Careless Film/Video Editing

[LarryC]

I tried to locate the thread where the discussion was taking place about the images of Paul seemingly playing his Epiphone Texan in the right-handed mode, but gosh, I rifled through a few threads and just decided it would be easier to start a new thread. (If necessary I can move this post if someone can direct me to the thread in question)

In the Anthology, I believe it is, there is that sequence of footage taken in India where it shows Paul playing his guitar, seemingly right-handed. There was some discussion about the film being mirrored and a few statements about "why would they do something like that on something so important..." or something along those lines. I agree it is sloppy work considering what it was intended for.

A few moments ago I was viewing some VCDs which I received from JoJo a while back...I'm still digesting them JoJo, and I think I am getting close to having watched all of them. One CD set, titled Beatles Companion, has a video of them in the studio playing Lady Madonna, and as I watched it I was taken back by this:


This is George Harrison playing, seemingly, left-handed (note pick guard and knobs on the lower half of the body). Of course we KNOW this is a lie because we see him playing his Gibson SG throughout the same video, and a few others, right-handed.


Frame from the same video. But you know, to make things even more silly, it seemed like the majority of the video clips in the Lady Madonna piece were taken from the Hey Bulldog video. <shrug> I don't know what the Lady Madonna video was put together for in terms of airing on TV or if it was just an archival piece for posterity or what...but even though the song is a good one, much of the visuals don't match.

I am not trying to be a wise guy, but if you have the Beatles Companion set, or even just the Lady Madonna video, have a look. This mirrored image shows up during the first verse of the song.

[JoJo]

Hey you got a good eye, I missed that one. Btw, you're right, Lady Madonna and Bulldog were a bunch of clips strung together from the same recording session, that's pretty clear. Why the strange editing here? Who knows, I know that promo videos at the time were intended for the people in the "biz", record company execs and so on. However of course we know that The Beatles were the exception, they made them for broadcast, such as Rain, PW, Hello Goodbye. And of course Hey Jude was broadcasted on (oh boy, I could be wrong on this one) David Suskind. As you can see, there were more videos made post 66, but whether they were shown anywhere like on Ed Sullivan, I don't know.

I guess my point was, the level of care and dilligence to detail I would expect from a video that looks quickly thrown together like LM, verses something more polished like Anthology is somewhat less. Having said that, I would be willing to go along with a simple "it's a coincidence", or "sloppy editing" for the Anthology material, I mean who the heck knows, really.. But you gotta wonder what the conversation was in the editing room, like didn't someone say: "oh this can't be right, Paul is playing right handed!" Or maybe they were passing a "funny cigarette" back and forth, who knows..

And the thread you want is here: invanddis.proboards29.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1081286001

This one need not move anywhere, it's on topic, and a new concept, right?

Glad you enjoyed those videos Larry.. And stay out of the gulf for the next few days!!

[LarryC]

JoJo said:

...Or maybe they were passing a "funny cigarette" back and forth, who knows..

I think this could very well have played a role in matters because back in that day it was pretty common...probably still is in some circles today, but in my own paradigm everyone in the industry was getting a buz on back in those days.

JoJo said:

Glad you enjoyed those videos Larry.. And stay out of the gulf for the next few days!!

Thank you...on both counts. I AM enjoying the vids very much. And as far as the gulf is concerned, right now Ivan doesn't appear to be much of a threat in the western part (YET), which is where I primarily hang out. I'm sure the guys in the central and eastern parts have begun evacuating...I'll know more Thursday morning when I report to work...which is when Ivan is supposed to make landfall in Louisiana or Mississippi, or wherever it decides to go.

[JoJo]

Well I know one thing, you will know what's up by thursday. I've been watching this pretty closely, even though I don't live anywhere near there of course, but nature is pretty facinating, and of course we are all connected, however you want to look at it.

[Harb]

It's a mere mirror shot.

It's easy to explain for the Anthology "I Will" sequence regarding Paul playing right handed... look at the guardplate next to the whole... it's above. It was common for left handed guitarists to buy a right handed guiter (which were (and still are) a lot cheaper) and restring it upside down. Doing this caused the guardplate (which was always put under the center hole to protect the body from the plectrum constantly hitting it after a strum) to be upside down, or above the hole.

Yet here is Paul, playing right handed with a guardplate above the hole. This warrants only two possibilities...

Paul took his left handed guitar and restrung it to play right handed

Or

The shot is simply mirrored.

If you think it's the first, then I recommend watching the Let It Be movie, where Paul is playing the same guitar, with the guardplate on the top... but left handed.