The Magical World of Harry Potter

To all readers who are intending to visit the Harry Potter Studio Tour in London, please be warned that this entry will be a bit of a spoiler because I’ll be sharing what I saw and learnt from the tour, and what I really liked about it.

After going for the Harry Potter Studio Tour, I left with a new sense of appreciation and admiration for the production team behind the films, and a sense of warmth knowing that the production process provided a platform to bring people together – people from different backgrounds, talents and skills to offer, but who grow to become a family through making the magical world of Harry Potter come alive.

I learnt about the different teams that made up the production crew – there was production design, set decoration, cinematography, art direction, hair & makeup, costume design, set construction, props, special effects, visual effects and graphics (not sure if I missed out any but this was what I got), all of which with different roles and responsibilities. The exhibition also explained what each department does and quoted some of the team members, which I loved because they provided insight about the significance of each team’s work and highlighted what they enjoyed about working on the Harry Potter productions.

“What starts off as words on paper becomes the images that we conjure up.” – Roger Patt, Cinematographer, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

“It was like being a mum and a best friend. We became involved in all aspects of the actors’ lives.” – Amanda Knight, Makeup Designer

“There’s no costume without a character.” – Jamie Temime, Costume Designer

Shades of Pink – Dolores Umbridge’s wardrobe got progressively pinker as
she gained more power at the Ministry of Magic, hahaha.

“Every day was a different challenge, but everything the art department came up with, we achieved. It was just brilliant.” – Paul Hayes, Construction Manager

Gryffindor Common Room – because of its incredible detail, the set took almost three months to complete. The common room walls were hung with reproductions of the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries, and they were chosen for their medieval look and prominent use of the Gryffindor colours, scarlet and gold.

“Since the first film, the standards have stayed the same. Every set we’re proud of because they’re just brilliant.” – Barry Wilkinson, Property Master (props) (oh I learnt something new – props is short for property. Never knew!)

This is the Goblet of Fire! Apparently, the production designer originally imagined the Goblet of Fire as a small metal cup, cast with dozens of tiny jewels around it, but after further consideration, the goblet became large, wooden and very organic. The sign says that this final version was hand-carved from the trunk of an English Elm, and stands over five feet tall (equals approx. 1.52 metres). The sign also quoted from the book, “Dumbledore reached inside it, and pulled out a large, roughly hewn wooden cup. It would have been entirely unremarkable, had it not been full to the brim with dancing, blue-white flames.”
It’s really cool how the production team tries to recreate things from the book, and also how detailed J.K. Rowling’s imagination was.

Snape’s dungeon where potions class took place

The Portraits of Hogwarts – the sign says that there are nearly 350 enchanted portraits honouring centuries-old wizards and witches, and that as a tribute, many of the film’s crew were given the opportunity to be immortalized in some of these hand-painted portraits throughout the castle.
Such a thoughtful, clever touch!

There were animal actors! Apparently some of the kittens went on to be domestic pets and their new owners were unaware of their famous origins, awman haha.

“This was a graphic designer’s dream: an extraordinary opportunity to be creative.” – Miraphora Mina and Eduaro Lima, Graphic Designers

I read from the sign that the Graphics Department ‘wizardized’ the Muggle world to create a style that will be always remembered as distinctly ‘Harry Potter’, through school books, boxes of sweets, newspapers and even the Hogwarts school crest, and that the team printed everything from Gryffindor banners to Cheeri-Owls cereal boxes. I liked the idea of creating something from scratch, because of the thought and intention that can be put into the process.

White-card models are smaller versions of the actual sets, which help the director and production designer look at the size and scale and determine camera angles. To plan shots and camera movement, a tiny camera (called a lipstick camera) would be inserted into the model to get a perfect point of view.

The picture above shows a part of a huge model of Hogwarts, which was very cool. The sign says that the Model-Making Department constructed many of the wizarding world’s most iconic locales as picture models, or perfect miniatures of the on-camera sets. Their full-colour, hand-painted models were crafted with the tiniest details, including foliage, stained glass and working lights (as seen in the picture above). So all the footage showing Hogwarts castle in the films – they are actually clips from cameras filming these miniature models – I never knew! But it’s cool because the crew could create a Hogwarts castle based on what they wanted it to turn out like, instead of filming a castle that really exists in the world, which might not fully fit J.K. Rowling’s description of the castle as in her books. Along with Hogwarts castle, the talented crew also built miniatures of Hogsmeade village, the Owlery and the Weasley Burrow.

Besides what I described above, there were also the outdoor sets exhibiting Privet Drive, the Knight Bus, and a booth selling Butterbeer, and of course much more that I did not cover. We had a good time at the Studio Shop as well, pretending to be wizards for a day.

After touring the studios, I was just thinking - if we had already felt so proud of CAPT Musical for all the hard work and effort put into making and showcasing Beauty World, how much more would this team feel from seeing everything come together? I think the Harry Potter movie productions are a brilliant showcase of a result of teamwork, as with every other production.

I realized that the Harry Potter films aren’t just about how adorable Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson or Rupert Grint were when they were young, nor how pretty and smart Emma Watson is, nor how the films are being criticized that they don’t do justice to the books – it’s not just about what we see and hear on screen.

It’s much more than that – this series of movies are a culmination of the time, thought, sweat, hard work, effort, dedication and heart put into by many people who (I would think) proudly call themselves part of the production team.

Hats off to the production team, and I’m glad that the Studios are present to give much deserved credit to all the people who were a part of this elaborate production, and at the same time enlighten those outside the movie industry about the detail that goes on behind the scenes and how magic could, and did, come alive. :)