"If we turn our heads and look away and hope that it will all disappear then they will - all of them, an entire generation of people. And we will have only history left to judge us."
With kids around the country already squirreling away their pocket money in anticipation of the sixth Harry Potter book hitting the shelves in July, wizard fans are no doubt also warmed by the current production of the fourth film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. As the project's Creature Effects Supervisor Nick Dudman reveals, the studio has again pushed the boat out with the spellbinding effects - the most spectacular sight being the sparkling new dragon, fiberglass horns and all.
"It's a pretty powerful beast," says Dudman. "It roars, throws its head about, lashes its tail, and bashes its wings against the side of the cage while spitting fire." Although CGI in film has evolved to stunning proportions, Nick still believes in the tried and true method of animation, even for a fire-shooting model that is 40 feet long.
"The wings are literally 'puppeteers' from behind, and the tail - it's a tail on a stick, basically," he reveals. The beast's front half is animated via a computer performance system. Other achievements by the props department include silicone aquatronic dummies of four of the youngsters - Hermione, Ron, Cho Chang, and Fleur - for an underwater sequence that was filmed in a 60 by 20 foot tank, and the "extreme" make-up for Mad-Eye Moody, played by Brendan Gleeson. The character is described by unit publicist Vanessa Davies as being like a 'war-torn veteran' who has seen it all and got the scars, but has retained a sense of rationality.
One of the last sequences shot for the film involved a trip to the Scottish Highlands, but Davies is quick to dismiss the tabloid rumours of "dangers" that they faced. "There's a wonderfully fabricated story saying we were filming in the most dangerous part of the mountains," she chuckles. "We were like, 'If it's that dangerous, why are the locals walking around in skirts and flip-flops?" It was in Scotland that the crew found the valley for the gargantuan maze built in Pinewood Studios, to be digitally placed by Moving Picture. This promises to be one of the film's most impressive sights, along with Tent City (which was shot along the coast of Eastbourne) and, of course, the World Cup Stadium. "We've got Industrial Light & Magic doing the dragons and the World Cup trying to replicate 80,000 screaming fans," explains Visual Effects Supervisor Jimmie Vitchell. "The work that had been done previously on the Quidditch footage from the first two films was important to the flying.
Technically, the fourth film should have no problems competing with the first three in the series, but overall Jimmie believes the film will be a mixture of the "special" moments of the second film - such as the flying car and the Whomping Willow - and the darker tone of the third. "I think it's more in line with Two but certainly some of the aesthetics of Three." He predicts that whatever the outcome, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, to be released in the second half of 2005, is sure to scorch the competition at the box office and prove a winner with Potter's insatiable fans.
Disclaimer: Veritaserum is run by fans and is for the fans. We are in no way official and are not affiliated with J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros., EA Games, Scholastic, or Bloomsbury. We do not own any of the characters in the books, movies, or games.
