Yellow Submarine
Once upon a time... or maybe twice, there was an unearthly paradise called Pepperland – a place where happiness and music reigned supreme. But all that was threatened when the terrible Blue Meanies declared war and sent in their army led by a menacing Flying Glove to destroy all that was good. Enter John, Paul, George and Ringo to save the day! Armed with little more than their humour, songs, and of course, their yellow submarine, the Fab Four tackle the rough seas ahead in an effort to bring down the evil forces of bluedom.
When their spectacular feature, Yellow Submarine, debuted in 1968, it was instantly recognisable as a landmark film. By merging the visual splendour of animation with a fantasy – adventure tale filled with peace, love, hope and of course, music, Yellow Submarine captured the essence of the Sixties. And by integrating the freestyle approach of the era with innovative animation techniques, it revolutionised a genre.
“The music, let’s face it, was the inspiration for the whole film,” said Yellow Submarine line producer John Coates. Directed by George Dunning, and written by Lee Minoff, Al Brodax, Jack Medelsohn and Erich Segal, Yellow Submarine began its voyage to the screen when Brodax, who had previously produced nearly 40 episodes of ABC’s animated Beatles TV series, approached Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein, with a unique vision for a full-length animated feature.
Inspired by the generations’s new trends in art, Yellow Submarine sits aloingside the dazzling Pop Art styles of Andy Warhol, Martin Sharp, Alan Aldridge and Peter Blake.
After seeing just four of German poster artist Heinz Edelmann’s incredible drawings, they knew he was the right man for the job.
“I thought from the very beginning that the film should be a series of interconnected shorts” remembers Edelmann. “The style should vary every five minutes or so to keep the interest going until the end”. These styles included melding love-action photography with animation, 3 dimensional sequences and kaleidoscopic “rotoscoping” where film is traced frame by frame into drawings.
The entire process took nearly two years, some 14 different scripts, 40 animators and 140 technical artists, but achieved its aims in producing a ground breaking piece of animation.
This visual feast is combined with a brilliant soundtrack of Beatles’ music including “Eleanor Rigby”, “When I’m 64”, “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” and “All You Need Is Love” creating a masterpiece that can be enjoyed by all.
Product information
Currently available in DVD and VHS formats.
Duration: 1 hour 30 mins (approx)
DVD 5.1 sound
Rating: U / G
4:3 format
PAL / NTSC
Multilanguage
Subtitles
Special features include: The making-of documentary “The Mod Odyssey”, original storyboards and pencil drawings, behind-the-scenes photos, and interviews with the original production team.
Cast
John: John Clive / Paul: Geoffrey Hughes / George: Peter Batten / Ringo / Chief Blue Meanie: Paul Angelis / Lord Mayor / Nowhere Man / Max: Dick Emery
Credits
Producer: Al Brodax / Associate Producer: Mary Ellen Stewart / Director: George Dunning / Musical Director: George Martin / Original Story by: Lee Minoff / Screenplay: Lee Minoff, Al Brodax, Jack Mendelsohn and Erich Segal. / Production Supervisor: John Coates / Design: Heinz Edelmann / Animation Directors: Jack Stokes and Robert Balser / Cinematography: John Williams / Editor: Brian J. Bishop / Dubbing Editor: Donald Cohen, Ken Potts / Dubbing Mixer: Hugh Sturn / Sound Effects: Doug Smith / Special effects animator: Chris Canntor / Special sequences: Charles Jenkins / Production Coordinator: Abe Goodman / Design: John Cramer, Dick Sawyer / Sound: Donald Cohen, Ken Rolls / Additional sequence director: Edrich Radage / Live action Sequence Director: Dennis Abey / Administration: Peter Franklin / Assistant: Norman Kauffman / Production Assistant: Sally Hyman / Assistant Editor: Toquil Stewart / Background supervisors: Alison de Vere, Millicent Macmillan / Camera Operators: John Williams, Richard Woody, Bev Roberts, Graham Orn, Bev Nevile, Alan Foster, Malcolm Levesey, Ian Letts, Tony Hines / Animators: Alan Ball, Reg Lodge, Tom Halley, Dave Livesey, Duane Crowther, Rich Cox, Cam Ford, Mike Pocock, Geoff Loynes, Mike Stewart, Malcolm Draper, Ted Percival, Lawrence Moorcroft, Dennis Hunt, Chris Carter (Special Effects), Arthur Humberstone, Anne Joliffe, Tony Cuthbert, Paul Driessen, Hester Coblentz, Dick Herne, John Chalin, Duane Jackson, Geoff Collins, Gary Potterton. / Animation Cleanup: Ted Lewis (Supervisor), Christopher Miles, Ian Cowan, Richard Dakin, Ray Newman / Trace and Paint Supervisors: Helen Jones, Corona Maher, Janet Hosie, Margaret Geddes, Jenny Brisbane, Susan Brown, Susan Gibbons / Layout Artists: Gordon Harrison, Ray August, Peter Arthy, Jack Daniels, Alan Grey, Ted Pettragel, Gail Potter / Background Artists: Arthur Button, Cecil Green, David Elvin, Muriel Jennings, Martina Selway, Malcolm Dakin, Clare Greenford, Jenny Aldridge, Paul Francis, Ian Gordon / An Apple Film / A King Features Production
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