507 replies to this topic

[Marketto007]

Do we have any idea of how the helicopter scene is going to play out? Is it attacking or protecting?

Silva's men attacking Skyfall's Lodge.

xxx

[ggl]

One thing I´m thinking...

If Silva just wants to get Bond, M and, perhaps, Kinkaid? in Skyfall, then why the army helicopter full of men? isn´t he "overreacting"? He wants something that they have and needs them alive?

[Luigi Ferrari]

A video, uploaded today, showing a massive crane at the Skyfall set in Hankley Common :

Edited by Luigi Ferrari, 22 March 2012 - 01:44 AM.

[Royal Dalton]

Thanks, Luigi.

Always nice to see another crane. Maybe they're going to hang a mock-up of a helicopter off it, or something?

[S K Y F A L L]

Nice find. I wonder if those are crash pads under the crane or something else. I was thinking maybe the helicopter is protecting the Lodge, cause otherwise the villains would have to have a cover for having a helicopter and being able to fly around in it. Can anyone own a military grade helicopter and fly around wherever they like? I'm not completely sure its a military helicopter and I don't know anything about air traffic control laws or what not.

[Captain Tightpants]

Right now, it is believed that the helicopters are attacking the lodge. In which case, they are being commandeered by Silva. He won't suddenly produce helicopters out of nowhere - there will doubtless be an explanation as to why he has them in the film.

[Matt_13]

Good point. If he's capable of using a helicopter with bad guys, he must have some serious pull, right? Pretty bad that I hadn't really given that much thought.

[Captain Tightpants]

If we can work out the markings on the helicopter, we might be able to tell who is controlling them. So far, the only marking I can see is a yellow circle with an inverted red triangle at the rear of the fuselage, but I'm not sure if that's an actual military insignia, or just a standard marking to designate ... something. Looking at the list on Wikipedia, it doesn't appear to match any current or former insignia; Ecuador is perhaps the closest, with red and blue circles in yellow. And, strangely enough, the International Symbol of Civil Defence (blue triangle - right way up - in a yellow circle) is also quite close.

[S K Y F A L L]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AZ9NH4rfKE&feature=related


The Austrian Armed Forces looks like a match, good work Captain.
http://en.wikipedia....tary_of_Austria

Edited by S K Y F A L L, 22 March 2012 - 05:18 AM.

[Captain Tightpants]

There's just two small problems with that: first of all, the Austrian insignia is an inverted white triangle on a field of red. The insignia on the helicopter is an inverted red triagle on a fiel of yellow. The second problem is that there isn't a single connection between Austria and anything in SKYFALL.

I'm guessing that the markings are either dummied by whoever is controlling the helicopter (ie totally fake), or they are derived from an existing marking. For example, the list on Wikipedia shows that Australia has three different insignias: one for general use, one for low-visibility, and one for army aviation. The marking on those helicopters could be derived from an existing insignia, and meant to represent a certain division or something.

Personally, my money is on them being dummy markings. When Duntrune Castle was first floated as a location for SKYFALL, a lot of people noted the proximity of the water, and the woman who lived there - Patricia Malcolm - said she thought there was going to be a "land and sea battle". There is also said to be twelve thousand litres of water involved in the lodge scenes, which is about the same as you would find in five and a half Olympic swimming pools, and sounds like the amount you would need to make a water set. So I'm guessing that the lodge will be set near the sea, in which case the helicopters could come in from over the water. They would only need fake markings to fool anyone observing them crossing the coast.

Therefore, if they are dummy markings, then I'm betting that they are Silva's men.

[Luigi Ferrari]

There is a distinct possibility that the final sequence has been partially rewritten to fit the morphological characteristics of the site. Duntrune Castle is near a lake and the attack was reasonably planned by land and water. The Skyfall's site in Hankley Common is owned by the MOD and isn't close to a lake, anyway it is much easier to close the air space in a military zone, so it is possible that the writers have decided to adapt the screenplay to the new possibilities offered by the site, hence the attack from the sky.
The enormous volume of water present on the set is probably necessary in event of fire, since the heather surrounding the set is highly flammable.
This is just my guess though.

[Major Tallon]

Nice find. I wonder if those are crash pads under the crane or something else. I was thinking maybe the helicopter is protecting the Lodge, cause otherwise the villains would have to have a cover for having a helicopter and being able to fly around in it. Can anyone own a military grade helicopter and fly around wherever they like? I'm not completely sure its a military helicopter and I don't know anything about air traffic control laws or what not.

AugustaWestland do indeed manufacture a civilian variant of the Merlin, the AW101, which is probably how EON acquired the aircraft being used in the filming.

[Luigi Ferrari]

http://theforagingph...there/#comments

I was a bit too quick off the mark there…

I put up a post earlier in response to a lengthy comment I received which informed me that ‘I should get a very very good lawyer’ because I’m in for a ‘rough ride’ from the EON. This was from someone who claims to be working on the production. The tone of the email struck me as trying to threaten or frighten me, and as a knee jerk response I stated what had been happening in my communications with the MoD and EON since last week, something I had previously chosen not to mention.
I have spoken since then to a very nice man from EON with whom I’ve been in touch over the last week, and he assures me that EON are certainly not intending to prosecute me or take this matter any further. I wish I’d spoken to him before I posted this morning, frankly, but stupidly I was really rattled by the message (I’ve re-approved the comments, by the way, since the sender intended them to be published here). It seems that because I was not intending to gain commercially from the photos, I have not broken the law. Although I could, therefore, sell the images again if I chose to, I am not going to do so out of respect for EON productions (who have been courteous throughout, as were the military police) and in particular EON’s location manager who has been so reasonable and kind about all of this. I just wish I’d realised what the cursed photos were worth in the first place and got a decent amount of money to make up for all this bloody hassle. C’est la vie.
For my reasons previously stated, I am intending to leave the blog up as it stands. The images are already all over the internet, so it won’t make a jot of difference if I take them down. I won’t be mentioning Skyfall, EON or anything to do with James Bond any more posts though! Nor will I be returning to Hankley for a while!
Back to nature from now on.



Glad to hear you're not in trouble, Lucy. All's well that ends well...

Edited by Luigi Ferrari, 22 March 2012 - 06:11 PM.

[the foraging photographer]

Thanks Luigi! I'm feeling a bit flattened by it all at the moment, and like a bit of a lemon that everyone seemed to benefit except me. I'm telling myself, though, that money is very far from everything, and making a few hundred to a few thousand quid (or maybe even nothing at all!) would not be worth feeling that I'd done something morally dubious.

Nice to know that I didn't actually break any law though - I'm sure that, having approached EON and asked them to clarify my legal position, they would have damned well found out anything I was doing wrong! I can't say anything bad about my dealings with them at all - Russell Lodge the location manager for Hankley was incredibly kind and helpful to me throughout. He put across their point of view whilst always acknowledging mine, which of course made me want to do the same in return. My personality is such that if someone is straight, honest and pleasant with me, then I want to do the same in return, but if I feel that someone is trying to manipulate or force me into something, then I will really dig my heels in on principle. I think that Russell is the genuine article, and is a genuinely decent and helpful person. If he's not, then he's very good at his job and he's done a good job for EON! I think it's the former though.

Anyhow, I'm glad to know that I'm not public enemy no.1 (although I'm sure I still am to some people), and didn't do anything wrong. I can totally understand EON and the MDP being very on the ball and alert to people trying to profit from the filming. Best all left behind me now. It was lovely talking to you all, and I'm thrilled that my pictures provided you with interest and pleasure. I'd love it if some of you came back sometimes to read a bit about the wonder of nature in a corner of England!

Kind regards,
Lucy

[Ace Roberts]

I'm not sure what everyone thinks about this, but in my opinion Lucy provided the type of on-set pictures and videos that Eon has provided in the past - but for some odd reason have chosen NOT to provide (so far) with this production. Perhaps they believe people like Lucy, Germanlady, and the teenagers in Turkey can save them on the cost of production videos and behind-the-scenes stills. Because let's be real, so far all we've seen is photos of clapper boards that can be taken with a smart phone camera. Now, they may surprise us and provide a wealth of behind-the-scenes stuff once in post production - but so far it has been very disappointing.

[Major Tallon]

Thanks, Lucy, for all you did on behalf of the Bond fan community. I promise I'll still visit your blog from time to time.

[Luigi Ferrari]

This is THE NIGHT guys! They're destroying Skyfall Lodge...
http://www.zimbio.co...odge Set Ablaze
Pictures show the James Bond Film "Skyfall" being filming in the Surrey countryside. This night scene shows the storming of Skyfall Lodge when it is set on fire on March 22, 2012.

[Simon]

Goodness.

It almost seems quite sad to see it go up in flames. Even in its fakery, it was still a lovely looking 'building'.

[marktmurphy]

Interesting; I wonder how they stop it actually burning (obviously they haven't set fire to the whole thing: stone doesn't tend to burn!).

[Captain Tightpants]

I seem to recall talk that it was going to be blown up. But maybe it will just be gutted by fire.

[Vauxhall]

I seem to recall talk that it was going to be blown up. But maybe it will just be gutted by fire.

Perhaps a bit of both. Fire in the initial stage of the assault, followed by a larger explosion as the helicopter attack intensifies.

[Shrublands]

I seem to recall talk that it was going to be blown up. But maybe it will just be gutted by fire.

In the planning application, they mention a 'simulated gas explosion' – a bad fire could be the cause.

[the foraging photographer]

I just looked at those pictures of the fire and they show the opposite end of the lodge to where the hole in the wall is, or will be. I've been told they're going to have a fake helicopter smash through the wall, which is presumably why the cranes are there.

[Royal Dalton]

Thanks, Lucy.

I imagine Bond shoots that helicopter down at some point.

[ggl]

That means more than one helicopter?

[Vauxhall]

That means more than one helicopter?

Just the one, I think, plus the camera helicopter and a model.

I'd assume that the helicopter flies towards the house, drops off Silva and a few goons, then circles around the house in a holding position and firing at the lodge, before getting shot down.

[ggl]

Thanks, Vauxhall

There we have another Bond-classic: the Bond shot-down helicopter from FRWL, TSWLM, AVTK, TND... ;-)

[S K Y F A L L]

How do you think Bond shuts the helicopter down?
-Shooting the pilot like in FRWL?
-using Little Nellie like in YOLT?
-Couldn't be like FYEO cause he takes control of the helicopter.
-Using a machine gun like in GE when he shuts one down with a AK47?
-Something like in TND?
-Using the Aston Martin DB5 like in TSWLM(Lotus) or TWINE by firing a rocket?
-or something original?

[ggl]

No doubt. It has to be something original.

[S K Y F A L L]

-forgot about the ice berg get away sub that 007 uses to shut down one in AVTAK.