Hi everyone,
I went on an amazing trip to the Warner Bros Studio that is situated in Watford, London, England. I went on this trip with the rest of my media studies class on the 11/12/12 and we went there so that we could see how the Harry Potter films were created and how the film was taken from script to screen.
As I live in South Wales the trip was about 3 hours bus journey but it was worth it. In my opinion it was an absolutely amazing day, and I would advise anyone to go and visit the studio, especially if you are a Harry Potter fan. It is a great way to spend the day and to learn how all 8 of the films are created.
To start with when you actually get to the studio you walk into a huge lobby that, as it is the christmas season, contained a giant christmas tree decorated with gold and green tinsel, stars and baubles. All around the walls there are big canvas' of the main characters within the film, and the model of the flying car that is seen in the second movie is hovering above the information desk. When the tour starts you follow the barriers to a room where a tour guide will show you a brief video of how Harry Potter all started.
When the video is over you will be escorted into another room that looks like a cinema, where you are shown a short documentary about what the tour is going to be about and it also has the 3 main characters from the films, telling you about the actual filming process and their experiences since they started filming the very first Harry Potter film. Next you are shown through two main doors and are taken into the 'Great Hall'. After this you are free to look around the whole studio, taking as many pictures as your heart desires.
As our group was there for educational purposes we had the privileged to partake in a short lesson all about the script to screen process. Within this lesson I learned a number of different techniques and terms that will come in handy when I start to create my own movie scripts/storyboards/posters.
We were sat in a room that was set up as a make shift classroom, with a smart-board and different costumes from the movies. First of all the tour guide told us what the session was going to include and the health and safety aspects in case of a fire.
When the session started we were told how Harry Potter came to be made into a film and we all had to give our ideas on how ideas are made into films e.g books, imaginations, historic events, life stories and many more.
We then found out that after the idea has been created , before it becomes a film, a representative of the idea must stand in front of a companies producers, for example Warner Bros, Fox, Dream works, Columbia etc, and have to give a pitch about their idea with no more than 25 words.
If the producers are impressed with the pitch and the idea then they will decide on two options; give you all the money and let you make the film or they could decide to give you half the money to start with to see how well the film works.
After this decision has been made, you will have to produce a treatment which must be about half a page maximum. The treatment includes
Another fact that I learnt was that there are a lot of different jobs and peoples that are included in the making and creating of a film. For the Harry Potter films there were at least 4,000 people involved. Some of the jobs are; prop designers, artists, camera crew, script writers, producers, costume designers and many, many more.
As I mentioned we were there for educational purposes, we were given the chance to see one of the original scripts for Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone, and what an actual script should look like and what should be included within a script.
We also got the chance to look at some of the original storyboards for the very first Harry Potter film. With these we saw how a proper story board was supposed to look like and what needed to be included in it. By this I mean that a story board has to include, stage directions, dialogue, camera angles, colour, detail and prop ideas.
There was also a part of the session where three of my media class were chosen to read different parts of the scripts, to show us how a script was supposed to be read and how detailed it had to be.
The tour guide also showed us one of the characters costumes to highlight how much work was put into the film and what the outfits where supposed to show the audience about the character. The costume that my class was shown was the trousers that ' Hagrid' wears in the second film. The trousers were very wide and very long which is to show how tall the character actually was.
At the end of the session we were give our own template for a storyboard to help us with our own projects.
In my opinion the whole day was a highlight for me. However I have managed to think of my 10 best highlights of the trip.
1) My very first highlight of the trip has to be the very last room we visited. This is because there as a huge room sized model of the actual school, Hogwarts and the detail that is shown on the model is spectacular.
2) The second highlight of the day would have to be actually walking into and through the Great Hall. This is because the set looked exactly how it does within the films.
3) Seeing the costumes of some of the characters e.g Professor Snape, Lord Voldemort and Molly Weasley, because it was fascinating to see how tall the actors really are and to also see them up close. ( Although it would have been better actually meeting the actors themselves, but that's just me being picky)
4) Walking down the 'Hogwarts bridge' was another highlight for me because it was dark and it gave the bridge more of a Harry Potter feel to it, especially with the different coloured floodlights shining on it. (which is shown in the pictures opposite and below)
5) Walking into Dumbledore office. This is one of my highlights because the office looks exactly like it does in the film and , if i'm honest, looks even better close up as it has everything it needs to show the power and wealth that Dumbledore had.
6) Being able to see the different models of all the creatures that are shown in all 8 films and how they were designed because it has made me appreciate the time that the designers must have taken to make the creatures just right.
7) Standing on the back of the 'Knight Bus' because it is probably going to be the only time I will get to have that experience. Also it was a strange experience as it was probably the only triple decker bus I will ever see.
8) Another one of my highlights of the day was seeing how big that costume was for the character of 'Hagrid', because I did not realise until that day how big the character was supposed to have been.
9) Seeing how the cast and crew made the scenes where the main character is supposed to be flying etc. This is a highlight for me because it was different to see how the people behind the scenes made the sequences so believable in the films.
10) The last highlight that makes it into my top 10 has to be having the opportunity to take as many pictures as I wanted.I say this as my highlight because it gave me to opportunity to take my time and look at everything I wanted to and to have some of the photographs as memories of the trip.
And that my friends is the ( very long) summary of my day at the Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studio Tour :)
If I missed anything out that you would like to know, please comment and I will gladly answer :)
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