The Beatles 40 years after the invasion

Due to the way the Flash presentation is constructed, visitors never leave the main window of the presentation while viewing still images. While the images open into their own 'spaces,' they're embedded into the main window rather than independent pop-ups. This makes for a tidier presentation, but unfortunately it also robs the visitor of the option of continuing to explore the site while waiting for a stubborn photograph to load. (Probably a great idea for a presentation on CD or DVD - not so great for people having to deal with servers and bandwidth.)

Audio and video clips open into pop-up windows, but sadly, they're only available in MediaPlayer and RealVideo formats, so those looking for the higher quality of QuickTime will be disappointed. And why the audio levels for the video clips are set at several times the volume of the straight audio clips escapes me.

If the first tour has you hungry for more circa '64 Beatles, welcome to A Hard Day's Night. Again, created to promote a DVD release (following a theatrical re-release), the Hard Day's Night site adds a bit of time twisting to the mix. One of the two main sections, Yesterday, is presented as a promotional site for the - soon to be released - 1964 movie. This doesn't mean that there are attempts to technologically dumb down the site. Rather, we're simply invited to pretend that the internet revolution was already taking place 40 years ago.

Launching the Yesterday window leads to an animated countdown (from 2000 to 1964), which concludes with what must be the most recognizable guitar chord in music history. Contents are divided into Beatle profiles, and inside information about the "really gear" movie. Scenes supplies a handful of mini-slide shows from the film, accompanied by captions that illustrate the very height (or depths, depending on your point of view) of PR writing: "The Fabbest Four in the whole wide world are as cute as can be as they pose for yet another shot." (Click on an image as it rolls by and a slightly larger version will open in its own window.)

Music has similar copy about the movie's featured songs, as does People about its secondary players, while Press transcribes a few newspaper clippings. Band member profiles accentuate each Beatles' mini-gallery with sound bites and floating caption boxes.

The second section, Here Today returns to the present with it's collection of movie-related memorabilia. Included are the first draft of the shooting script (with color-coded additions to indicate cut scenes, extra scenes added later, and handwritten notes), publicity and behind-the-scenes stills (both in color and black-and-white), a contemporary movie review, and souvenirs from the film's two premiers. Last is the requisite trailer - though in this case, it's more accurately a commercial for the DVD. If you'd like to see the actual theatrical trailer for the re-release, you can find a QuickTime version here.

Gear!

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