The July 15 debut of the final Harry Potter film signalled the end of an era for many Potter fans, but marked the beginning of new opportunities for a small Ottawa software company.
Exocortex Technologies Inc., the brainchild of Carleton graduate Ben Houston, was responsible for designing the fluid simulator technology used to create the Pensieve, or memory pool, for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II.
Houston said he hopes the project will heighten the reputation of his company.
“Of course working with such a high-profile movie is a great opportunity,” Houston said. “It should help our business going forward.”
Houston was contacted by a Hollywood effects company in February about creating a fluid simulator for what’s expected to be one of the biggest box office hits of 2011. He said he was so thrilled about receiving the call that he started working on designs immediately and had tests ready to send out that same night.
“I was pretty excited,” Houston recalled.
It was a sentiment shared by colleagues Stefan Xenos, another Carleton graduate, and Jamie Madill, a master’s student at the university. The Pensieve software would be the crew’s first big movie break since the company was founded in 2005.
Potter fans know the Pensieve as a basin in which fluid-like memories are stored and viewed. In the last film, the Pensieve is used to convey essential information to Harry as he readies himself to face the dark Lord Voldemort in a final battle.
“It is a scene which most fans will be waiting for,” said Mars Nienhuis, a second-year Carleton law student and self-professed Harry Potter fan.
