Monday, June 22, 2009

Hollywood blockbuster shot at Cliffs of Moher

Scenes from the soon to be released Warner film “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” were filmed at the Cliffs of Moher.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Production Designer Stuart Craig has revealed how the production crew went about filming an epic cave scene in the film. The cave is one of the places that main characters Professor Dumbledore and Harry Potter must visit in order to start figuring out how to bring down Voldemort.

Stuart Craig recalls, “When we were doing our location scouts, we found the Cliffs of Moher in the west of Ireland and immediately thought they would be spectacular for the entrance of the cave.” The filmmakers wanted the cave interior to seem vast beyond measure, “so there was no possibility of building that physically,” Craig acknowledged to scarpotter.com. “Apart from the point at which Harry and Dumbledore first arrive and the island formation on which everything inside the cave happens, the set is entirely virtual, designed in the computer. We’d had our first totally virtual set on the last film, so we approached this one with a bit more confidence.”

The interior of the cave appears to be made up of geometric crystal formations, so Craig and his team began by researching various rock formations. They also visited a quartz crystal cave and a salt crystal cave to study the properties of crystal surfaces. “Reproducing salt crystals requires some major R&D and a lot of experimenting with synthetic resins,” the designer remarks. “The challenge was to create something that was magical but credible at the same. It was also a challenge for Tim Burke and our visual effects team and also for (director of photography) Bruno Delbonnel", explained Mr.Craig.

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" is released next month.

Watch the CLIFFS OF MOHER in the official
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Trailer

Hollywood blockbuster shot at Cliffs of Moher

Scenes from the soon to be released Warner film “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” were filmed at the Cliffs of Moher.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Production Designer Stuart Craig has revealed how the production crew went about filming an epic cave scene in the film. The cave is one of the places that main characters Professor Dumbledore and Harry Potter must visit in order to start figuring out how to bring down Voldemort.

Stuart Craig recalls, “When we were doing our location scouts, we found the Cliffs of Moher in the west of Ireland and immediately thought they would be spectacular for the entrance of the cave.” The filmmakers wanted the cave interior to seem vast beyond measure, “so there was no possibility of building that physically,” Craig acknowledged to scarpotter.com. “Apart from the point at which Harry and Dumbledore first arrive and the island formation on which everything inside the cave happens, the set is entirely virtual, designed in the computer. We’d had our first totally virtual set on the last film, so we approached this one with a bit more confidence.”

The interior of the cave appears to be made up of geometric crystal formations, so Craig and his team began by researching various rock formations. They also visited a quartz crystal cave and a salt crystal cave to study the properties of crystal surfaces. “Reproducing salt crystals requires some major R&D and a lot of experimenting with synthetic resins,” the designer remarks. “The challenge was to create something that was magical but credible at the same. It was also a challenge for Tim Burke and our visual effects team and also for (director of photography) Bruno Delbonnel", explained Mr.Craig.

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" is released next month.

Watch the CLIFFS OF MOHER in the official
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Trailer

Cook Medical eyes future expansion opportunities

US medical technology group, Cook Medical, is expecting regulatory approval soon on a new device being developed in Limerick that will change the lives of millions of people around the world suffering from circulatory problems.

The company is well in to a recruitment campaign that will see 200 new staff working on its new Zilver PTX drug-eluting stent, which is used for the treatment of blocked arteries in the leg, reports Businessworld.ie. Cook Medical is investing E25m in a manufacturing and services facility in Limerick that will create the 200 jobs over the next five years and is currently building a state-of-the-art Clean Room.

Cook already employs 480 staff here, having established a base in Limerick's National Technology Park in 1996 and plans for its Limerick facility to be its world centre for Zilver PTX