WB has sent over an exciting press release this morning about their Back to School special activities at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour.
GO BACK TO SCHOOL WITH FILMMAKING WORKSHOPS
Special three-week feature this September
Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter is inviting visitors to go back to school by offering set design and storyboarding workshops, as well as the chance to see authentic sets, props and costumes from the world’s most magical school.
This September, the opportunity to make white card models and learn about a variety of sets, models and ingenious camera and post-production techniques will be available. The Studio Tour will reveal filmmaking secrets behind some of the iconic sets from the Harry Potter film series and highlight the process that brought locations such as the Great Hall, Diagon Alley and Hogwarts castle to life on screen.
Visitors will also be able to create storyboards for their own original story idea, after being shown the industry method which helps the Director, Cinematographer and other artists envisage the film or scene as a whole.
As the nation’s children put on their school uniforms, some Studio Tour staff members will also be donning authentic Hogwarts robes used in the most successful film series of all time. Visitors will get the chance to examine the costumes of Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students up close and try on replica robes as they fly on a broomstick like a member of the cast. A section of Hogwarts’ majestic Great Hall will also be dressed as it was during O.W.L. examination scenes in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
The Studio Tour’s Back to School feature will run from Friday 6th to Thursday 26th September. All extra activities are included in the ticket price.
This past week was Animal Week at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter. As we posted last month, animal trailer Julie Tottman, who was the head trainer for all the films, was training a litter of kittens to recreate the plates in Professor Umbridge’s office. A video showing more of their training as well as them showing off for the crowd may be watched below:
The Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter Facebook page has posted a new video featuring Julie Tottman, the Head Animal Trainer for the Harry Potter film series. This video is part of the lead up to Animal Actors week where visitors can discover firsthand how scenes for Umbridge’s moving kitten plates were filmed as the Studio Tour recreates a green screen set complete with live kittens. Each week fans will get a new update on the training of the adorable kittens, which you meet in the video below!
Animal Actors week begins on May 25th and continues until June 2nd. More information on the week’s activities may be seen in our original post from last month.
During filming, 40 kittens were brought to the studio to be filmed in front of a green screen for Dolores Umbridge’s porcelain kitten plates, which can be found at the Studio Tour in Umbridge’s Ministry of Magic office. We will be recreating this process during Animal Actors Week; watch this video to meet our very own Twitter Litter and help us name them by tweeting your suggestions to @wbstudiotour using #AnimalActors
The Telegraph has posted a couple videos from Prince William, Duchess Catherine and Prince Harry’s visit to Warner Bros. Studio Tour London. Those may be watched below:
The Prince and Duchess learn how to fight with wands:
Part of Prince William’s speech:
WB Studio Tour has also released a video from the visit:
We’ve learned that J.K Rowling along with many of the Harry Potter cast and crew were also at the inauguration of the updated WB Studio Tour London with The Royal Family. Additionally, Prince Harry’s Facebook page has been updated with numerous photos of the trio – not the Potter trio of course; Harry, William and Kate – touring the Harry Potter section. UPDATE: The Duchess’ Facebook also has an album with photos from the day.
The following members of the Potter family were in attendance: David Heyman, David Yates, Mike Newell and Matthew Lewis . We will have photos of them as soon as they become available. For now view these (which will be updated as more appear online):
Prince William, Duchess Kate and Prince Harry visited Warner Bros. Studio Tour London today to open up the brand new facility housing props from other WB films. At the inauguration, Prince William made a wonderful speech about the attraction which can be read in its entirety here.
All three of us have been looking forward to being here with you all today, and so far it’s lived up to our expectations.
To be honest, I’m over the moon just to have seen the real Batmobile and Batpod – Josh, Barry, you don’t do baby seats for those cars, do you, by any chance? On the other hand Harry’s just excited to see a real life talking owl in the Harry Potter studios. I haven’t told him yet that Harry Potter is fictional, so please keep the secret for a little longer.??
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??The journey to today began most obviously with the now legendary story of an aspiring author – J K Rowling – translating her phenomenal imagination onto paper in the form of the Harry Potter series. But in another sense, the journey to today began way before, since this country has a long and proud literary and visual arts history – a history that is unmatched in the world for its variety, its commercial success and its longevity.??
[…]Our Nation’s extraordinary capacity for talent is not a thing of the past. It is worth reminding ourselves that the Harry Potter book series has become the most popular series ever to be printed, and the Harry Potter movie series – filmed right here – is the most successful in history. ??So, what of the future? How can we possibly continue these successes of the past?
[…]
Catherine, Harry and I are very much looking forward to the Harry Potter Studio Tour coming up shortly, and thank you to Warner Brothers for hosting hundreds of children from the charities of which we are fortunate enough to be Patron.
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