Filmed on campus at the Thompson Rivers University Clock Tower’s Alumni Theatre, this is the first major OurTRU audio/video production for this year.
The theme track titled Bombay Train is a rearranged version of the original composition by Canadian Sarode artist, Kenneth Wells who featured his track in the 1999 album Presents of Mind . The take is not only full of energy and motion but also heavily influenced by the 60s rock genre. The rest of the tracks are improvised cover versions of famous Western and Indian songs such as Why Georgia (John Mayer) and Kabhi Jo Badal Barse (Arijit Singh).
(L to R): Abijah Gupta, Zain Mohsin Khan, Kenneth Wells, Shubham Rana, Morley Fernandes)
The full album playlist can be watched online on TRU World’s YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD53YHJDTcL1asHxQD9_J_ZenADBaF9M
Abijah Gupta (Keyboards, Director & Sound Engineer) is a final year BBA Human Resource student while Executive Producer, Suraj Shah, is completing his post baccalaureate in Marketing. Cinematographer, Nathan Piazza, will be joining TRU this Fall for the BSc program. Zain Mohsin Khan (Acoustic Guitar & Vocals) is a recent graduate of the MBA program. Morley Fernandes (Bass/Electric Guitar) is pursuing his post baccalaureate in International Business while Shubham Rana (Acoustic/Electric Guitar & Vocals) and Samridhi Dhawan (Guest Vocals) are post baccalaureate HR students.
Shot within a month of the Winter semester’s commencement, timing was crucial to avoid potential academic coursework clashes and get enough practice to allow filming to wrap up within a day. After hours of planning and utilization of an hour or two everyday after classes ensured a successful filming experience. Previous experience from 2015’s TRU LipDub project, especially the diversity showcase, assisted in creating a minimalistic manageable yet fully functional studio setting.
This project tries to serve as a humble testimony to the fact that less can definitely be more. The difference between the planned budget and the actual budget was almost 500% lower which led to creative and more efficient ways to keep costs low without sacrificing on the quality of the overall production. This encompassed filming with multiple camera sources including iPhones, a GoPro and two Canon DSLRs.
For music production enthusiasts, the project was recorded LIVE on set using the portable ZOOM R16 recorder. Audio files were later edited and mastered in the Cockos Reaper Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) and enhanced using iZotope’s Ozone plugins.
