[tim pope did not know he had these photographic negatives until fairly recently. they were found in a bag, in the attic, on saturday 29th january 2006, like these things often are. it was the day he famously had chucked two wardrobes over a cliff. read this account by pope and see the photos that nobody has ever seen before, until they appeared exclusively here on www.timpope.tv. they will shed a different light. they are mostly photographed by anne brosseau.]
"we stayed at the [birling gap hotel] the night before so we could be at beachy head bright and early. birling gap feels like the edge of the world and there is a row of houses that are incredibly close to the cliff's' edge, looking like they are about to fall off at any moment. some have literally dropped off into the sea. we took the short drive to beachy head famous for two things: the lighthouse; it's where people go to commit suicide.
"there were two wardrobes - we could afford two - and they had accompanied us down to the south coast on the back of a truck, driven by our mate nicky bell [a.k.a. "bell boy"]. we kept overtaking each other on the way down and the two wardrobes looked quite surreal wobbling about; especially knowing their fate to be.
"the coastguard had said it was all right for us to do this though we would have to clear up after ourselves - people were stationed at the bottom to bring the broken wardrobes back up to the trucks. after filming the establishing angle of the wardrobe [video's opening shot] we set about the main business of the day.
[filming establishing angle, p.o.v. of wardrobe as door closes; pope prepares.]
"i roped myself up, like the rest of the crew. it's harder than you imagine chucking furniture over the edges of cliffs, mainly because of wind. the wardrobe acts like a sail and wants to take you over repeatedly with it. nicky was such a big bastard that it fell to him to hold the things steady and i think he enjoyed all the girls saying 'be careful, nicky' as he stood their flexing his arms. n.b. in the photos there is not a single spiky haircut in sight as the cure were yet to shoot their bit and were probably snuggled up in bed like hamsters while the crew worked on selflessly to get this in the can.
[pope on a rope; more rope, and the crackle of walkies - producer stands ever sentinel.]
"our director of photography chris ashbrook was not with us - again because of money - so joe dyer, assistant camera, was standing in for chris to shoot these pick-up shots. for the first angle we crawled towards the edge so joe could point the camera down - it, too, was seriously tethered. they brought the wardrobe closer. and...
[above, unknown crew member, pope and dyer, on the edge; nicky bell steadies the 'drobe; tim pope's own close-to-edge snap as the furniture fell.]
joe wearing his fetching hard hat - why?! - why a hard hat on a cliff edge? - took his exposure for the second drop - the wider of the two angles - the establisher. nicky bell had to steady the wardrobe against the wind, then when we were ready leg it out of the frame; and..."
[above, tim pope watches as joe dyer [yellow hat] reads his exposure meter; establishing view of wardrobe as it falls, released by nicky bell.] [drag-and-drop desktop of tim pope wardrobe shot.]
"we stayed at the [birling gap hotel] the night before so we could be at beachy head bright and early. birling gap feels like the edge of the world and there is a row of houses that are incredibly close to the cliff's' edge, looking like they are about to fall off at any moment. some have literally dropped off into the sea. we took the short drive to beachy head famous for two things: the lighthouse; it's where people go to commit suicide.
"there were two wardrobes - we could afford two - and they had accompanied us down to the south coast on the back of a truck, driven by our mate nicky bell [a.k.a. "bell boy"]. we kept overtaking each other on the way down and the two wardrobes looked quite surreal wobbling about; especially knowing their fate to be.
"the coastguard had said it was all right for us to do this though we would have to clear up after ourselves - people were stationed at the bottom to bring the broken wardrobes back up to the trucks. after filming the establishing angle of the wardrobe [video's opening shot] we set about the main business of the day.
[filming establishing angle, p.o.v. of wardrobe as door closes; pope prepares.]
"i roped myself up, like the rest of the crew. it's harder than you imagine chucking furniture over the edges of cliffs, mainly because of wind. the wardrobe acts like a sail and wants to take you over repeatedly with it. nicky was such a big bastard that it fell to him to hold the things steady and i think he enjoyed all the girls saying 'be careful, nicky' as he stood their flexing his arms. n.b. in the photos there is not a single spiky haircut in sight as the cure were yet to shoot their bit and were probably snuggled up in bed like hamsters while the crew worked on selflessly to get this in the can.
[pope on a rope; more rope, and the crackle of walkies - producer stands ever sentinel.]
"our director of photography chris ashbrook was not with us - again because of money - so joe dyer, assistant camera, was standing in for chris to shoot these pick-up shots. for the first angle we crawled towards the edge so joe could point the camera down - it, too, was seriously tethered. they brought the wardrobe closer. and...
[above, unknown crew member, pope and dyer, on the edge; nicky bell steadies the 'drobe; tim pope's own close-to-edge snap as the furniture fell.]
joe wearing his fetching hard hat - why?! - why a hard hat on a cliff edge? - took his exposure for the second drop - the wider of the two angles - the establisher. nicky bell had to steady the wardrobe against the wind, then when we were ready leg it out of the frame; and..."
[above, tim pope watches as joe dyer [yellow hat] reads his exposure meter; establishing view of wardrobe as it falls, released by nicky bell.] [drag-and-drop desktop of tim pope wardrobe shot.]