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Special Effects Lend Great Detail to "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"

OotP Film
Posted by: Sue
August 21, 2007, 03:11 PM

Over the years we have told you about the special effects used in the Harry Potter movies, and today we have more as there is an excellent new feature online which details at length the many processes and effects used in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This lengthy and very technical feature spotlights many of the sequences in the fifth Harry Potter film, noting on details such as Grawp (“A team of nine animators worked on the character animation, making continuity and consistency a high priority”), certain effects in the film such as Ginny’s Reducto spell in the Ministry (“Dynamite was used to drive the collapse and break-up of the shelves, along with the animation of the spheres and stands that crash to the floor in a myriad of splintered shards”), and even pivotal scenes such as the encounter between Bellatrix and Sirius at the Veil (“Bellatrix’s wand attack on Sirius used fluid dynamics and displacement effects to create a uniquely aggressive version of the Avada Kedavara spell with its characteristic green cast. To emphasise the dreadful effect on Sirius, Gary Oldman’s skin colour was progressively drained over several shots leaving him pale and ashen, clouding was added to his eyes imparting a blank, dead look.”)

A fair number of companies were involved in creating the many various special effects seen in “Order of the Phoenix,” and while we have previously posted here on TLC portions found in this article before, such as the feature on Kreacher from Framestore CFC, this new article from fxguide details the fine and meticulous work done by other companies such as Double Negative, Rising Sun Pictures, MPC, and Framestore CFC. One company summarizes their involvement with the Harry Potter films, with the following excerpt from the article:

Over a period of 19 months Double Negative fielded a team of well over 250 artists, developers and technicians to deliver approximately 950 finished VFX shots for the film, a record for any one vendor in the history of the Harry Potter film series. “This was a unique opportunity for us to get involved at a very early stage on one of the largest visual effects projects in the world,” comments Paul Franklin. “It was a privilege to work so closely with the Harry Potter production team and I believe that the outstanding work produced by our artists will help raise our profile to the highest possible level.”

Thanks very much Chance!

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20 Comments

anne

LOL Graymayne, I agree!

Posted by anne on August 22, 2007, 11:20 AM report to moderator
sheesh

i really love the speciL effects in Order of the Pheonix and the other movies so i can’t wait for this

Posted by sheesh on August 22, 2007, 02:41 PM report to moderator
savannah

There was good special effects they looked soooooo real and amazing

Posted by savannah on August 22, 2007, 04:49 PM report to moderator
masha

The special effects were amazing!!! I thought the film was great and the effects were brilliant!!!

Posted by masha on August 22, 2007, 05:27 PM report to moderator
Dumblemort

The movie is great, and it is my favorite of the HP movies. It definitely captured the heart and soul of the book. The acting was great from everyone this time (even though Emma was a bit shaky, and Katie wasn’t fantastic, but they still did fine). I wasn’t upset at all about Sirius being hit by AK. btw, the look that was captured in his eyes was a PERFECT representation of the book scene. The look in his eyes in the film when he died was exactly how I imagined it in the book.

btw, grapes, I loved the shaky camera, too. It really added tension to the scene when Harry was going after Bellatrix, and also when Harry and Dudley were running. Whenever I become a director, I’ll probably use the shaky-technique often, but I wouldn’t overdo it (not saying Yates did, but some filmmakers who use it do over-use it). I mean, if the shaky effect is used a LOT in a film, then it wouldn’t be so exciting and tense to see.

Posted by Dumblemort on August 23, 2007, 01:37 AM report to moderator
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