STUDENTS at Harrow College took inspiration from a cult '80s horror movie to create a video for an alternative metal band.
A-level media studies students Daniel Smith, 18, Mario Saliasi, 18, and Jakub Sypie?, 18, submitted for their coursework a six minute clip for the song 'Dead Side' by Quad Damage, formed by lead guitarist Daniel and friends Jinesh Mistry, the drummer, and Yaseen Alam, the bassist, while Claremont High School in Kenton three years ago.
Daniel, of Mount Stewart Avenue, in Kenton, said: "We were asked to shoot a music video and we were thinking what we should do for it.
"My tutor said 'Why don't you use your own band?'. I checked the visitor data for the band on [music sharing website] Soundcloud and 'Dead Side' was the most popular track.
"The concept for the music video was based on the 1988 horror film 'They Live' by John Carpenter where a guy finds a pair of sunglasses that allows him to see the subliminal messages others can't. That fitted the lyrics and the song, and it was a natural choice."
Quad Damage re-recorded the song for the project but Daniel said the student trio lazily left filming until the last minute and ending up shooting in and around Harrow town centre, rather than their intended central London locations, at the end of November and beginning of December.
The college friends spent five hours editing the video together, cutting between the narrative elements in which Jakub plays the discoverer of the magic glasses - with cameos from Mario and mutual friend Thomas Sedgley - and lo-fi performance shots of the band filmed in Jinesh's attic studio.
"We doubted we could actually do it because it was a lot of work but we think we pulled it off really well and we should get a decent grade - it's more of an original work than lots of the other groups," said Daniel.
"I checked the visitor data for my Facebook page and it's shot up in popularity since the music video was done. I've had lots of positive feedback and people in person have told me it's a really good video and they're proud to know us."
Sam Norton-Taylor, the trio's A-level media studies lecturer at the college, said: "They'll find out their grade at the beginning of February.
"It's got more than 500 hits already on YouTube and is a real success, and it's not only their coursework but promotes the band as well."
Daniel said Quad Damage may record more videos to boost their exposure if they can find the right idea.
See video below
