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The Filming of
'Free As A Bird'
Free as a Bird
On December 1995 The Beatles’ long-awaited and much discussed comeback finally arrived with the release of their digitally manipulated, computer-enhanced single
Free as a Bird, featuring previously recorded vocals from Lennon himself. The single was released on both sides of the Atlantic in time for Christmas and it was accompanied by one of the most innovative and imaginative videos ever made.
Free was directed by one of America’s most sought-after and revered film directors, Joe Pytka. Joe and
Free’s producer, Vincent Jolier, were the team responsible for the award winning Nike commercials and have produced commercials and videos for
Pepsi-Cola, Madonna and Michael Jackson.
The Concept
The concept devised by Pytka was to throw into the video as many references to past Beatles’ songs and landmarks, as possible. Paul McCartney, in an interview with Jay Fox of ABC Radio revealed that the director
"........he Joe Pytka] came up with this idea to load lots of clues here and there, ‘cause we used to do that in all the old records. . . it became a bit of a game in the old Beatles days to stick little clues in......and he’s used them in the video, so it’s very clever.. . you’ve got a pretty nurse selling poppies from a tray and Maxwell’s Silver Hammer shop. I think it’s a nice background. It’ll mean that
people can watch it a few times and, you know, get into it.”
The Look
Many of the Liverpool landmarks referred to in the old Beatles’ songs are still standing and can be visited today. It was for this reason that the director decided to film in Liverpool and he brought with him the largest film crew the city has ever witnessed. The Adelphi Hotel
(not only accommodated over 150 members of the production team but the magnificent Art Decor Parlour features in the
Free as a Bird video (we reveal where later). The overall look of
Free was to recreate Beatles’ Britain in the 1 960s and to this end the director had to find locations that would match the architecture of that period. The
look Pytka created allowed video artist John Samarad to blend archival footage with the new footage using computer technology.
Spot the Songs
The video opens to the sound of a bird flapping its wings, it then flies around a room taking in all the black and white photographs covering the shelves and mantelpiece, and then it flies out of the window
. This first location took several days to set up, as everything from the frames of the photos to the old settee and radio had to look pre-1960s. Add to this a 1960’s newspaper and a stuffed ginger cat and you can see what kept the film’s art department busy. Too busy to notice that the location owner had slipped a photo of his own son into the collection on the mantelpiece to appear in the video. This location was just a few doors down the road from Stuart Sutcliffe’s old digs on
Gambier Terrace, opposite the Anglican Cathedral. This is one of Liverpool’s most filmed-in areas and is also featured in the film
Backbeat. The whole video is crammed with references to other Beatles’ songs some of which we will point out, the rest you will have to work out for yourself; there are supposed to be between 80-100 references altogether. To start you off this sequence filmed in
Gambier Terrace includes references to the songs Flying, Blackbird and
In My Life.
The bird flies out of the window and over Liverpool and the River Mersey passing over dock workers
(Lonely People, Eleanor Rigby), leaving work in the rain, (Rain). This was shot inside one of Liverpool’s old Victorian Dockland areas, Stanley Dock which is home to a fascinating indoor market every Sunday morning. To create the rain in this scene, the film makers had to hire in a ‘water bowser’ (a large water container) then a set of powerful pipes to force
the water high into the sky. When the water falls back to the ground it simulates a torrential downpour. This method is often used in Liverpool by film makers. Due to the proximity of the Welsh hills Liverpool rarely experiences downpours and boasts one of the least amounts of rainfall in Britain.
We then see a group of fans trying to get into the Cavern Club and this scene was shot at the bottom of
Henry Street, see Virtual map, another well-used film location. This street has been used in
Sherlock Holmes, Walt Disney’s Shipwrecked and Sky’s
Young Indiana Jones series. If you walk down Henry Street, past Wood Street, and towards the river, you can find several references to various London shipping companies. These are not the historic remnants of a once-thriving Victorian docklands but the enterprising and imaginative efforts of a team of set designers who worked to recreate 18th century London docklands for
Shipwrecked. Meanwhile, the fans outside the Cavern push through the door and the bird flies down into the club where we see the Beatles playing on the stage. This impersonation of the Fab Four performing together was put together using the latest blue screen technology and shot in the Beatles Museum at the Albert Dock.
A quick flight over the gates to Strawberry Fields
(Strawberry Fields Forever) brings us to Penny Lane
to see children running across the road (Little Child and See How They Run from
Lady Madonna) holding hands (I Want To Hold Your Hand). This next sequence includes a man unloading eggs
(I Am The Egg Man from I Am The Walrus) a fire truck, a nurse selling poppies and a banker leaving the barber’s shop
(Penny Lane), and a birthday cake in the window with a 64 on it (Birthday, When I’m 64
and a reference to
Ringo’s father who made cakes).
For these shots many of the shop windows in Penny Lane were redecorated by an award winning art designer who had won an Oscar for his work on the Batman movies. Many vintage vehicles were hired in for this sequence and the production team spent several days locating owners of 1950s and 1960s cars, vans and buses to use to dress the set. A local supplier of cakes was called upon to create the ‘64 cake which was made with real sponge (the type you wash your car with) to last longer.
The next sequence to feature in the Free video was shot in Falkner Square. This beautiful Victorian square is regularly used by film makers to impersonate the very high class area of London known as
Belgravia. The square can be found at the top end of Falkner Street which is probably the most filmed street in the UK. The beautifully preserved Georgian terraces, cobbled roads and wrought iron lamp posts provide the perfect backdrop to any costume drama. This is where the
Free production team recreated the car crash referred to in A Day In The Life inspired by a newspaper article about an MP’s son who had crashed his Lotus in Kings Road, Chelsea. You’ll be relieved to know that they did not actually damage the pink Lotus
Elan.
The bird then flies over a kite and a Helter Skelter supplied by a fairground owner in Warrington and filmed in the school playing fields just off Penny Lane. The film crew stayed in the Penny Lane
area to film the next scene where children run down a back alley past some sunflowers
(Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds) wearing pig’s masks (I am the Walrus and Piggies). The alley is half-way down Penny Lane and the sunflowers are real and still growing.
From Penny Lane the crew and t he Bird
travel back to the
Falkner Street area, to No. 8 St Bride Street
where we meet the Paperback Writer busy working at his desk watched on by John Lennon. The bird then flies through the window over the roof of
Falkner Street Garages where a Blue Meanie pops up (reference to Yellow
Submarine) and over two men fixing a hole in the roof (Fixing a
Hole) next to a monkey (Everybody’s Got Something to Hide). The Bird then flies down into
St Bride Street itself past a man walking a bulldog (Hey
Bulldog) and up to a newspaper taxi on the right hand side (Lucy in the Sky with
Diamonds). To create this sequence the film makers brought into Liverpool one of the largest camera cranes in the world. Manufactured in Russia, this crane incorporates an extremely sophisticated fluid head system that allows the camera to turn around very smoothly in any direction and consequently duplicate the movements of a flying bird. In the background of this shot you will spot two men carrying a picture of Chairman Mao
(Revolution) and a quick flash of Cavern City Tours Magical Mystery Tour Bus as it passes along the bottom of the street.
The next distinct location to be used was the Adelphi Hotel
where the 150-strong film crew were staying. The crew filmed in the magnificent parlour (up the stairs from the front reception) and the marbled rendezvous area at the back that looks like an interior of a Victorian luxury cruise liner. Here we see
Bungalow Bill with his elephant (“Hunting with his elephant and his gun. . . always took his mom”) —
(The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill). The Maharishi, The Sheik
of Araby, and several lookalike artists milling around impersonating the
characters that appeared on the front cover of the Sgt Peppers Lonely
Hearts Club Band album.
The video leaves Liverpool at this stage to travel north to the Lake District to
shoot a statue (Lady Madonna) and Eleanor Rigby’s grave where we see a priest (Father McKenzie) and a sheepdog (Martha
My Dear). The film makers then move west to shoot the Long and
Winding Road in the Yorkshire Dales and then fly back to London to film
the inevitable landmark, Abbey Road. The video draws to an end on the stage of
an old Victorian theatre to recreate the days of the Music Hall where a George
Formby impersonator plays the last few notes of the video on his ukulele.
Chart success
Free as a Bird took The Beatles
into their 32nd year of producing chart hits. The single shot to No. 5 in the
singles chart in the first week it was released. Apple/Capitol declared that
within its first week Free sold over 60,000 copies and although
the record did not manage to shift Mr Jackson from the top it still sold over a
quarter of a million copies within two months of its release. This was the first
time The Beatles had featured in the Top 10 since 1976 when they had a hit with Got
To Get You Into My Life.
Real Love
This piano drop outside Liverpool’s famous Liver Building
features in the opening sequence of The Beatles’ single Real Love. In the video the white grand piano rises out of the River Mersey and flies up in the sky past the Liver Building’s clock face. As you can see from these pictures the film makers reversed this shot, in reality the piano, made of steel, was dropped from one of the largest cranes in the UK. The piano drop was repeated several times and filmed from different angles.
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