A UF alumnus has put his love for the Beatles in a tangible form by helping direct the new iOS app, “John Lennon: The Bermuda Tapes.”
Forty-year-old Mark Thompson, who has freelanced graphic designs for movies such as “Herbie: Fully Loaded” and “Everything’s Cool,” said the app’s purpose is to tell the story of John Lennon’s last two albums.
The app acts as an interactive storybook. Users can listen to tracks pulled from the albums and interviews with Lennon as he talks about his journey to and from Bermuda.
“He comes to Bermuda, and these songs just start pouring out of him,” said Thompson. “When you come out the other side, you feel like you’ve experienced it.”
The app, which is $4.99 in the App Store, acts as an interactive slideshow, allowing users to sail across turbulent waters and see Bermuda’s points of interest with an artistic flair. Users can also record sounds to create animations.
Thompson said Lennon, who had stagnated creatively after spending all of his time at home with his family, went to Bermuda to reignite his songwriting. Lennon was reinvigorated by the island. He immediately began writing songs, and he played his recordings through the phone to Yoko Ono, Thompson said.
Thompson, who graduated from UF in 1996, said the app’s inception was as much caused by coincidence as it was planning.
He said the inciting moment was when Andrew Banks, another UF alumnus who works in entertainment financing in Bermuda, sought out Michael Epstein to film a documentary about a Beatles tribute concert happening on the island.
Epstein decided that although the concert wasn’t right for a film, a tribute app would be a more viable idea.
Epstein brought Thompson onto the project, and he said as soon as he saw Banks walk in with Gator clothes, he knew the project would go “awesomely.”
Thompson said he also signed the New York strategic design agency Eyeball for artwork and the Massachusetts creative studio Design I/O for applying the team’s creative direction into a substantive product.
He said the team worked closely with Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, for creative approval.
All proceeds from the app go directly to WhyHunger, a charity supported by Ono that is working toward eliminating world hunger and poverty.
Steven Garcia, a 21-year-old UF biology senior and self-proclaimed fan of the Beatles, said the app brings attention to part of Lennon’s story that might otherwise be overlooked.
“It’s a very creative app away from the usual things you experience,” Garcia said.
A version of this story ran on page 11 on 1/6/2014 under the headline "Bermuda-themed Beatles app launches with Help! from UF grad"
