This new year, visitors are invited to discover behind-the-scenes secrets of everybody’s favourite house-elf as Warner Bros. Studio Tour London launches a special feature dedicated entirely to Dobby. Introduced in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Dobby was predominantly a CGI character, filmmakers went through multiple processes and techniques to create Dobby from a tennis ball on a stick to a full sized intricately detailed physical model.

During filming, an incredibly detailed model of Dobby was created so the cast would know exactly where to look when shooting scenes with the CGI character. Created by Creature and Make-Up Effects Designer Nick Dudman and his team, each detail on the model was hand-painted right down to the veins in his eyes.  As part of the feature, this model of Dobby will be freed from his current display to take centre stage at the Studio Tour allowing visitors to see these details up close.

For the first time ever, visitors will be able to take part in an interactive motion capture experience at the Studio Tour. Consisting of three screens, the experience shows Dobby at different stages of motion capture, from an initial wireframe to the fully-rendered Dobby as we know and love him. Standing in front of the display, visitors will see three versions of Dobby reflecting their movements in real-time, demonstrating the process used by filmmakers when bringing CGI characters to life on screen.

Eagle-eyed visitors will also spot Dobby in the window of Harry’s childhood home number four, Privet Drive. The Muggle home will be reopened for the occasion allowing visitors to peek into the Dursleys’ living room where hundreds of Harry’s Hogwarts letters will be suspended in the air as though they’ve flown through the fireplace as they did in the iconic scene from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.