If you’re in Sydney Harbour and Circular over the next couple of evenings, you might spot something a little bit eerie off in the distance. Don’t be alarmed.
It’s just a ghost ship. Nothing serious.
The ghostly illusion is part of the hype campaign for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, and having seen it in person already — it is legitimately freaky. If you’re anywhere around the harbour over the next few nights, you’ll be able to spot it in a bunch of different places. We spotted this particular ghost ship a few days ago while it was testing out at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair, and the way the effect is created is actually really cool.
The tech that Disney is using to actually create the ghost ship is new to Australia, and we were just lucky enough to stumble on to it in testing. The illusion, built by Australian visual effects crew Electric Canvas — the team that also worked on one of the early Vivid Sydney installations a few years ago — uses two boats. One sprays a fine mist of water from a cannon on its bow, while the other uses a bright projector to shine the image of the ghost ship that you’ll actually see.
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Over the next three nights, Disney has tasked the ghost ship to circle Sydney Harbour to build a bit of hype for the latest Pirates flick, which comes out in Australia on May 25.
Want to see it? The Pirates ship will set sail from the southern side of the Harbour Bridge, Disney says, at Walsh Bay at around 7:15PM. It’ll then swing around past the Opera House and Mrs Macquarie’s Point at around 7:30PM, and then out to Watson’s Bay at 8:20PM before coming back past Cremorne Point at 8:40PM. It’ll then end up at Luna Park on the north side of the Harbour at 8:50PM, before doing another shorter lap around the same route starting at 9PM.
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2017/05/there-was-a-goddamn-ghost-ship-on-sydney-harbour-bridge-last-night/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Untitled-410×231.png” title=”Sydney Harbour Was Invaded By A Goddamn Ghost Ship Last Night” excerpt=”Jesus H. Christ, what the hell is this thing? It appeared in Sydney Harbour last night and freaked a bunch of people out.”]
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2011/06/turning-on-the-lights-how-customs-house-was-turned-into-a-digital-piece-of-art/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/E_Vivid25_05_11_028-410×231.jpg” title=”Turning On The Lights – How Customs House Was Turned Into A Digital Piece Of Art” excerpt=”If you’ve been in Sydney’s Circular Quay after dark over the past couple of weeks, you would have noticed the spectacular lightshow that’s transformed Customs House and the Opera House from architectural icons to digital canvases as part of the Vivid Sydney festival. But what actually goes into creating a show like that? We spoke to Peter Milne from The Electric Canvas, the company that created the light production.”]