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Making of Visual Effects – The Harry Potter Movies

Making of Visual Effects – The Harry Potter Movies

Part of the magic of the Harry Potter movies is the special effects; spells, flying on broomsticks, a flying car, disappearing into a fireplace, it all happens when Harry Potter is around, but how do the filmmakers create these special effects? In fact, there are several collaborating visual effects companies, depending on your specific area of ​​expertise. This is how some of the effects are created.

Playing Quidditch on a broomstick. A blue screen is used as the “sky” background and the steering wheel is sitting on a broom on a hydraulic platform. The equipment is computer controlled to create the sweep of a Quidditch game and the resulting movie is then transferred to the computer graphics environment to be edited into the finished movie.

Dumbledore’s memories are stored in the Pensieve. The memories are seen to fall into a liquid in the Pensieve (bowl) and this was created by taking painted images (the memories) and fusing them into specially created software that produced the appearance of the liquid and the images floating in it.

The water sphere produced by Dumbledore’s spell to trap Voldemort. The broomstick rig was brought to life again, which together with water plexiglass spheres squirted over the top and inside created the effect of Voldement floating and spinning in a water sphere.

The ice that covers the frozen lake from which Harry retrieves the Gryffindor sword. When the camera is filming from above the lake, the ice is created by thick sheets of Plexiglas covered with an icy texture. When filming under “ice”, wax is used floating in the water. Apparently, this is a well-known technique in the movies.

The Gringotts dragon. Gringotts’ dragon, quite emaciated, was inspired by some photographs provided by the RCPCA of abused dogs. The idea was to capture an “executioner” appearance in such a way that viewers felt sorry for him rather than revulsion, but it still had to be terrifying. Once the concept was agreed upon, the dragon was sculpted and painted using a 3D computer program. A skeleton of the dragon was constructed and muscular geometry was created that animated the skin to simulate movement.

To film the children sitting on the dragon, a life-size section of its back was sculpted and covered with a silicone skin. For movement, a movement control base and platform allowed the movement of different aspects of the dragon, including parts of its spine and the loose skin below its neck.

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