Film studios blaze explained - planned fire got wilder than expected

The last scene of a Japanese film being shot at the Mediterranean Film Studios in Rinella turned sour on Thursday evening when a planned fire got wilder than expected but ended up giving the director better shots than he had hoped for.

The fire, which destroyed most of the wooden set and damaged some equipment, broke out when the last scene of Clouds Above The Slope was being shot just after 8 p.m.

The parts being shot in Malta involved explosions and a fire on a warship, which starts sinking as sailors engulfed in flames fall into the rough sea. It was a re-enactment of the Battle of Tsushima, 104 years after it happened.

Since January, the studios has engaged a local engineering company and 40 craftsmen to build two life-size ship sections and a 600 square metre metal structure with hydraulic pistons for the sinking effect of the ship.

Cornelia Azzopardi-Schellmann, the studio manager at the Mediterranean Film Studios, said the fire was planned as part of the film's grand finale but "it turned out to be grander than we expected".

She said that since the fire was planned, the film producers and the studios had prepared themselves for any eventuality and had fire engines and nurses on site just in case.

The fire was fuelled using propane gas with no-return valves so the gas supply could be cut off instantly should the need arise.

Ms Azzopardi-Schellmann said the director "said ‘cut' a bit too late" but commented that he had got "great footage... better than he expected".

She said the flames were scary because, although the set looked like it was made of metal, it was actually made of wood and the fire spread quickly across the warship. The set was meant to be dismantled after the shooting of the last scene.

Ms Azzopardi-Schellmann said that, although some equipment belonging to the film studios seemed to have been damaged in the fire, the extent of the damage was still being evaluated.

No one was injured in the incident which required the intervention of three fire engines to control the blaze.

The 13-day shoot was spread over a three-week period with a budget of €2 million.

The film is a production of NHK, Japan's national public broadcasting organisation.