HARRY POTTER and the Philosopher's Stone
P2 A) Purpose
Definition - that the purpose would be the reason something is created. Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone is the first book of J.K Rowlings seven book series of Harry Potter. After purchasing the movie rights to the first second third and fourth Harry Potter books in 1999, Warner Bros developed the books into the movies to display the storyline in a new medium and create the magical life of the wizarding world. this shows the purpose of this film is to bring J.K Rowling's book and recreate them as a cinematic masterpiece and lay the foundation for the saga and future films. The movie includes three main characters the protagonist(Harry,Ron,Hermione) it also includes other students and staff of the magical school Hogwarts , where they run into the evil lord voldermort the antagonist of the movie and also a range of dark creatures,whilst trying to get through their first year of school. Warner Bros basically just turned the book to create a script, and produce the movie.
one other purpose for Warner Bros other then to please audiences and fans, which is the main purpose they also want to make profit . Since joining forces with J.K Rowling from 1998 - The films combined earned for around $6.4 billion at the box office alone, Warner Bros also produced merchandise and video games, which displays how the Harry Potter franchise has gathered billions of dollars.
B and C) Form and Content
Form is the way a film is expressed and also how the meaning is displayed. Looking in detail of the form of the movie it improves your understanding of how the film is made and why.The way they made it.
Harry potter and the philosopher stone was given the grade PG (Parental Guidance) by the BBFC
This means Harry potter and the philosopher stone will be acceptable viewing for people older then 8 but some parts might be unacceptable for children. A film given the grade PG will not unsettle someone aged eight or older.
this is just a single section of the form which has many HP was graded PG and is acceptable for general viewing, this means that most people will find it suitable to watch, but it might have scenes of very mild violence,and threat . Harry Potter and the Philosopher stone does have some scenes of very mild violence such as wand duels, instead of just direct physical contact of one another.
There are different ways form can be displayed in the 142 minutes of run time such as Lighting, Camera Angles, Editing, Mise-en-scene and Sound.
Genre
This film is a fiction based story the majority of people who would watch will be fiction fans and also young aged between 7-18 there genre would be magic and adventure which lends it self the target market of young audiences.A lot of the viewers would go because they loved the book which would bring in more viewers
Harry potter and the philosopher stone is the first book in the saga
This is the first film of the harry potter saga it starts of with meeting Harry as a baby as he is being given to his aunt and uncle by three strangers we then skip forward in time 10 years as we see harry grown up into a young man. Harry goes reluctantly to the zoo to celebrate his bully of a cousins birthday this is where we get our first taste of his magic as when his cousin pushes harry out the way to get a better look of the snake harry some how makes the glass of the enclosures vanishes briefly causing his cousin to fall in and be trapped as the snake escapes.A few days latter harry receives an letter which is very unusual as harry never receives letters before harry can read it Harrys uncle quickly burns it in the fire the next day more letters are delivered but his uncle burns them all his uncle gets so annoyed with the post that he demands that they all move house and they go live in the middle of the ocean.After they move in to there new island like house in the ocean they get a knock on the door when the door is opened it reveals hagrrid a half giant this at first glance scares harry but haggard then calms him and says he is invited to Hogwarts school he is then informed that he is a wizard. haggrid then takes harry to the magical world which i hidden from muggles (non magic folk) which is located in an ally in London from this harry gathers all the equipment he needs for school such as a wand an owl and a cauldron and an selection of books after this harry is told by haggrid how is parents were killed by the most evil wizard that ever lived lord voldermort and that harry was a legend around these parts because he some how killed him.
Harry is now making his way to the train station were he gets on the train and finds an empty carriage moments latter a ginger kid pops his head round the corner asking wether he could join him this kid is ron weasly they get along swimmingly they then meet hermione granger.
they then go on through out the school year making friends and overcoming challenges they then stumble onto a secret door guarded by fluffy the not fluffy three headed giant dog they then go around asking questions and they find the answers which then leads them to believe that snape there least favourite teacher is trying to bring lord voldimort back to life by using the philosophers stone which they believe to be hidden behind the door.They then try and get the stone before him to do this they had to get past the dog complete a flying challenge then win a game of wizard chess which is like chess except the pieces smash each other over these two challenges hermione and ron become injured and harry has to face the last task alone.
Inside the room harry finds out that the man trying to steal the stone is actually the defence against the dark arts teacher but he has been taken over by lord Voldemort who is attached to the back of his head like a parasite harry defeats him but Voldemort gets away but with out the stone.
Style
Lighting
the philosopher stone had been directed by Chris Columbus he also went on to direct Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets he was chosen to direct this film because he mixed the excitement of the new world of which craft and wizardry with bright colours and brightly lit, scenes, which helps fit to the excitement and theme of the movie. high Key lighting is used in the film, including in the image above, where the light is even, and there is a ratio of intensity of which limits object having shadows presenting and creating a positive and hopeful mood.
Camera angles
Low angle shots, which is a technique where you point the camera upwards when you are below, makes people seem bigger and more powerful or more important. As seen in the shot above the low angle gives the impression that snape is much taller then harry and ron and he has all the power in the situation and that harry and ron are below him.In the shot at the top this camera angle is used to show harry has great power with the wand.
the high-angle shot is when the camera looks down on a person from an higher point .this High-angle shot make the person in question is made to seem vulnerable and powerless.In the shot above the high angle shot is used to display that harry is very vulnerable and powerless.where as the shot at the top is using the high angle to show that harry is just another pupil and is swallowed up in the school
Focal length
This close-up shot is done to focus viewers eyes to the characters facial expression, so as to give significance to a person or object, or make the audience see some other vital element of the movie.the close up shot is used in both of theses shots to show the expression the scene created on the character such as harry is scared and the wand maker is warning and also slightly wondering.
Long Shot
this technique is used to display a scene from far away. this shot is used to display the environment or setting. a long shot is used in the shots above to set the scene of the classroom and also show the whole environment of the dinning hall.
Establishing Shot
An establishing shot, is taken from really far away or a "bird's eye view," that establishes where the scene is taking place .these shots above are establishing shots as they are used to show the environment and also where the action is about to take place.
Editing
Harry potter is all about bring a magical fantasy world into real life and this took a lot of editing and special effects there was numerous teams which worked in these departments who had to work through about an hour of footage a day more details are explained in the video
Moving Camera
in this scene the director has decided to do a moving camera scene to display the full wonderment of the great hall it also follows the kids into there first look at hogwarts and you get the same feeling they do of wonderment at your first look of the insides of hogwarts
Proxemics
Personal Distance shot in proxemics is shot around about eighteen inches to four feet from the person. This shot is usually used for friends and acquaintances instead of lovers or family.The more distance between the camera and subject, the more neutral we are.
the personal distance in the shot above is different to the shot they use when they first met when they first met the camera shot was further away this was to indicate they where not friends but at the end of the film after they have been through the first year of school together they are now intimate friends so the shot is closer this is also so we feel more attached to them.
Mise-en-scene
Harry Potter includes mise-en-scéne to defies the laws of reality because of the magical theme, the mise-en-scéne changes during the movie. We start the movie in Privet Drive, the house of Harry and his step-family . This set is made to look like a classic British aesthetic, and gives of a sense of normality which quickly stops because of movies magic theme. The step-family is meant to be overacted such as Vernon is mean and harsh. so it means he is in juxtaposition to there perfectly maintained clothes Harry is untidy dressed in large outfits three sizes to big this is meant to display the separation of these characters. when the letter arrives it ignites the magic in the world, and becomes more obvious to the muggle world until Harry leaves and goes to the wizarding one.
The move from the muggle street to Diagon Alley completely alters the mise-en-scéne , as the ordinary world is boring, with simple costuming and bleak lighting. the odd wizard clothes and wonky buildings of the wizard world gives a more intense quality that excites the viewer with it’s intensity and excitement. although the magical world has not always been happy and bright such as when the flashback occurs displaying the death of Harry’s parents the them and vibe suddenly changes to dark.
Production Processes
the production started for the first Harry Potter Friday 29th September 2000. the dinning hall is the first set built it was a large and magnificent space big enough to fit 400 children in it . It went on to became one of the main locations and has appeared in all 7 Harry Potter films and is now permanently located at the warner brothers Tour for the public to see.
inside the Dinning Hall are numerous wall-mounted torches each one can be lit each represent one of the houses of the school – Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin and Hufflepuff. at the top of the hall there is a the teachers table behind it stands a large grand House Point chart, this house point chart was created for the philosopher stone and each hour glass houses hundreds of thousands of glass beads this is said to cause a bead shortage nation wide
HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS
Production for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets began on Monday 19th November 2001 – only three days after the widespread release of the first Harry Potter film.
This was the first time the audience met Dobby the house-elf. Rob Bliss, in the Art Department at Leavesden Studios, was responsible for conceptualising Dobby’s appearance, and Creature Effects Supervisor Nick Dudman and his team created an impressive model so that the cast could react to something on set. The whole process took three months and the final Dobby seen in the films was created using CGI (Computer Generated Imagery).
The iconic set for Dumbledore’s office was first built and created for this film. The office is surrounded by a large library of books which are, in fact, mostly telephone directories bound in leather
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
Principal photography for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban began at Leavesden Studios on Monday 24th February 2003.
One of the most complicated set pieces to create was the Knight Bus, which appeared in this film. The audience sees the bus drive Harry through the streets of London and, despite its three decks, this was not achieved through CGI. The bus was driven to London, which required a lot of planning because the bus was specially built using components from two double-decker buses, in order to create a triple-decker. Taking the height of the bus into consideration, the route into London had to be carefully mapped out - bridges were clearly out of the question!
This film marked the first time the Dementors were introduced. Director Alfonso Cuaron and Producer David Heyman experimented with different methods to make it appear as if the Dementors were actually floating. Initially puppeteers were brought onto set, to move large pieces of cloth in a water tank which created the illusion that the Dementors were floating. However, this movement was later created through visual effects.
HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE
Filming for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire began on Tuesday 4th May 2004.
A giant water tank was built at the Studios to film the underwater scenes for the Triwizard Tournament. It is the largest underwater filming tank in Europe which is capable of holding over two million litres of water.
During filming, Daniel Radcliffe spent so much time under water in the dive tank he gained his PADI diving certificate. A lot of time was spent experimenting with how to make him look as if he had webbed hands. This look was eventually created using very fine ladies tights, which Daniel wore over his hands and up his arms!
John Richardson’s Special Effects Team built a fully operational, fire-breathing Hungarian Horntail dragon armed with a 35ft flame thrower for this film. Eventually, the filmmakers decided that the dragons would be created by the Visual Effects Team, but the dragon went on to take pride of place at the London premiere in Leicester Square.
HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix began filming on Monday 6th February 2006.
In this film, the audience is introduced to the Ministry of Magic set for this first time. This set was the largest created for any of the Harry Potter films. In fact, 50 London buses could fit inside the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic and it took 22 weeks to build. The set is inspired by the Victorian architecture of London, particularly the tiles, which may look authentic but are actually made of MDF!
The fifth film also saw the series’ first ever complete blue screen set, as the Hall of Prophecies was shot entirely against a blue screen backdrop.
Forty adorable kittens were filmed for the garish plates in Umbridge’s office –these kittens went on to be domestic pets and their new owners were unaware of their famous origins.
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE
Principal photography began on the sixth film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, on Monday 24th September 2007.
During filming Rupert Grint turned 21 and the cast and crew celebrated with a children’s-themed party in the studio canteen.
In this film a model of The Burrow was set ablaze and partially destroyed. Afterwards, the entire interior part of the set (inside and out) was rebuilt and re-dressed on the studio backlot for the final films. The charred walls were given a quick coat of whitewash and, of course, the set retained all of the familiar Weasley touches.
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS - PART 1 AND 2
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 began filming on Thursday 19th February 2009, and the second instalment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, was filmed back-to-back with Part 1.
Five 32-ton trucks worth of polystyrene were needed, to create all the rubble for the destruction of Hogwarts at the end of the final film.
Daniel Radcliffe went through 160 pairs of glasses and around 70 wands during filming for the Harry Potter film series. Over the ten years, an incredible 588 sets were created at Leavesden Studios.
all information found here was sourced from the:https://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/about-us
Development — The first stage in which the ideas for the film are created, rights to books/plays are bought etc., and the screenplay is written. Financing for the project has to be sought and greenlit.
Pre-production—Preparations are made for the shoot, in which cast and film crew are hired, locations are selected, and sets are built.
Production—The raw elements for the film are recorded during the film shoot.
Post-production—The images, sound, and visual effects of the recorded film are edited.
Distribution—The finished film is distributed and screened in cinemas and/or released to home video.
all information found here was sourced from:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filmmaking
Development
The method used to bring Harry Potter to life was no a easy task. The most vital production process was the adapting the book to a film. If this was not done to the best spec, and screenplays were not created in line with the book, the Harry Potter saga could have been misrepresented and then be dissimilar to the original JK Rowling books. In 1997, around the time as Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was being released, David Heyman fantasised of bringing the original story to the cinimatic world. The Harry Potter team needed to get a top director for the job, and eventually got Chris Columbus to join the team, whom was said to have great knowledge and passion with the Harry Potter series. Many more adaptations were created by different directors, however Chris Columbus made the most like-for-like adaptation,instead of a suggestion for an animated series, or allowing an american theme rather than the classic English (which were suggested and rumoured to be thought up by several directors). Steven Spielberg was rumoured to direct the first film, however he declined the offer due to wanting to create an animated version.
Many talks and discussions where had throughout the coming months, in which David Heyman, Chris Columbus and JK Rowling came to the decision about adaptation and script which marked the beginning of the Harry Potter production process.Throughout the Harry Potter films Steve Kloves and Michael Goldenberg worked alongside JK Rowling to create and screen-write the true adaptation of the Harry Potter books.
The films were all funded by Warner Bros, who took a strong liking to the Harry Potter film rights, and eventually bought them for approximately £1,000,000 (1 Million). The sales of the movie rights took a long time and Warner Bros were under strict conditions as JK Rowling did not want the Harry Potter books to be misrepresented, or for non-author written sequels to be produced.
Pre-Production
The following stage would be recruiting the perfect actor to play the leading role in the film series. Throughout 1999 and 2000, David Heyman, Chris Columbus went to find the perfect actor who will be Harry Potter. After a long casting process, David he saw a young boy with an agent, Mr Radcliffe, whom he was friends with. later he phoned them to and requested Radcliffe met with him. After deep thoughts and many contemplations, they agreed to let Daniel Radcliffe's life change forever, so long as he would be protected After screen tests, Daniel was eventually cast as Harry Potter.
during this step the producers, director JK Rowling and Steve Kloves began pre-visualising the movie concept , this is when storyboards will be drawn up to give an insight and plan as to what needs to be filmed.
The storyboards would very indepth as shown above. each shot of all the individual films will be detailed and drawn up, giving cinematographers an idea on how things will actually be filmed. Lighting, camera angles and al the important details are included as weak in this stage,
concept artists will be hired to visualise and produce a accurate design of what the director imagined . Storyboards are vital in pre-production, as well as shot lists and descriptions of all shots. Without these management tools cinematographers will be unable to capture exactly what the directors wishes, and therefore the greater detail, the more likely the cinematographer will be able to represent exactly what the director hoped for.
as well the producers had to hire a team of experts in the film industry to create this film. There are many members of crew needed for a large scale film production such as Harry Potter.
Production
in this step the recording is done All parts of the film are planned beforehand in the stage above through scripting and storyboarding its filmed in the correct geographic locations.
Every individual scene would have been carefully captured to get the best product, this requires multiple takes someimtes before a director is happy and thinks the shots in the scene are good,
this is to make sure the best shots to construct the film. Quality of the pre-production work is examined in this process, the detail that has been put into the planning will be reflected with in the production.
Directors and cinematographers will take the best care when filming, and make sure all essential shots are taken, as in some cases it will be very tough to re-shoot scenes due to set creation and location of shots. Some Harry potter sets were made permanently and still remain today, such as The Great Hall and the Gryffindor Common Room, whereas as many were deconstructed by the crew on the same day after filming, giving very limited chance to complete the scenes, and little room for error.
