I went to visit the Harry Potter Studio tour for my sisters birthday. This is the real set where the cast and crew filmed many of the scenes of the movies and is not a universal studios recreation. We were able to walk around and see all of fans favourite props, costumes and sets into a glorious exhibition.
First, you are led into a dark room with lots of screens and you are shown a quick film about Potter’s history. My emotional rollercoaster started here as I was filled with fond, childhood memories. After this brief introduction, you are led into another room with a bigger screen, much like a cinema, and played another video- There are interviews with the cast, the crew, the directors, the author herself and lots of behind the scenes footage.
Leading off from the Grand Hall there is a spectacular show of the vehicles and bigger props used in the films and they are shown hanging from the ceiling next to a large screen. On here they show you exactly how this prop was used in the film and how special effects were used to make it realistic. This video shows you the extraordinary number of special effects that went into making these films. They even showed you how in one scene, Daniel Radcliffe was filmed walking on a treadmill in front of a green screen, but on film, this was magically transformed into Harry walking through the snow at Godric’s Hollow. It is absolutely incredible to see the transition from what was actually filmed and what we see on screen.
One of my favourite parts of the tour was the train track where you get to sit on the train and feel like you are on a journey to Hogwarts. This will help me with my discovery into set design as actually having the opportunity to be part of the set allowed me to see how a set compares from what we see in person to what we see on the screen. There is also a fantastic costume display to accompany each set and you can see clothes from all of the movies and see how the characters have grown!
The very last room of the tour is the most spectacular of them all- It features a 1:24 model of Hogwarts Castle, I was completely overwhelmed. Everything was perfectly handcrafted to scale and real gravel and plants were used to for the landscaping. I discovered that there are more than 300 fibre optic lights installed and these stimulate torches and lanterns to give the illusion of students walking down the hallways. It is the crown jewel of the Harry Potter art department and it took a team of 86 people to construct the first version. Footage of this model was combined with special effects to create the incredibly realistic views of Hogwarts exterior which I had always believed to be comprised of real castles. This was a phenomenal end to the tour and was definitely the most memorable moment for me.
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