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Set report: HP4U.co.uk
Part 1 of the set report
Ok, where to start... We'd had this trip planned for months so the excitement was incredible come the day we were ready to go.
Having turned down the kind offer of a Warner Bros. car to take us, we set of for the studios arriving at 10.00am.
Once met at reception and taken through all the formalities - it was see and do as much as humanly possible!
Consider we spent over 6 hours at Leavesden, so if we miss anything out, ill post it at a later date and because of the amount ill add in sections.
First stop, Diagon Alley... How amazing. Even with the standard lighting and not a soul to be seen, it is the most awesome street ever, built especially to be used over and over again. The shops and the props are incredible.
They use salt (and lots of it, to create the snow effect), so we walked all the way up and down two or three times over the "snow" with all the icicles hanging down from the shop doorways and windows. It was amazing -just like Christmas at Hogsmead.
First shop had to be Honeydukes! Keep a look out in the film for these great little skull shaped sweets on a carousel - director Alfonso's idea! - Apparently they are his favorites from back home. Honeydukes is actually the same shop that was used as the bookshop Flourish & Blotts in the Chamber of Secrets and has just been re-fitted for the third film. Its awesome, all the favorite sweets everywhere. Then from the bottles of butter beer (which are actually small lager bottles with lantern tops and new stickers added!) to the posters of the missing prisoner Sirius posted on the windows this is incredible. The trap door where Harry enters is on the left and for all of you who've read the book, he enters through it using the map George & Fred gave him with the secret passageway straight to Honeydukes cellar. A lot of work has gone into this scene we were told and looking at the set it will all be worth it. Oh, the chocolate frogs are gorgeous by the way.
Next shop, Quidditch supplies. Now for someone like me who loves film items, this was like an Aladdin's cave. Broomsticks everywhere, -bludgers, snitches, Quidditch costumes. A fantastic shop with so much in there.
It was great to stand at the top of Diagon Alley, (just at the point where Hagrid meets Harry when he comes out the wrong fireplace in the Chamber of Secrets) and look all the way down the whole street. An amazing detail is that the that exits of Gringotts bank are a small doorways and two plaster posts. The rest, being either computer graphics or on location.
More about Diagon Alley later...
Did you know - There are 2 Hagrid Huts built, one is larger than the other. They film the children in the large hut, where everything is oversized using a double for Hagrid, then they film the "rea"' Hagrid in the smaller hut - making him look even bigger. Then they put the two clips together - simple, but clever ?
The moving staircase -WOW, this is the coolest staircase you will ever see, on film its great, in real life its amazing. Did you know - nearly all the Wizard portraits hanging on the walls are of the cast and crew, painted by the same artist, all dressed in robes, etc. If you've seen press pictures of Alfonso, David Heyman, Chris Columbus etc, you'll recognize them next time you watch the films.
A lot of the wizard portrait voices are done by UK comedian Lenny Henry; of course the brilliant Dawn French plays the "Fat lady" in the Prisoner film and also is his wife.
The fantastic Paul Whitehouse plays Sir Cadogan and we were told it was impossible to keep still; winding up all the others whilst they were filming -or trying to.
The Gryffindor common room and also the boy's dormitory.
Wow, this place really is as relaxing and comfortable as described by JK Rowling. Alot of effort has gone into the design of all these rooms. Alot smaller than it might appear on film, but none the less, brilliant. Its built completely on its own and just a small locked door allows access. We couldn’t wait to get upstairs to the boys room though first. This is where all the best things are, -Harry's bed, Ron's, Neville's... All the beds come apart to make for easier filming as it’s a little bit cramped, we saw the torn screens where Sirius, "attacked" Ron, and of course he was after Scabbers. Also, sweets, drinks, the Daily prophet. Lots of things lying around everywhere, which of course couldn’t be touched as they hadn’t finished up filming there yet. The boys trunks also lay open with all their items to the ready.
Looking over the balcony back into the common room, it was just like in the first film when Ron announces Christmas, looking out through the only window, even the landscape looked real... more later.
The Hospital Wing -Truly awesome. The first of the sets that was prepared exactly and the first of the filming action we watched. Tons of Ron's, Hermione's and Harry’s everywhere! There were just so many doubles, all ready for the preparation of the day's scenes. Even watching the 'doubles' work was great. The hospital scene was great; Ron lying in his bed, Dumbledore announcing to Hermione that 2 turns should do it... We were so lucky to go behind the set and watch a full 5 minutes of the finished version on the incredible editing machines - which even without the correct sound balance, etc was brilliant.
This was the first of 5 scenes we watched being filmed that day, but for 5 minutes footage it took just over 4 days filming! - Which, depending on the editors might not even make the final cut.
Everything is created exact, the lighting, the sounds, the detail outside the windows is exact, even that hospital smell is there inside the set!.
Film Set. Leavesden, Hertfordshire: Part 2
First highlight, possibly something for future reference, Sam Neil (Jurassic Park,etc) with Alfonso and some of the other managers walking around the film set, got us wondering, any vacancies for Goblet of Fire ?? - Karkarov maybe? who knows, hes a fine actor, remember you saw it here first.
The day before we visited Elijah Wood was there having a look around the set, I doubt we'll be seeing him in any HP films, but wish we could have said well done for the LOTR work.
Ok, so many requests for info on the Dementors, well, we didnt see any live filming of them, we did however get to see and touch the outfits the actors wore while filming the scenes. As per the books, 7-8 ft tall black hooded figures, the outfits matched exactly the way theve all been described to us, what didnt see were the Dementors themselves, from inside the creatures dept we saw the skeleton figure of one hanging up and it was almost half human on top with what I can only describe as the bottom half of a crocodile, scaled and ending in a curved pointed shape. The prop department had a Dementor hand, which looked fantastically real.What we did watch though was awesome from the finished sequences of the film, what im sure many of you (as we) were shocked at, is that in the film they fly, whos idea was that ?, we were watching the scene of the Quidditch match, when Harry hasnt managed his Patronus spell yet, a good five minutes footage, hovering over the whole stadium, through the clouds, the rain, underneath him (in the book) he looks down, horrified, to see hundreds of Dementors,but in the film he is chased through the clouds by Dozens of them, the action was truly amazing, he is frantically trying to get away from them but they are chasing him through the clouds, high above the stadium. For me, unfortunately being a huge JK fan I dont think the extra ideas should be added (more of them later).
ALL of the Quidditch scenes, for all the movies so far, have been filmed in a huge warehouse type room, completely blue walls,floor,ceiling,etc,brilliant,we saw one of Harries doubles flying through the sky on a wild broomstick, terrifying, about 10ft of the floor that is) on a specially rigged broomstick with around 20 crew around him, looked great, I cannot stress enough, the people that are needed to make just one scene possible is amazing, each unit crew consists of around 200 and there are at least 3 crews. All top professionals.
There is just one 'real' stadium stand, this we see though the first 3 films, although in the films it seems as though there are many, through special effects the various crowds are filmed in there and then put together for the final scenes.
Gary Oldman, Sirius, was heard to remark during his filming with the Dementors,hes ******* strangling me, such was the reality of Alfonsos directing.
We were told, that Gary Oldmans scenes were so intense (simply because of the mans talent) that as many cast and crew, when they were able to, went to watch as many scenes as they could, he gave 200% for everything, I was told and blew them away everytime, so I think we should all congratulate the casting people for this choice.
Daniel Radcliffe was told, by one Actress, Shake the hand of the best actor youll ever meet when introduced to Gary Oldman, whos handshake is meant to be vice like.
The animal dept.
Well I have to say, this was for me brilliant, we met Fang,Scabbers,Crookshanks,Hedwig - all of the animals!, it was superb. At the studios they have a purpose built animal dept, where all of them live with 5* facilities!The guy who looks after them was fantastic too, he knew all of them back to front, with exactly who was who, what they all liked and individual diets. This was some skill as there are around 10 of each of them.
Crookshanks for example, theres the main cat, then theres a lazy one (for petting), an action one (for the energetic work!), another for this and another for that, all to make sure of the right shots for the films.
Fang is just huge, sits there, while lots of other dogs are barking and going nuts without a care in the world and just the odd growl. The owls are just gorgeous, esspecially Errol (Weasleys) who you could stroke all day long and he'd still want more.
The Great Hall.
As you all know now, this was built in the studios exactly the same as the original location that was used for The Philosophers Stone, so it can be used over and over again, the detail is amazing. Some days there are over 200 students, so thats a lot of toilet trips. The walls however all move so the hundreds of students that fill it on filming days can get in and out without too much trouble and to make way for the cameras and crew. The tables are actually new with old wooden tops added for authenticity, it was just so cool to walk through the great hall (sorry to rub it in, just trying to share the experience) up to the teachers table and sit in Dumbledores chair, he, he.
I'd never noticed in the previous two films the big house points counter which sits to the right of the hall as you look at it, with all the different colored stones for each house. In the empty hall it is huge and looks great. The actual floor of the film set has been made with genuine stone, for its authenticity and future usage. The ceiling, although scaffolding while we were there still had the mechanism used for the floating candles attached which was very clever. Just a fantastic room.
The Nightbus.
How cool was this! We all know that its purple, we watched a full five minutes live filming in nearly total darkness. They were filming a lower deck scene which was of these skull things that are hanging down from the rear view mirror ? of Stan & Ernies bus - bit like us Muggles having an air-freshener or something in our car, except the Wizard ones shriek and howl, it was great to watch, beside us was a crew guy with a remote control making it move and talk, while the bus was moved on platforms to simulate driving. All these little extra bits will just add tons to the final film, but again, not in the book (unless I missed it?). What you dont realize when you watch the films is the amount of work it takes and how many people are needed to get what might be a 5 second shot.
Hate to say it but ive been told this, Alfonso is awesome, so intense BUT also Dont mention that guys name to me, I decided I dont think I should elaborate too much on that really apart from I think Prisoner will be much better acted than previous, with Alfonso bringing the best out of everyone,BUT, there will be quite a few scenes which are not in the books, please remember this is just my opinion and if it was up to me id make ALL the films about 5 hours long each!.
The Basilisk and Aragog ARE the same size as you see in the films, they are brilliant, made basically out of a rubber type material, they are huge, just sitting there now in the props dept with no more scenes to film,unless,that is, they are needed in future films?.
Set report courtesy of HP4U.co.uk
-November 13, 2003
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