Warner Brothers Studio Tour ~ The Making of Harry Potter
The Harry Potter franchise may have drawn to a close, but Warner Brothers was not about to let the scrawny boy wizard fade away just yet. The latest "money-maker" is the Harry Potter Studio Tour, offering fans a behind the scenes look at how the films were made. And there's no doubting that Potter aficionados will love what they see here, because it is the real deal.
The only real disappointment comes as you approach the studios. Mainly because when you've got an image in your mind of the Hogwarts' fairytale spires, pulling up outside an aircraft hanger destroys a little bit of the magic.
Here are the sets, props and costumes that appeared in the movies. Visitors can wander down the cobblestone streets of Diagon Alley, inspect the table settings in the Great Hall at Hogwarts, gaze at the bookshelves in Dumbledore's office, and peer through the windows of number four Privet Drive. Hagrid's motorcycle, Harry's broomstick, Hermione's cloak are all present, and they look as wonderful up close as they did on the screen.
*When it comes to the sets, you can look but not touch. The rooms are roped off, so there's no chance of sitting in on Harry's dorm room or settling into Hagrid's hut. But this is also to help preserve the sets and props for everyone to enjoy now and in the future.
One of the few interactive activities is the green screen room, where you can have your go at riding a broomstick as the streets of London fly behind you. However photos cost about £12.
The main highlight - "which drew gasps from the young fans" - is the model of Hogwarts. Built to 1:24 scale, it was used as the exterior shots for all 8 films. The attention to detail is phenomenal! It sits at nearly 50ft in diameter, and has about 3,000 fiber optic lights fitted inside and are turned on as the night sky appears. It helped stimulate lanterns and torches to help give the illusion of students passing through the hallways in the films. It took them six months to build and is a testament to the incredible skill of the production designers.
**More facts on it: It took 86 artists and crew members to construct the first version which was then rebuilt and altered for the next 7 films. The work was so extensive that if you were to add all the man hours that have gone into building and reworking the model, it would come to over 74 years! This model was used for aerial photography, and was digitally scanned for the CGI scenes. It is our image of the legendary Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
*** "An amazing amount of detail went into the making of the model: all the doors are hinged, real plants are used for landscaping and miniature birds are housed in the Owlery. To make the model appear even more realistic, artists rebuilt miniature versions of the courtyards from Alnwick Castle and Durham Cathedral, where scenes from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
™ were shot."***
See here for more photos from the Sneak Preview opening:
Telegraph Article.
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| The Large Chess Pieces |
~ Gift Shop
The gift shop was amazing! It was all decked out with some of the extra props and divided into different categories. The clothing and other merchandise was separated by the houses and also general Hogwarts stuff. There was also a Quidditch, animals, books, and our favorite the assorted candy section. However, its all very expensive..the cheapest thing was some small candies for £3 or a key chain for £7. So sad.
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| A large Chocolate Frog |
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| Plastic toy broomsticks (£20) |
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| Me and Fawkes the Phoenix |
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| The Stained Glass from HP4 |
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| Harry and Ron's Trolleys from HP1 |
While waiting in line, there is one set you get to see before they lead you into a cinema room. And of course its amazing, but yet you really don't think the cupboard under the stairs is that small...
Poor Harry.
~The Great Hall
So they lead you into this movie theater with the most comfortable chairs in the world and watch a short introductory film about the studio. (Commentary from the lovely Emma, Daniel, and Rupert). It ends with them entering the Great Hall, asking for us to join them. And that's when the screen rises and reveals the entrance to the Great Hall. It was amazing!
The Great Hall itself seems small at first, but you still can't help but be in awe at the detail put into it. You walk down the middle, just like Harry at the beginning of the series, and the feeling is indescribable (true fans understand).
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| Harry's first set of robes |
There are actually two buildings, Studio J and Studio K, and if you guessed...yes they are in honor of J.K. Rowling.
**These studios are not located where the films were actually shot, but rather on the same property. (Since they are now in use for other films) These buildings were made for the studio tours purposes and now just house the props and sets from the series.
~ Studio J
The first building is full of props and sets, and ranging from the first to the last movies. Some of the sets include the boy's dormitories and common room in Gryffindor Tower, The Burrow, Dumbledore's Office, Hagrid's Hut, Potions Classroom, Ministry of Magic, Umbridge's Office, and Quidditch.
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| The Floating Candles from Great Hall (HP1) |
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| The Enchanted Ceiling of Great Hall |
To create the illusion of the floating candles for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,
every “candle” consisted of a candle-shaped tube filled with spirit oil and
topped with a wick. Each candle was suspended by a tungsten wire from a
motorized rig, which was digitally removed during post-production. However,
during the first days of filming candles burned through the wire and fell onto
the tables. For the safety of the actors, the producers wisely decided to cut
most of the rigs and create the illusion with digital effects instead.
Production designer Stuart Craig believes half of the Great
Hall experience is contained within its magical ceiling, though the actual set
of the Great Hall never had one. Instead the room was exposed to the lighting
fixtures and rafters of the soundstage. The only “real” ceiling ever built was
this 1:8 scale model. This model is one part of what is known as an in-camera matte, a technique in which
the camera aligns perfectly with the set and the model to make the room appear
complete. Later, the ceiling’s magical swirling clouds and twinkling stars were
created with computers during post-production.
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| Ron's dress robes from HP4 |
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| The rest of the cast's dress robes |
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| The Yule Ball ice sculpture |
It was funny, we would just finish looking at something from the first movie, and next to it, we had jumped to the fourth, and then came back to the third movie for another prop. They were everywhere, and unless you know your movies and books, you could be pretty lost.
Now below are the wigs from various actors and actresses.
Besides the makeup, fake teeth, and wigs, there was also the actual costumes scattered throughout the studio. They were also labeled from which movie, or even what day or scene they were used in.
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| Luna and Lockhart dresses and robes |
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| Tags showing what days they were just on |
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| Fleur (HP4) and Harry (HP7pt2) |
Next to this was the ladder and ordinances from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. and right next to this was the gates to Hogwarts used in the final film (I believe, because I don't recall seeing them in the third or any other movie).
From here the next thing we saw was the sets of Gryffindor Tower. Yup from the Gates of Hogwarts we skip pass the Great Hall, moving staircases, any thing else along the way and end up directly in the boys' dormitory. (Yes even the doors to Hogwarts are on the other side of the building...)
The Gryffindor common room and boys’ dormitory were actually
built as two connected sets. This staircase spirals up to a hallway that, in
one direction led to the boys’ dormitory set. In the other direction, a doorway
simply drops off to nowhere.
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| The Gryffindor Common Room |
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Worn in Harry Potter and the Prisoner
of Azkaban |
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| The Invisibility Cloak |
After the common room is a wall with all the wands, the original fat lady portrait (to enter the Gryffindor Tower), and the Mirror of Erised.
And a few more costumes from the earlier films.
From here we realized we hadn't even looked to see what was behind us, we were just following the outer exhibits. In the "middle" or at least in a big section behind us was a fenced off area of various props.
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| Signs from Hogsmeade |
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| Desks and Benches |
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| The Skele-gro from HP2 |
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| Triwizard Tournament HP4 |
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| Various extra's wands |
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| Triwizard Cup and Egg hint |
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| HP4 |
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| Special objects from all the films |
From here we turned back around, and entered a whole new tower: the main one.
Dumbledore’s office, located high in the main Hogwarts
tower, was accessible by this magically spiraling griffin stairwell. Two versions
of the beautifully sculpted stairs were created, including the static model we
saw. A second fully-functioning version, seen in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, proved to be one of the
Special Effects Department’s most challenging tasks, as it required one of the
most complicated devices ever built. The moving stairs were submerged in a 12
foot deep hole in the stage floor, along with the mechanics that controlled
their up and down movement.
Dumbledore's office was indescribable. It was exactly as you imagine it to be, but just a little bit smaller. haha those darn cameras...but everything's there right down to the Sorting Hat up on its shelf and the Gryffindor sword on his desk.
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| The Pensieve |
From here it was just a bunch of random objects until the other large sets.
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| The Chest Mad-Eye Moody was trapped in HP4 |
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| Part of the Clock in HP5 |
This it the legendary Hogwarts doors....not kidding.
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| (movie magic...its good) |
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| Lupin's chest |
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| Chamber of Secrets door and Gringotts vault door |
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| Marble Staircase |
The Special Effects Department built this staircase to film
in scenes featuring Hogwarts’ many moving staircases. These scenes were created
first by filming actors on this set, against a greenscreen backdrop. Then,
visual effects artists digitally combined the greenscreen footage with
additional shots of a detailed miniature of the stairwell, dressed with
hundreds of tiny paintings.
Hagrid's Hut. This set was actually built in two different scales. The larger scale set that we saw was used to correctly film characters of "regular" size. A smaller scale set, replete with smaller-sized props, was also built to make Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) seem much larger.
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| Potions Classroom |
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| Wall of Portraits |
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| Quidditch Robes |
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| Test your flying skills |
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| The Burrow |
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Welcome to Ministry
of Magic |
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| Umbridge's Office, so freakin' pink.. |
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| Malfoy Manor, HP7 |
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| Various statues from all films |
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| Black Family Tree |
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| Ministry main hall |
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| Ministry Offices |
And from here, we go outside...for part II :)
But first, here is a video from all the footage Charla and I took at Warner Bros Studio London.
Harry Potter Studio Tour Leavesden
~ Gift Shop 
There are actually two buildings, Studio J and Studio K, and if you guessed...yes they are in honor of J.K. Rowling.
It was funny, we would just finish looking at something from the first movie, and next to it, we had jumped to the fourth, and then came back to the third movie for another prop. They were everywhere, and unless you know your movies and books, you could be pretty lost.
This it the legendary Hogwarts doors....not kidding.
The only real disappointment comes as you approach the studios. Mainly because when you've got an image in your mind of the Hogwarts' fairytale spires, pulling up outside an aircraft hanger destroys a little bit of the magic.
So they lead you into this movie theater with the most comfortable chairs in the world and watch a short introductory film about the studio. (Commentary from the lovely Emma, Daniel, and Rupert). It ends with them entering the Great Hall, asking for us to join them. And that's when the screen rises and reveals the entrance to the Great Hall. It was amazing!
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