The Official Wizard’s Collection website has revealed some more exclusive content today for fans that do the special “wand gesture.” To get the gesture sign up for the emails on the website and you will be periodically sent an email with a new one to reveal fun content. Today the site has released two sketches by Stuart Craig. It also reveals that the collection includes a series of 5″ x 7″ concept sketches from Harry Potter production designer Stuart Craig. Each print bears his signature.
In the world of Harry Potter, the Book of Spells is 200 years old and is written by Miranda Goshawk. This powerful spell book is kept in the Restricted Section of the Hogwarts library. As a student at Hogwarts, chapter by chapter you will be able to read about and practise a variety of spells, picking up valuable experiences and lessons along the way.
Wonderbook is a new peripheral for PlayStation®3. Using the latest augmented reality technology, Wonderbook puts a physical book in your hands and will support a magical new range of games and reading experiences for the whole family to enjoy.
In addition, Andy House of Sony spoke about how they came up with the idea and how excited J.K. Rowling is about the collaboration.
Sony’s London Studio has been innovative in the past with peripherals like the EyeToy camera, what led to the Wonderbook? I think it was a natural progression, initially from EyeToy and then they built up some considerable strength in Augmented Reality – you may remember EyePet and Invizimals, which were really nice kid-friendly franchises that took full advantage of AR technology, and then it was a natural step to say: what if we combined that idea with some form of physical peripheral? And the intuition was that the most natural interface that we all know is a book.
At the same time, we had the partnership with [J.K. Rowling’s] Pottermore [online property], something I was involved with personally. It was a form of serendipity, we built a good relationship with Michael Denny who runs Sony’s UK studios and was looking for ways to extend the partnership and he said they’d got this rather nascent idea around books and reading and the use of AR.
The next step was to bring it to the attention of J.K. Rowling and she became very enthusiastic. She was marvellous in guiding us in a certain direction. Her view was that text is important and and that informed Book of Spells, we wanted to have this really interesting interaction with text itself so you’re getting children to enjoy the reading experience and getting something magical out of that.
You don’t think consumers will be put off by having to buy the book, perhaps a Move controller and Eye camera? The advantage of bringing this to market now is we have fairly mature technology in terms of the Playstation and controllers, we’re pretty confident we’ll be able to construct some competitive and compelling price points around it. The marketing challenge for us is to convey to people that this is a one-off investment you need to make, but once you’ve done that, there’s an opportunity to refresh it with other content at very affordable prices. If we’re able to bring bona fide educational content to them, then people will find that compelling.
Amazon has updated the product page for the Harry Potter Wizard’s Collection with full details on what is included in the set! The site has also been updated with new photos from the set which you can view in the gallery!
The magical film franchise is now available in a spectacular limited-edition collectible box set. The most comprehensive Harry Potter movie collection yet features all eight films, exclusive never-before-seen content and must-have memorabilia.
This new limited and numbered 31-disc collection contains all eight Harry Potter movies on Blu-ray, DVD and UltraViolet Digital Copy and more than 37 hours of special features including all previously released materials and more than 10 hours of new to disc bonus content, and 5 hours of never-before-seen material.
In addition to the theatrical release of every film, the collection also includes the extended versions of Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets; and the 3D versions of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows –- Parts 1 and 2.
Films Included in Collection
Disc 1: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Theatrical Version + Extended Version + Extra Content (Blu-ray)
Disc 2: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Theatrical Version (DVD)
Disc 3: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Creating The World: The Magic Begins (Blu-ray)
Disc 4: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Disc 2 from the Special Edition (DVD)
Disc 5: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Theatrical Version + Extended Version + Extra Content (Blu-ray)
Disc 6: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Theatrical Version (DVD)
Disc 7: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Creating the World: Characters (Blu-ray)
Disc 8: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Disc 2 from the Special Edition (DVD)
Disc 9: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Theatrical Version (Blu-ray)
Disc 10: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Theatrical Version (DVD)
Disc 11: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Creating the World: Creatures (Blu-ray)
Disc 12: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Disc 2 from the Special Edition (DVD)
Disc 13: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Theatrical Version (Blu-ray)
Disc 14: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Theatrical Version (DVD)
Disc 15: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Creating the World: Sound & Music (Blu-ray)
Disc 16: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Disc 2 from the Special Edition (DVD)
Disc 17: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Theatrical Version + Extra Content (Blu-ray)
Disc 18: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Theatrical Version (DVD)
Disc 19: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Creating the World: Evolution (Blu-ray)
Disc 20: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Theatrical Version + Extra Content (Blu-ray)
Disc 21: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Theatrical Version (DVD)
Disc 22: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Creating the World: Magical Effects + Extra Content (Blu-ray)
Disc 23: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 Theatrical Version + Extra Content (Blu-ray)
Disc 24: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 Theatrical Version (DVD)
Disc 25: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, Creating the World: Story + Extra Content (Blu-ray)
Disc 26: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (Blu-ray 3D)
Disc 27: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Theatrical Version + Extra Content (Blu-ray)
Disc 28: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Theatrical Version (DVD)
Disc 29: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, Creating the World: Growing Up + Extra Content (Blu-ray)
Disc 30: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (Blu-ray 3D)
Today the Harry Potter Wizard’s Collection website has revealed a blueprint of Hogwarts Castle along with an interview with Art Director Gary Tomkins. To reveal the Blueprint go to the website and learn the wand gesture. A few snippets from Gary’s interview may be read below:
What was your specific role in the Harry Potter art department?
As well as working on lots of the full-sized sets on all eight Potter films, I looked after the model unit requirements, transforming Stuart Craig’s ideas and sketches into architectural working drawings (blueprints), and supervising the construction of not only the Hogwarts castle model, but Hogsmeade village, the Weasley house, Privet Drive and others.
Over the years, what were some of your favorite designs, and why?
Apart from Hogwarts castle itself, which has become quite an iconic building, my favourite miniature has to be Hogsmeade village which, although being seen only fleetingly in the films, had an incredible amount of detail, including fully dressed shop windows, working lights, and even tiny footprints in the (false) snow!
What is the purpose of blueprints for production? How many blueprints are produced for a film?
The reason architectural working drawings, or blueprints, are produced on a film is to allow the carpenters, plasterers and model-makers to make the sets and miniatures exactly as the designer intended. All the views of a set or miniature are drawn and dimensioned along with dozens of details of doors, windows, and whatever else is required to convey the ideas of the art department. During the course of all eight Potter films, over 10 years, 8395 working drawings were produced for the sets and miniatures!
Were there any challenges in the creation of the Hogwarts castle blueprints?
The main challenges were the changes that were made from one film to the next. Because of changing requirements in each new script, and the fact that not all of the books had been written when we initially built Hogwarts, we had to introduce new elements, such as the prison tower, Owlery, astronomy tower, viaduct and courtyards as they were required by the story. Integrating these into an existing and well-known building like Hogwarts without destroying its overall look was quite a challenge.
Today Sony have announced their plans to release a new game, Wonderbook: Book of Spells, which they have created in collaboration with J.K. Rowling. Hypable, who are at the E3 conference, report that the game has new information from Rowling including the history of spells. and that players can “visually see how ancient wizards discovered the spell.” They also say that there is brand new information in the game, they call it Encyclopedia-like.
J.K. Rowling says
Wonderbook: Book of Spells is the closest a Muggle can come to a real spellbook. I’ve loved working with Sony’s creative team to bring my spells, and some of the history behind them to life. This is an extraordinary device that offers a reading experience like no other. We’ll have more to share before it’s launch this Holiday.
A trailer for the game may be seen below thanks to TDADC and you can watch the keynote speech at this link.
Today Warner Bros. has announced that Harry Potter is coming to the Knect for XBOX 360 this coming Fall! According to the press release,
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Eurocom will cast a spell among Harry Potter fans of all ages this fall with the Harry Potter for Kinect videogame exclusively on Kinect(TM) for the Xbox 360(R) video game and entertainment system from Microsoft.
Based on all eight Harry Potter films, Harry Potter for Kinect allows players to join Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger as they embark on an unforgettable journey through Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and beyond. With Kinect’s scanning technology, for the first time ever in a Harry Potter game, players will be able to scan in their own face to create a unique witch or wizard to journey through the adventures of the film.
In addition, Kinect’s hands-free and voice recognition capabilities allow gamers to cast spells using physical maneuvers and by calling out spell names, offering an extraordinary, immersive Harry Potter experience.
“Harry Potter for Kinect will engage Harry Potter fans old and new by bringing them into the wizarding world as truly active participants,” said Samantha Ryan, Senior Vice President, Production and Development, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “Kids and parents will enjoy recreating their favorite Harry Potter adventures, from flying a broomstick in a Quidditch match, to battling pixies and duelling other wizards.”
Harry Potter for Kinect gives players the opportunity to experience some of the films’ most memorable moments, both as the relevant characters or as their own avatars, including visiting Ollivanders, choosing a house at Hogwarts, and confronting He Who Must Not Be Named in a climactic final battle. Players who master their lessons can also take on their opponents in competitive mini-games, or join forces with family and friends in co-op gameplay.
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