Favorite Foto Fridays - Hogwarts

On my tour of "The Making of Harry Potter" in London last year, one of the impressive exhibits was the scale model of Hogwarts, which was used by filmmakers to get the views of the castle/school for several of the films.  The detail was extraordinary.

The lights in the display room were on a continuous rotation, to allow the castle to also be seen "at night." I am not as good at dark photos, but here's one I tried. It was fun to be able to walk all around the school and see the structure from so many angles.

Harry Potter Tour Pt 4 - Animatronics

After a very long break, I've decided to get back to my series of posts with photos from "The Making of Harry Potter" tour in London.  First we did costumes.  Then props.  Last time, sets.  This time, animatronics.

"Animatronics?" you ask?  Yep, the electronic devices which are used to create animation when CGI is not used.  "Moving Models."  OK, well sometimes the models were not obviously capable of motion, but they were more than just make-up on an actor, and they were also not computer generated.  Let's get started and you'll see what I mean.


The Head of the Basilisk

Harry has to fight this monster in the second movie.  The head looms above the heads of visitors (with other scary creatures!)




Dumbledore's Cursed Hand (s)

Here is an example of animatronics which were clearly used rather than using make-up alone.  Note the progression of the curse from left to right.





The Monster Book of Monsters (and Dobby)

I took this photo of the famously living textbooks, and it wasn't until I saw the photo later than I got spooked by seeing Dobby staring at me so intently over the stack.  His head in the animatronics shop shows that Dobby was not simply CGI.  Though he was famously played by a little ball in filming some scenes, a physical manifestation was needed at times.




The Werewolf Apparatus

Even more clearly than Dumbledore's hand, this display shows how animatronics were used by actors.  The photo is not quite what I would have liked, but even with the flash reflection, you can see the apparatus which sat on top of an actor's shoulders to make the tall werewolf come to life.





Hagrid's Head

One of the eeriest moments I had on the tour was when I saw Robbie Coltrane's severed head hanging on the wall.  I am not sure when they needed this, but it was incredibly lifelike.




The Floating Friends?

Though I didn't directly think about it when watching the movie, I would have guessed that the friends found floating in the lake in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" would have been the actual actors, made up.  Not so, it appears.  There is Hermione, looking very petrified and ready to float. Then again, was Draco floating there?  I don't think so.  So, why did the filmakers need a version of him?  Maye they just didn't like him?  Well, the display is cool, anyway.




Dying Voldemort

I've already talked about some creepy things in this part of the tour.  None were creepier than this.  In the final film, we see this wretched form as Harry talks with his mentor between worlds.  Now, this figure is icky on its own.  To make it even better, there is a button you can push on the display case, and when you do, the thing moves.  So cool!




Buckbeak
The biggest moving animatronic in the tour, though, is the hippogriff, Buckbeak.  One of the DVD extras I enjoyed from "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkhaban" showed how the filmmakers brought this mythical creature to the screen.  In the tour, you could see Buckbeak in action.  And it was timed to react to a video tour which was going on throughout the animatronics exhibit, narrated by Warwick Davis.




Anything Else?

Well, sure.  But I don't want to spoil it for you.  You should go see this if you get the chance.

Harry Potter Tour Pt 3 - Sets

Here's the third in my series of posts to show how much fun I had at "The Making of Harry Potter" tour in London.  First we did costumes.  Then props.  This time, sets. 

Most of the first part of the tour takes visitors past many of the iconic sets in the films.  I can only show you a few.

 Let's get started.




The Great Hall - In the Costumes post, I showed the front of the Great Hall.  Here is the view back towards the entrance. Notice, of course, that there is no ceiling, since the ceiling is a magical view of the sky, so that needs to be added with CG.



Harry's Cupboard Under the Stairs - One of the first sets we saw in the series, is the set they have outside the tour area. I have a closer view, but for this entry I wanted to show the actual stairway.



Harry's House on Privet Drive - But the very first scene in the very first film took place outside Harry's house.  Some of the sets are in an outdoor area, including the exterior of the Dursley's house.



The Gryffindor Common Room - I was absolutely amazed how small these sets were. When seen on film, the framing is done so well that we really believe that there is a lot more space in a room than is really in the set. It was particularly noticeable in the Gryffindor Common Room, though this photo does not show it well.



The Burrow - Perhaps you get a better feel for the "smallness" with the Burrow.



Hagrid's Hut - Maybe the best way to see how small some of the sets are is to see Hagrid's hut from the outside.



Harry's Bed - but here's a little story about "smallness" and the sets. This is the bedroom, and the bed, in which Harry slept. This bed stayed the same throughout the films, so while the boys fit in their beds when they first started using them, by the time they reached the sixth film, their feet were well off the ends of the beds.



Dumbledore's Office - one of the sets that really did have some space was Professor Dumbledore's office.



Hogwarts Bridge - I had one of the workers (who are all dressed in House robes) take a photo of me on the Howart's Bridge.




So there we have it - a sampling of the sets and the photos I took of them.  But before we go, one of the things I learned about one of the sets:

 Hogwarts Bridge Sign -










Delores Umbridge's Office: Bonus photo for those who look this far! How Pink!














Diagon Alley: Bonus bonus photo for those who kept going.

Harry Potter Tour Pt 2 - Props

Here's my second post about the tour of The Making of Harry Potter at the Warner Brothers Studio in London.  Last time, I posted some of the costumes I saw on the tour.  This post will be dedicated to the props.

 I'll have a couple of points to make about these props -- aspects which impressed me as I saw them.  But the most important part of the post is the photos.


Tom Riddle's Diary:  All of the Horcruxes are on display.  I chose to put this photo in, because I like the added detail of having the basilisk's fang right next to it.



Remembrall and Time-Turner: Perhaps my favorite magical item in the books and movies is the Time-Turner.  And how many times have I wished I had a Remembrall to help me.  Think young wizards need these?  How about old programmers?



Golden Snitch: "Harry's First Golden Snitch" is on display.  But, really, it's the one they used in the final film.  Perhaps it is also the one they used in the first film, but that's not how they label it.  Still, it's very pretty!



The Maurauder's Map: While all the props above certainly demonstrate the detailed construction of the props, this map was particularly impressive to me.  Look at the sculptural element of the stairway.  Cool!



O.W.L. Exam - Part 1: In the fifth movie, we get to see the student's take an exam which affects their future in Hogwart's. That exam is sitting on a desk in the Great Hall. Again, look at the interesting construction - it's not like a Muggle test!




O.W.L. Exam - part 2: But now let's look more closely at the exam.  As you'll notice, (and you can see it even better if you click on the photo and then look at a very big version of it) the test is not just a bunch of nonsense letters.  The filmmakers actually created "real" questions which might have been on an exam.  This demonstrates another aspect of the props I saw -- even if they would never get any close up screen time, the details were there!  As audience members, we would never see them, but the actors did, and the



Looney Noney comic: OK, to demonstrate the point above, I show you a close-up photo of a prop that I bet no one watching the movies every noticed.  Here's a comic strip called Looney Noney v.s. Cornish Pixie.  Where was it?  Why was it there? See the next photo.



Gryffindor Common Room: That's the comic right there, next to the well-worn couch in the Gryffindor Common Room. Next time I post about this tour, I'll show some more photos of the sets.


Wizard's Chess Pieces: And finally, I just could not finish this post without a photo of the Wizard's Chess pieces from the end of the first movie.



Next time -- sets!

Harry Potter Tour Pt 1 - Costumes

I recently took a short trip to England, and while I was there, I took the recommendation of a friend (thanks, Mike P) and toured The Making of Harry Potter at the Warner Brothers Studio in London.  The tour is a must-see for any Harry Potter fan.  You will see many of the actual sets, costumes, props and animatronics used in the films.  You also get to view models and concept drawings, as well as videos with commentary from cast & crew.

So, of course, I took photos.

I'm going to be posting some of those photos over a series of blog posts.  I've decided to collect them in groups.  Today in honor of my apparel designer wife: costumes.

Harry Potter - Year 1:  The first room on the tour is the Great Hall of Hogwarts, and it contains some of the most iconic costumes.  Here is the set of robes and hat worn by Harry in his first year at Hogwarts.



Hufflepuff, including Cedric Diggory: Each of the Houses has a set of costumes on display.  Here are some of the Hufflepuff costumes, including the one worn by Cedric at the end of Goblet of Fire.



The Teachers: Before we leave the Great Hall, let's take a quick look at the costumes from the teachers at the front.



Yule Ball: Harry began to look like a young man, and Hermione like a beautiful young woman, at the Yule Ball in the fourth film.



Fleur Delacour: the costuming in Goblet of Fire was amazing.  Fleur and her classmates looked like fairy princesses.



The Order of the Phoenix: Harry ends up meeting some excellent adults who have the same goal as he has - the defeat of Voldemort. These costumes are meant for action, but not in a comic book sense.


Horace Slughorn:  In one of the sets, the Potions Classroom, Professor Slughorn's costume is right at home.



Umbridge and Pink: One of the coolest parts of seeing the costumes was seeing how instrumental the costumes were in developing and supporting the character of Delores Umbridge. See the costumes, then see the note.


... and the description ...



The Three Heroes: I'll wrap it up with these: from the last two films, Harry, Ron and Hermione were on the run.


There are more, of course, but I've selected most of the best.  Seeing these up close was one of many highlights of the tour.