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Mark Haefeli knows Paul McCartney. But, as the rock-doc director notes, his friends often ask him, "Do you know Paul McCartney?"
The fact is, most Beatles fans feel they know their favorite bass player. The degree to which McCartney and his music have affected them-from "Beatle freak" families in the Midwest to former presidents-is the focus of Haefeli's latest film for A&E Network, Paul McCartney: The Space Within Us. The one-hour documentary debuts in early November on the network, in both SD and HD, and is scheduled for release on DVD during the month. An HD/Blu-ray disc is expected sometime early next year.
Haefeli traveled with McCartney's 2005 U.S. tour, as he has on all of McCartney's outings since 2001, including the 2002 Paul McCartney-Back in the U.S. for ABC, 2003's Paul McCartney in Red Square and last year's Paul McCartney Live in St. Petersburg. All (except as noted) have appeared on A&E, with subsequent DVD release, and all have been nominated for Emmy Awards. Red Square took home a trophy for Outstanding Multi-Camera Picture Editing for a Special.
While Back in the U.S. was a souvenir of that year's tour and Red Square covered the journey to bring Beatles music to Russia, McCartney asked his videographer to find a fresh approach for the 2005 tour film. "Paul did not want to do just another DVD," Haefeli says. "In fact, he didn't want to do anything this time unless it was going to tell a new story."
McCartney invited Haefeli with him on tour, which ran from mid-September to late November 2005. Instead of capturing standard rock 'n' roll concert footage with his Sony HVR-Z1U HD camera, Haefeli began focusing on the responses of audience members to McCartney's performances at the shows.
On the Road Again
Once the decision was made to proceed, Haefeli decided to shoot the project in HD, with a mixture of live performance footage and documentary material. While Back in the U.S. collected footage from every show on the 2001 tour, the team decided to shoot just one city, San Jose, Calif., over the band's two-day visit in early November for The Space Within Us. "It was two nights a row, and it was an easy venue to shoot," the director...