"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."
My day started by being taken to Leavesden Studios at 8 AM in the morning for my first day of filming. I'd been to Leavesden before to visit, but never to be in a film. I was so excited. The scene I was going to be filming was shot right at the far end of the huge grounds of the Harry Potter studios and was the same building that was used to film some of the underwater scenes.
To get there, we had to drive through security, drive all the way up a massive runway, passing a Quidditch stand, a huge Privet Drive, and the Knight Bus, to name just a few things. Once at the far end there were all sorts of studio items outside: the basilisk heads from the Chamber of Secrets, some knights from The Philosopher's Stone, and so many great things. I wish I could have had one of these in my garden!
Once on set, I was taken to the dressing rooms where I had my own named peg waiting for me and an area for my things to go. This felt great being in the film. Then it was onto make-up and costume departments. This was awesome; I was to be in the Quidditch World Cup.
The scene we were filming that day was for the opening scenes of the match between Ireland and Bulgaria. We were doing close-ups of the stand in the World Cup Stadium. I was to be seated next to Harry, Ron, Hermione, Mr. Weasley, Ginny, the twins, and lots of others, and we were all to cheer on our teams. Some of us were really dressed up in cool gear. Jesters hats, faces painted, and Bulgarian and Irish Quidditch tops. Ginny, who is so cool, wore a huge hat, Fred had his face painted, while some of us had flags to wave and cheer at the top of our voices on our teams. I don't remember seeing ANY of the Malfoys and I didn't see an empty seat for Winky. Maybe it will be different once the film is produced.
What really amazed me during filming was the use of only one camera, or so it seemed. I learnt there were many more but to make sure all of us "extras didn't look at them during filming," they are hidden while we cheer on our teams. I had to follow a very small light darting around on a blue screen in front of me, which represented one of my Quidditch team players. It's weird but great to act knowing all the really cool backgrounds will be added in and it will look so different on film.
The stand itself we filmed on was two stories and about 30 feet high. It was around 50 feet wide. At the back of the two rows, (one above another) there was a ladder type thing which you will be able to see. We were all on the top level and there were other "fans" coming up and down the steps during filming. I don't know what will be added to the front of the rows, as it was all blue screen, too. Although it was a full day of filming, we actually only shot less than an hour of film, but that is a really good day I was told and it means about 10 minutes of possible footage they might use - I hope so!
Set report courtesy of HP4U.co.uk. April 14, 2005.
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