I had initially planned on getting started on the Katyusha music video at the beginning of this year but instead switched my focus to remixing both the track and video for Morgana (the song is really more like a new tune thou as the structure and instrumentation were almost completely re-done). This took around three months to finish. The running time was alittle over a minute longer than the original but thankfully I had enough spare footage left over, both in cut-aways and uncropped clips that I could fill it out easily enough. Overall I think (hope) its a better match for the subject material and shooting script and a stronger song (thou still not catchy enough for repeat listens). I’ll be able to judge it more subjectively after six months or so have gone by (or so I’ve found in the past).

Next up I’m thinking of re-doing the Gold track and video. As this has me singing and playing guitar I’ll have to completely re-shoot it but I already have a few ideas for where and how to do this. I’ve only been working on it (the remixed song) the last two weeks or so but it seems to haved formed itself into an electronic track (this was’nt my intention but whatever best serves the song). I recorded a test guide vocal track with guitar but found a vocoder and minimal piano/drum kit sounded more interesting. Structure wise it should be an improvement on the original with the addition of a bridge and more chords types in the verse sections.
“Overall I think (hope) its a better match for the subject material and shooting script and a stronger song.”
I feel abit guilty for not putting the Katyusha video top of the list but as that requires more people and locations i’ll need to figure out the best time of the year to suit all parties (aswell as lighting situations). I also wasnt quite happy with the re-mix – its abit repetitive and overly busy in parts. I might try and reduce the instrumentation and test out some variations in the arrangement.

On the live set (plan – guitar and vocal) side of things I cut back a few of the tracks I had previously thought were good contenders. I’ve also continued working on adding bridge sections to a most of the ten original tracks. Some have had re-worked primary chord progressions too. Illustration wise I nearly have all the drawings done for the individual elements in the next big realism piece. Once thats done i’ll scan in each piece, re-arrange to suit the best composition and then start to apply colour (so a long long road yet). The folk painting for the Six Swans is progressing well thou slowly – most of the elements and characters are painted. Otherwise I’m busy enough this time of year with summer festival commission work. There might be some overlaps but I’m hoping the work/deadline calendar I’ve drawn up will run smoothly.