Friday, July 29, 2011

"Harry Potter Film Wizardry" by Brian Sibley

160 pages

This scrapbook-style book gives us the inside scoop on how the Harry Potter films were created. It includes essays from the cast and crew about the techniques used to bring the magic to life as well as anecdotes about things that happened on the set (for instance, Helen Bonham Carter accidentally ruptured Matthew Lewis' eardrum with her wand as she enthusiastically portrayed Bellatrix messing with Neville). We learn how they made the Quiddich players fly; how the underwater and in-the-air scenes were filmed; the methods used to create magical creatures and characters including Voldemort, Dobby, and the thestrals; how the sets were created in such fantastic detail; and much much more.

I can't get enough HP, and this book is bursting with fun stuff about my favorite wizarding world. In addition to the essays and stories, there are tons of behind-the-scenes photos, preliminary sketches, and story boards that were used during the production of the films. I loved learning about how the special effects were done--I was really surprised by how many parts of the movies that I'd thought were made digitally were actually created mechanically. I also enjoyed hearing what the cast and crew thought about what it was like to be part of the team. The amount of work it took to make these movies is overwhelming--even more than I'd imagined--but I'm so glad that they went through all the effort!

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