Unesco Probing Star Wars Filming In Ireland 181
First time accepted submitter wijnands (874114) writes Star Wars crews have started filming on the small Irish Island of Skellig Michael. This island, listed as a Unesco world heritage site, features the remains of a 6th century monastery as well as breeding populations of puffins, manx shearwaters, storm petrels, guillemots and kittiwakes. Currently the Irish navy has deployed one vessel to maintain a two-mile exclusion zone around the island. Unesco is now concerned about what is going on the island, which is only visited 13 times a year by tourist groups, and has asked the Irish government for an explanation.
Re:Good... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Who owns the island? (Score:3, Insightful)
The power to destroy a habitat is nothing... (Score:4, Insightful)
The power to destroy a habitat is nothing next to the power of Money.
One must really wonder what is so special about this location, that they A) feel the need to risk damage to the habitats to film, and B) could not be reproduced in a green screen environment like they do everything else.
Re:Good... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Quote from the article (Score:5, Insightful)
"We can't tell what the filming of Star Wars on the site will do to the wildlife."
I'm pretty sure I can tell you. Not a fucking thing. Nature is not so fragile that a film crew will destroy an ecosystem just by walking around and filming a few scenes. They're under restrictions on what they can do (i.e. they're not going to be blowing up the island), and they've got an ecologist on the set at all times. This is all about a local jackass getting his nose in a snit.
Stephen Newton, a seabirds expert with Birdwatch Ireland, said he could not get onto the island to check the important colony.
Mr Newton said he was asked by the film producers only days before shooting was to begin if he would help them with an impact assessment to secure permits for filming.
He refused, arguing it would take several weeks to assess, as many of the species breed underground or in rocky crevices where it would be difficult to see what damage is being done.
Are you kidding me? Several weeks for an impact assessment? Does that strike anyone else as a bit over the top?
Likely translation: He tried to shake the movie company down for a few weeks worth of work rather than a day or two, and they told him to piss off, then contacted someone more reasonably inclined. They obviously got the permits, meaning that someone was able to do the work in just a few days. And why the hell should he be allowed on the island after what he tried to pull? The fact that he's blabbing to the press and causing trouble for them now shows they were probably right to snub him.
Re:Today I Learnt that... (Score:3, Insightful)
They're not *that* common (as evidenced by the fact their habitat needs protecting). I'm sure I would have heard of them if I were a bird-watcher or maybe if I lived near the ocean. But chiding someone far outside of their habitat for not being familiar with them is kind of like chiding someone far outside of cattle country for not knowing the difference between a Milking Devon and a Dutch Belted.
...compared to the power of ACTING!! (Score:4, Insightful)
The power to destroy a habitat is nothing next to the power of Money.
One must really wonder what is so special about this location, that they A) feel the need to risk damage to the habitats to film, and B) could not be reproduced in a green screen environment like they do everything else.
Excessive use of green screen likely helped Episodes 1-3 be so terrible- wooden acting being one of the many problems. An actor's performance can only be improved by actually being in the environment their character is supposed to be in.
Re:Quote from the article (Score:5, Insightful)
Film crews can be pretty destructive.
This is about people wanting what is happening on the island to be transparent, like it should be.
"Are you kidding me?"
No.
" Several weeks for an impact assessment?"
Yes.
" Does that strike anyone else as a bit over the top?"
Not really. OTOH, I know what is involved in an impact assessment, where you clearly do not.
I will note that I've never been to this island. So maybe there is some geological reason you are aware of when you where surveying the island...?
He is an expert in the species, and wants to be sure their disturbance is a minimal one.
ob. Star Wars joke:
Bleep, booop beedadbee blooeeeuuup.
That really cracked them up in the droid factory.
Re:Who owns the island? (Score:4, Insightful)
There's a difference in believing in private property, which most people in liberal democratic countries do, versus belieiving that private property makes you lord and master over every square inch of it (puffins be damned!). There is always some community responsibility involved everywhere, unless and until someone manages to live somewhere with no community and has no effects on anyone else. So even if this island was private property there are still large community effects involved (this is usually countered by the notion that economic benefits are far more important than environmental harm, maybe by saying something silly like "people are more important than birds!").