quality of this project.

5. Reference Material/Inspiration

My reference material for my visual art collaboration mainly consisted of a range of piano ballad tracks including some classical pieces and film music. Referring back to the initial theme of journey and emotion, a key influence and reference point is the soundtrack to film Interstellar composed by Hans Zimmer as this too explores the concept of journey and the emotional response that comes with it. As my planned piece was going to feature Piano as the only instrument I also researched into classical piano pieces such as Chopin’s prelude in E minor and Beethoven’s Moonlight sonata and conducted further research into how such composers convey emotion so effectively in their composition.

For my photography collaboration my references depended on the compilation with the first drawing inspiration from the instrumentation used in American country music notably artists such as Zach Bryan. For the second piece I drew inspiration from the location shown in the photos using slight references to the Beatles within my composition.

6. Use of Technology

Each of the three musical compositions featured in this portfolio were recorded on an apollo twin x interface using logic pro as the DAW of choice. My first piece of music, heard within my visual art collaboration, was recorded on a grand piano within a practice room in university. This location was selected after testing the tones of a variety of pianos from studios to band rooms, we settled on using this piano as I found that there was no excess noise from the pedal of the piano and its tone matched my desired sound for this piece. This piano was recorded using a spaced pair of AKG C451Bs (See appendix 5) which are small diaphragm condensers that deliver a balanced and detailed sound and are my preferred microphone of choice when recording piano alongside Neuman 184s. Once the piano composition was recorded, I used some found sounds and samples to add a heartbeat which would follow the tone of the track, and some ambient background city sounds to mimic the noise of everyday life. When mixing I used a UAD EQ plugin (See appendix 6) to boost frequencies around 1K, 3K and 12K as well as cutting frequencies around 150Hz to enhance the natural tone of the piano. Following this I added a parallel compressor to both channels to better control the dynamics of the piece along with a parallel reverb using a ‘Lush piano preset’ (See appendix 7). Lastly, I used a stereo spreader to add more width to my final mix as well as an EQ at 300hz to reduce any muddiness and a limiter to reduce the peaks in the track.

My second composition was recorded in studio 109 in university, my first step for this track was to record in the acoustic guitar which would act as the main instrument and driving force in the piece. To record this, I used a spaced pair of AKG C414 XLIIs as I wanted a bright tone with a large amount of clarity. Once this had been recorded, I used a Midi drum plugin to add some kit (See appendix 8) as well as an amp simulator to add the lead guitar and the bass guitar. Lastly, I added a sample of Crickets chirping to accentuate the warm country feel of the track. I then proceeded to mix the piece adding compression reverb and EQ to the acoustic guitar (See appendix 9), as well as adding EQ and compression to the Bass, Kit and lead guitar.

My last piece of music was recorded directly into Logic using a guitar, my interface and an amp simulator. I started by recording a picked guitar through a clean bright amp and then proceeded to double track the guitar to add presence. On top of this I decided to record a rhythm guitar through a rotary amp sim taking some inspiration from some recording techniques used by the Beatles and added a seaside ambient sample paying homage to the river Mersey and the song Tomorrow never knows by the Beatles. Lastly, I used the same drum plugin mentioned previously to add a 60s inspired kit. I then moved on to mix the track adding a parallel compressor and plate reverb to the lead guitar (See appendix 10) following with some EQ and compression on the remaining tracks.

7. Evaluation

Overall, I believe that my projects were successful to what they were planned out to achieve. However, I do feel that due to certain time constraints and a lack of planning for delays caused the projects to be slightly more rushed than I would have liked. With more time and less delays, I would have preferred to produce a wider range of projects and collaborations from which I could select my favourites.

8. Bibliography

Andrea Romano (2011) Beethoven moonlight sonata, Available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Tr0otuiQuU&list=RD4Tr0otuiQuU&start_radio=1 [Accessed: 28/04/2026]

Claire Wu (2023) The psychology of art: emotions translated into visual mediums, Available online: https://agifineart.com/advice/the-psychology-of-art-emotions-translated-into-visual-mediums/ [Accessed: 28/04/2026]

Emily E.Hogstad (2024) Why does classical music make us so emotional, Available online: https://interlude.hk/why-does-classical-music-make-us-so-emotional/ [Accessed: 28/04/2026]

Kevin Ure (2025) The role of emotion in music composition, Available online: https://www.uremusic.com/blog/the-role-of-emotion-in-music-composition [Accessed: 28/04/2026]

Shawn Smith (2026) artistic expressions: a way of processing emotions, Available online: https://www.lifepointresources.org/articles/artistic-expression-a-way-of-processing-emotions [Accessed: 28/04/2026]

SoundReff (2023) The definitive AKG C414 XLII Review, Available online: https://soundref.com/akg-c414-xlii-review/ [Accessed: 28/04/2026]

SoundReff (2024) The Definitive AKG C451 B review, Available online: https://soundref.com/akg-c451-b-review/ [Accessed: 28/04/2026]

The Beatles (1966) Revolver, Parlophone Records

The Cross-eyed pianist (2021) emotional responses to music, Available online: https://crosseyedpianist.com/tag/emotional-responses-to-music/ [Accessed: 28/04/2026]

II Padrino (2022) Chopin – Prelude in E minor op 28 no4, Available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDT_gtC5faQ&list=RDFDT_gtC5faQ&start_radio=1 [Accessed: 28/04/2026]