Spanish Galleon sails at Glendalough

The picturesque village of Glendalough was transformed this week into a scene from by-gone days of pirates and full-sail pirate ships. One could be forgiven for thinking you‘d had been transported back in time. The scene, however is that of the set for a television commercial being filmed at present at the Upper Lake in Glendlough.

Headquarters Production Company, from the USA, have spent the last 5 weeks in Ireland filming commercials for the American Credit Card company ’Capital One’. The first commercial was filmed at Carton House, near Maynooth, Co.Kildare. Glendalough was chosen as the setting for the second commercial because of its immense beauty and unspoilt scenery.

The Pirate ship at Glendalough

The premise for the advertisement is that Capital One Credit Card Company will not charge interest until next May. The competition, all other credit card companies, are the evil villains, in this instance the pirates who attack from the nearby Spanish Galleon.

The production company has spent the last 5 weeks in Ireland planning, constructing the sets and filming the commercials, which will be aired only in the USA. “The commercials will be of 30 and 60 second duration,” says Kati Haverstock, the producer. Up to 225 people have been involved in the production of the commercials. These include the director, David Cornell and the production designer, Vance Loenzini, from Headquarters Production Company. According to Kait Haverstock, the Irish production company Nomad, headed by producer Brian Rafferty, has been working on the production of the commercial. “We try to use, where possible, all local production companies” says Haverstock.

Behind the Scenes

The cast of the commercial includes 6 principle actors and 50 background actors. The extras are employed mainly from re-enactment groups, army personnel and local people. The star of the show, however, has to be the Pirate Ship which was built by master ship builder Michael Kennedy from Kilmore in Wexford. According to Michael the ship was modeled on a replica model which he built in Virginia, USA in 1990. He was assisted in constructing this “half Spanish Galleon, half catamaran” by a crew of 18. Using 1.5 tonnes of steel, a 40 foot mast, and 900 sq feet of sail, they constructed the ship at Tyrell’s on the North Quay in Arklow. It was then dismantled, transported to Glendalough and reconstructed in the Upper Lake. With force 6 and 7 winds blowing down the lake, driving rain and a deadline, erecting the ship was far from simple, according to Michael. They used buoyancy pods to stabilize the boat for added security. A mock-up gun deck was also constructed on the boat, to facilitate filming from the boat back to shore. This very unusual project, according to Michael, took about 3 weeks to complete.

The entire set, which took about 3 weeks to build, will be dismantled in 4 days. A lot of work for 60 seconds of television