thebeatleshamburg-blog

[thebeatleshamburg-blog]

Dear Beatles fans and followers, Over the past 6 months we've gradually developed the idea of shooting a Beatles in Hamburg documentary, and 5 weeks ago we launched our crowd-sourcing campaign to get the project moving. The campaign can be found here: http://igg.me/at/TheBeatles We'd like to encourage you to keep donating in this last week of crowd funding, all the money we raise will go towards filming interviews with musicians/artists who experiences early 1960s Hamburg e.g Astrid Kirchherr, Alan Williams, Roy Young, John Gustafson, Ulf Kruger, Brian Casser, as well as authors and experts like Spencer Leigh, Mark Lewisohn and Eric Krasker (we will be attempting to get in contact with these people over the next few weeks). We can then compile this footage in an attempt to paint a picture of early 60s Hamburg in our minds. Having this extra content will help us to reach out into the Beatles/Hamburg community and expand our fan-base/following.  Join the project conversation in our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BeatlesHamburgFilm/ This is where you can talk to our project team, and the community of Beatles fans we've developed, also content/information will usually be released here first. Last of all we'd like to extend a huge thank you to all fans and followers who have contributed to our project so far, whether you've purchased a perk from our crowd funding website, pointed us in the direction of a useful contact, or shared your stories and experiences with us, without you this project would be nothing but an idea!

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http://bit.ly/Z59kAv

Hi guys,

Here's the video explaining our campaign to fund our documentary, we need your help sharing this around and, if you can, buying Beatles related memorabilia/perks from our Indiegogo page, as it is with this money that we will make the film.

Thank you in advance for helping us with this project!

George

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Fan-made poster and Beatles art by Mark Rehkopf - Adventure Visuals

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Stuart Sutcliffe who died 10 April 1962, with Tony Sheridan who died 16th February this year, a truly special picture of these two Veteran-Beatles.

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[thebeatleshamburg-blog]

May I introduce to you, the act you’ve known for all these years!

It is with great excitement that we at Future Artists are letting the world know we intend to make a feature length documentary film about ‘The Beatles’, following their exploits during the Hamburg years from 1960 through to 1962.

The Beatles ‘ Young and Reckless in Hamburg’ (working title)

A project that has been 6 months in development thus far at Future Artists HQ, we feel it is the right time to let the world know what we are up to and why, and we need your help!

Mark Ashmore the films producer has this to say:

 ‘I grew up as a second generation Beatles fan, with the stories of my parents, listening to Beatles record, and hearing about the Beatles legacy.

But any music fan will always seek out more knowledge and stories about the people behind the music and how they developed as artists. It’s this ‘creative development’ that is at the centre of the Beatles story we want to tell.

With no manager, PR team or record label bosses standing over them, how did the Hamburg Beatles evolve into the band the world still celebrates today, - this film will hopefully act as an entry point for the 3rd and 4th generation Beatles fans around the world, to get to know the legends behind the music in their formative years.

The documentary film, produced by Future Artists, will also be like no other before it, for the past 6 months the Future Artists collective have been talking with Beatles fans around the world, gathering insights, stories, images, memorabilia, art and collaborators, which will enable the team to create a unique film that is thought provoking, insightful and a re-imagining of Hamburg in the early 1960s.

We are approaching this project with complete independence from the traditional film industry, instead we are working with Beatles fans around the world to crowd fund and crowd source the production.

Its our intention at Future Artists to allow the true fans of an artist to enable that artist to grow via collaboration. We now live in an interconnected world of social media, for us this gives unlimited scope for new ways of working with members of our audience who are also artists and media savvy.

Future Artists have done several productions in this manner, but nothing as big as the Beatles Hamburg story, this is a really exciting project to be working on, and to have the chance to collaborate with millions of Beatles fans world-wide’ 

So far we’ve had a huge response from Beatles fans across the world, people who are keen to work with us and keep us heading in the right direction, we are much appreciative of the help we’ve received so far!

Here are some great examples of fan collaborations:

Luc Porte, a Beatles record/rarities collector from Belgium, has given us a sneaky peek of his original Stuart Sutcliffe painting.

Andrea from Hamburg has directed us to her massively informative website loaded with Hamburg Beatles archive information - http://anothergirl83.tripod.com/

Mark Rehkopf from Adventure Visuals, Ontario, Canada, has allowed us to use some of his stunning Beatles artwork, as well as creating our first fan-made poster!

We’ve been talking to Eric Krasker, author of ‘The Beatles - Fact and Fiction’ and Hans Olof Gottfridsson, author of ‘The Beatles - From Cavern to Star Club’, both offering their help and wisdom towards the project, which is welcomed and appreciated.

So if you want to get involved in this production, please register your interest by heading to our Facebook group and introducing yourself.

Join the discussion - https://www.facebook.com/groups/BeatlesHamburgFilm

We look forward to hearing from you,

The Beatles Hamburg Team - Future Artists, Manchester, UK

You can also Tweet us - @BeatlesHamburg

Or get in touch via email - TheBeatlesHamburg@gmail.com

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Week 3 update

Hey guys! We hope all is well in the land of Beatle fandom.

First of all I’d like to introduce you guys to the team who, for the next few years, will be working on this Hamburg Beatles Project:

Mark Ashmore from Future Artists will be the project manager/producer, pointing us in the right direction, overseeing our progress and giving us pep talks.

George Roberts is a Music Tech student from Huddersfield University who has worked with Future Artists the past year, and will be assisting in managing the project. Also providing his musical wisdom.

Joanna Pomfret, a film graduate from Futureworks, will also be acting as an assistant project manager, providing her film-based wisdom.

Sophie Broadgate is a young experienced film maker/film graduate from MMU and has previously worked with the likes of the BBC, providing her documentary-based wisdom.

Megan Lewis is the apprentice of Future Artists and has much experience in media/social research.

Carla Freeman is also a graduate from MMU in Interactive Arts, and will be helping with distribution and post production.

Over the next few weeks we’re looking to collaborate with Beatles fans, sourcing any info/photos/contacts/websites which would help us along with our research. Our main reason for undertaking this project is because we beleive there are many people out there who, just like us, would love to see this film made. We’re hoping these people will help us through the different stages of the project (sourcing, funding, filming, distributing) to essentially label this a fan-made Beatles Documentary. We’ve received great support so far, which we are extremely grateful for, here’s some nice websites we’ve been recommended:

http://anothergirl83.tripod.com/

A great fan-made website archiving Hamburg Beatles media and information.

http://adventurevisual.com/beatles_illustration

A website by the artists Mark Rehkopf, who produces stunning Beatles artwork, as well as none Beatles artwork too.

http://www.schomakers.com/Index.htm

An archive of all releases from The Beatles ‘Apple’ label.

http://www.beatlesource.com/savage/index.html

A website sourcing all the Beatles records on different labels, containing lots of info and an excellent gallery of pictures.

We want to hear from you via social media! 

Keep up to date with us in the following places:

https://twitter.com/BeatlesHamburg

http://thebeatleshamburg.tumblr.com/

https://www.facebook.com/BeatlesInHamburg?fref=ts

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[thebeatleshamburg-blog]

The Beatles week 2!

The Hamburg Beatles, week 2 Hey Beatlefans! Heres an update on our ‘Hamburg Beatles’ film project. We’ve been talking to a variety of people on social media and forums, gathering info and spreading the word for this film. Many of the responses we get indicate that there are already documentaries out there about The Hamburg Beatles, a few of them including ‘The Beatles with Tony Sheridan’, ‘Backbeat’, ‘Destination Hamburg’, and a small (too small) section of ‘Anthology’. We’ve looked into these documentaries, and can safely say our film will be a different, new approach to this early Beatles era. Previous films have told the story through pictures, interviews/vintage footage and music recordings like any regular documentary, or recreated a modern take on the Hamburg days (Backbeat). However there aren’t many recordings from around this time, and there is no film footage, it seems the best source of info on the Hamburg Beatles is stories from fans/people who worked with the Beatles. We’ll be tackling this subject from a different angle, through extensive research we will be accurately recreating the Hamburg music scene, the Beatles as we’ve never known them, their music, the vibe of these unknown years. This will lead the audience through the retro Rock n Roll world, only The Beatles could know. Our next step, which will very much help us progress through this project, is to contact Apple. We’re looking for their support, hopefully allowing us rights/access to pictures, music, archived material, and to generally reinforce our intentions. We also need you fans on board our team (thats right, YOU) to help us with research, contacts, and word-spreading. Any way you could help us out would be greatly appreciated! We’ll keep you updated with our progress, just follow us at https://twitter.com/beatleshamburg http://www.tumblr.com/blog/thebeatleshamburg https://www.facebook.com/BeatlesInHamburg?fref=ts

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The Hamburg Beatles, Weekly Update 1

Hey guys!

George and Megan here, from Future Artists arts collective, currently researching the early career of The Beatles for a fan-sourced, Rock n Roll film.

When we first started the project earlier this week, none of the team knew nearly as much info on The Beatles time in Hamburg, as we do now. Thanks to the support we’ve got so far, we’re getting closer to our goal everyday!

We’re doing our best to build up our contact list, and to build a relationship with the mass Beatles fans out there. You can help us out with this by spreading the word and sharing the content we post on twitter and tumblr. 

Next week we’ll be getting the whole team together and discussing how we’ll be moving this project forward e.g. logos, fan perks, how the film may/may not look, and any useful Beatles info we’ve acquired. Making a film is a long, painstaking process, and we realize it’s important to keep our followers engaged with this project. We’ll be frequently keeping you updated with this project and we hope you’ll support what we’re doing by sharing your knowledge with us, you can email us at thebeatleshamburg@gmail.com

All the best,

George and Meg, Future Artists.

1 week / 2 years

P.S heres a lovely picture of a young George Harrison (he was only 17 when they first went to Hamburg!)

[thebeatleshamburg-blog]

WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL BETTER WHEN YOU ARE IN A BAD MOOD?

The Beatles, obviously. 

[thebeatleshamburg-blog]

An exciting new film project - 'The Beatles in Hamburg'

Hi! George here.

Future Artists LTD is a film & media production company based in Manchester, we’ve produced multiple film projects including ‘Invisible Circus: No Dress Rehearsal’ with a limited edition vinyl-style DVD release, and ‘The Lost Generation’, soon to be released to Future Artists On-Demand video platform. I’ve worked here for just under 6 months now and my excitement for future projects is ever growing.

We’re planning a film about something big, bigger than Elvis, bigger than The Who, maybe even bigger than Jesus. Thats right, The Beatles, the worlds biggest and best selling band of all time. 

I’ve been a Beatles fan for only about 3 years now, when I was 18 I started to appreciate their flawless style of songwriting and, being a music student myself, loved the more clever/experimental side of their music. I was given the Red (1962 - 1966) and Blue (1967 - 1970) albums on record a short time after discovering them, and from then on started collecting Beatles records.

Now I know you must be thinking “Theres literally hundreds of films/documentaries about The Beatles out there, we don’t need another”, but I can tell you now, we wouldn’t even consider it less we felt there was a gap to fill in the broad story of The Beatles.

Our film is going to be specifically about a vague and blurry part of their career, between 1960 and 1962. The time they spent traveling back and forth between Hamburg and Liverpool, the hard going years of pills, leathers and 8 hour shifts, in which these boys learnt everything there is to know about the Rock n Roll lifestyle. 

I was particularly excited to learn of this project as, like many others, I hardly know anything about this early Beatles era. Thats what makes a documentary interesting, exploring a familiar subject from an unknown angle, although it will require a lot of time for in-depth research and the help of others Beatles fans with stories to share.

We’d like to encourage the mass Beatles fans to get involved in this project and help us spread the word of this documentary or by sharing any tales/general knowledge you have which may help us along. You can keep up to date with this project by following us on Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook (see below) and be sure to ask us any questions by emailing TheBeatlesHamburg@gmail.com.

Thank you for your time,

George Roberts, Researcher at Future Artists.

http://thebeatleshamburg.tumblr.com/

https://twitter.com/beatleshamburg

https://www.facebook.com/BeatlesInHamburg

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"Hamburg totally wrecked us. I remember getting home to England and my dad thought I was half-dead. I looked like a skeleton, I hadn't noticed the change, I'd been having such a ball!" - Paul McCartney

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Pioneers of modern pop culture, learning the old ways of Rock n Roll.  Photo taken by Dick Matthews