Join us on this page for our production diary, all throughout the making of our films. Track our productions and watch, step by step, how ideas come to life on screen.

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	The Idea Behind the Film The film will follow a number of top scientists who are working on revolutionary new theories about volcanic eruptions. The film will be a mix of investigation and adventure. It will focus on a brand new wave of science that has come just in time. If any of these theories are proved right, they could help forecast volcanic activity and save lives around the globe. In one part of the film, we will be shooting on one of the biggest natural volcanic sets on the planet, Montserrat, where there is a volcano that is still very active. It is probably one of the most beautiful settings to film volcanic eruptions. The Scientific Theories There is a group of scientists that believe, that like the ocean tides, some volcanoes are somehow influenced by the pull of lunar gravity, and that phases of the moon may actually trigger volcanic eruptions. This is a theory that has been around for many many years but now scientists are creating a database to see if the theory can be proven. Another group of scientists believe that a build up in the levels of water vapor inside the magma chamber may cause the deadliest of all the types of volcanic eruptions - the lethal outpouring of superheated rocks and gasses - which is known as pyroclastic flow. There is another theory that looks at distant earthquakes, up to 600 miles away from a volcano, and examines the possibility that these earthquakes might trigger violent eruptions. The last theory is how sound could help us predict eruptions. A group of scientists from Hawaii believe that a change of infrasonic sound waves, with extra low frequency rumbles, might be the most accurate predictor of eruptions for certain types of volcanoes. Testing the Theories All our scientists will be using state of the art tools in their ground breaking work. For example a web of computers linked to tiltmeters will define tiny shifts in the slope of the volcanoes where we will be working. High tech sensors will gauge vibrations, measure bulges in the volcanic walls and calibrate shifts in the levels of gas or electrical and magnetic activities. Filming Our filming will begin in Montserrat in mid May, in the shadow of the 'Soufriere Hills' volcano.

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	The Idea Behind the Film This is the second part of our detective story on the Iceman. Now that we know he was murdered, the question is, who did it... and why? The story begins with a new discovery surrounding the Iceman’s death, which was triggered by our first film. During one of the last shoots, like real life detectives, we decided to reconstruct the scene of the crime. For the first time ever, we organized a meeting between the forensic pathologist Eduard Egarter, who is working to solve the mystery of the Iceman’s death, and Alois Pirpimer, one of the first people to discover the mummy, 12,000 feet up on the Similaun Peak. During this sequence, Pirpimer revealed, for the first time, that the Iceman was clenching a dagger in his hand. If this could be scientifically proved, it would tell us a lot about the circumstances surrounding the death of the Iceman. This is the starting point for our new film as we try to identify Otzi’s killer. The Timetable The first step of this new research will happen by mid-March 2002. And we’ll be there to capture it on camera. Eduard Egarter hopes to measure the dagger, checking the dimensions of the handle to see if it fits inside the mummified hand of the Iceman, still frozen in the clasped position as it was 5300 years ago... to confirm that the Iceman was in fact clasping a dagger in his hand in his dying moments... Of course, the investigation is just beginning. There will be many new findings in the months to come. We’ll be there to catch these moments on film.... And we’ll be posting updates on these pages with all the exciting developments.

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