For the Record: Paul Wyatt's documentary on Secret 7" and the people who love making art for vinyl sleeves

"Many of us will have been to gigs or festivals where the atmosphere is brilliant and everyone feels they have a common bond," Paul tells Creative Boom. "If you combine that with a love of vinyl records and some very creative folk taking inspiration for their art from The Manic Street Preachers then you've pretty much got this film."

For the Record follows the creative journey of Emily Hyatt from Nottinghamshire and Mark Frudd from Leeds who, along with hundreds of others, respond to the Secret 7" charity art exhibition open call for submissions for 7-inch vinyl cover designs for unreleased album tracks. Emily and Mark both created the cover art for No Surface, All Feeling by rock band The Manic Street Preachers.

"Their interpretations of the Manics merge into their own art and the stories behind that proved too interesting to ignore even though there was no money for the film, no marketing spend or anything like that. It just felt worth doing to show the creativity and the power of art and music as a great leveller," adds Paul.

"Emily and myself both love the work of legendary Melody Maker photographer Tom Sheehan who's been releasing bound collections of his photography featuring The Cure, Paul Weller, REM and of course the Manics. It was great to have him involved in the film to talk about the band and his work with them because they're such a creative inspiration for so many people."

For The Record receives its first public screening at The Royal Society of Arts in London in February. "It's a small venue and tickets were free so they booked up very quickly. I'm hopeful that people will like the film as it shows how powerful art and music can be as expressive mediums in which to share our thoughts and feelings and that they’ll be further screenings this year."