I woke up this morning still a bit groggy from my weekend of adventuring in Amsterdam, but excited for the events of the day. Today was every Potterhead's dream: Warner Brother's Studio Tour - The Making of Harry Potter. Our group had the amazing opportunity to visit the site where all eight Harry Potter films were created. The tour was full of sets, props, and costumes all used in the actual filming of the series! There was something so fascinating about being able to see all the special effects and and intricate props that the filming production produced. I thought that all of my Harry Potter dreams had come true when I was able to visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. After today, though, I feel even more fulfilled than I could possibly imagine.
In the words of J.K. Rowling: "No story lives unless someone wants to listen." The world definitely wanted to listen to her story and consequently it came very much alive. The movie franchise was extremely successful and part of that was because of the amazing story that Rowling created. The other part of its success could probably be attributed to the incredible detail and expertise that went into creating the films. The very first part of the set that we saw was the great hall of Hogwarts. The walls were covered in intricate details, the floors were original stone, and of course the tables were set for a feast. Windows, statues, doors, and a large fireplace also decorated the expansive room. I was especially excited to see many different costumes that the actual actors in the film wore displayed on mannequins throughout the hall. Although many of them were impressive (Dumbledore's, Hagrid's...), I was most elated from seeing the robes that Daniel Radcliffe wore in the very first Harry Potter film: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (or, if you're from America like me: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone).
The tour continued with a plethora of different things to see: wigs and costumes from many of the movies, set pieces like walls covered in paintings or the entirety of Dumbledore's office, small prop items like a collection of the horcruxes used in filming, and even the original Hogwarts Express. There's no way to describe everything that I saw today; the tour included something from almost every aspect of the movies! Aside from all the movie-related things to see, I was impressed by the inclusion of pre-filming art design and planning on the tour. We were able to see a variety of white-card models of the sets, illustrating what the sets should look like on scales as small as 1/4"= 1'. The entire experience was absolutely magical. And, because the location is one of only four that sells Butterbeer in the entire world, of course I had to splurge! My other splurge of the day? Buying a professional photo of myself riding on a broomstick, because when else am I going to experience something like that?!
Alissa, I felt the same way after I toured Harry Potter World in Orlando! I was also sorely mistaken, this was completely different and so wonderful. I had the best time at the Studios as well, I think the background information that we were able to learn just made me love the series and movies even more. I had no idea that thousands of people worked on each movie. Obviously, they were huge projects, I just hadn't realize the scope of them! The intricate details on everything astounded me, especially the model of the castle! One of the little facts said that each little tower had at least 1,000 shingles that were put on by hand. I can't even fathom that!
ReplyDeleteWhile I didn't like the movies as much as the books, after the tour, I had a new found appreciation for all the work that was put into making the movie truly magical. I was so impressed to learn that not all the magic was CGI. They used animals and tricks with the camera, all stunning. I don't know if the happened to you, but I got goosebumps when I walked into the great hall. Those books were my childhood and felt like I grew up with Harry, so seeing the magic of he studios brought me great joy. Thank you for the enjoyable post!
ReplyDeleteThis day was so amazingly overwhelming for me. I grew up right along side these characters and at every turn there were the coolest and most amazing things. It was really interesting hearing the backstory about how the movies came about, how the book was originally given a low priority for the producers to look at, but thankfully one of the newer staff fell in love with the book when she was assigned to read it and was able to convince them to make it into a movie!
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