Tom Baxter will achieve a UK-first when the release of his new single, entitled Better, (out October 15th 2007) is accompanied by a music video entirely created, filmed and produced by school students ranging in age from 11-18.The young video makers have been selected by Tom Baxter from among the winners of the BOOM! Awards, a national schools programme created and delivered by TomTom nation and MTV, and supported by Adobe. Open to every school and college throughout the UK, BOOM! uses the art of making music videos to inspire the teaching and learning of creative media and film production skills in the classroom.Tom makes the point: When I saw the winning videos from this year’s BOOM! Awards, I was utterly knocked out by the quality and creativity on show. So I feel incredibly fortunate to be the first musician to have the opportunity to work with young people who may well develop into the star video producers and directors of the future.John Hassay, the UK’s leading independent video commissioner and a judge at the BOOM! Awards, agrees with Tom Baxter:The standard of entries was so high that I would have no hesitation in employing three or four of the winning school groups tomorrow.Tom Baxter invited three schools to make a video to accompany his new single Prudhoe Community High School in Northumberland, Culcheth College in Thornton, Cheshire, and Humphrey Davy School in Penzance, Cornwall. I’ve had no contact with the schools directly so they don’t know what my own ideas may have been. This means that the videos they produce will hopefully be as original, unconventional and diverse as their BOOM! Entries, says Tom.
The schools were given just two weeks to produce their videos which, now complete, have been posted on Tom Baxter's MySpace page. The video receiving the most votes will then win the chance to accompany the UK release of Tom Baxter’s Better, due for release on 15 October 2007.
Tom Baxter explains the two-week deadline the schools were working to:All of the winning videos in the BOOM! Awards had a real get up and go feeling about them, which we loved, and we didn’t want this to be lost by giving the schools too much time to work with.
Tom Baxter’s single ‘BETTER’ will also feature prominently in the new film ‘Run, Fat Boy, Run’ directed by David Schwimmer (Friends) starring Simon Pegg (star of Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead), which is released in the UK this September.
Tom Baxter is on tour: Sep 26th - London, Soho Revue Oct 7th - Belfast, Limelight Oct 8th - Dublin, The Village Oct 10th - Limerick, Dolans Warehouse Oct 11th - Cork, Crane Lane Theatre Oct 12th - Galway, Roisin Dubh Oct 14th - Leeds, Faversham Oct 15th - Sheffield, Leadmill Oct 16th - Liverpool, Academy Oct 18th - Northampton, Soundhaus Oct 19th - Cardiff, Barfly Oct 21st - Cambridge, The Soul Tree Oct 22nd - Brighton, Hanbury Ballroom Oct 23rd - Portsmouth, Wedgewood Rooms Oct 24th - London, Soho Revue