EXCLUSIVE: ‘Hogwarts in the Snow’ Returns to Warner Bros Studio Tour!
Nov 12, 2015
Events, Exclusives, Films, News, Props-Sets, Warner Bros.
Today (12th November), The Leaky Cauldron was lucky enough to be invited along to the very special (and exclusive) opening event for the annual Hogwarts in the Snow feature at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London: The Making of Harry Potter.
So many brilliant additions were made to the tour to make it as festive as possible, and these extra details, on top of the already amazing sets and props, made the night so much more magical.
Not only that, but the excitement of Fantastic Beasts being filmed just across the river is a comforting promise that the films aren’t over yet!
Various VIP guests attended the event, including Tom Fletcher (Mcfly), Nadiya Hussain (The Great British Bake-Off), Rod Stewart and Dynamo.
This feature is absolutely not to be missed, and if our word isn’t enough, we’re bringing you photos from the event to prove it!
As you arrive at the tour, you are greeted by the amazing Harry Potter soundtrack (giving you goosebumps before you’ve even picked up your tickets!), and Mr Weasley’s trusty old flying Ford Anglia.
This is also where the Hogwarts in the Snow experience begins. In the centre of the foyer, surrounded the photos of the cast, is a huge snow-dusted Christmas tree:
You are then taken through to the studio’s cinema, where you are reminded by Dan Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint about the magic of Harry Potter, the global phenomenon it has become, and the family created over the long years the cast and crew spent growing up on set. It’s enough to make anybody teary-eyed!
Then it’s time to enter the Great Hall. Wreaths are hung upon the beautiful doors, and statues surround the walls, giving a mere inkling of the level of detail you are to expect from the rest of the tour.
The authentic costumes of the Hogwarts Professors greet you at the back of the hall (a luminescent Dumbledore instantly catches your eye), and the Hogwarts house uniforms surround the walls. The stone floor below your feet at this point is the original stone used in the process of filming Harry Potter!
The Christmas trees surrounding The Great Hall, and the authentic-looking artificial festive food laid out on the huge tables, are an excellent addition to an already breathtaking set. What is best about the newer props added for this feature is the level of detail put in to make the Hall feel as homely as possible. As soon as you start to look around the room, you can appreciate exactly why the films give you that lovely nostalgic feeling of going home. The level of work put into each and every prop and costume to create the perfect atmosphere is absolutely amazing.
From tree-toppers:
To flaming Christmas Puddings (effects like these are produced by gas pipes running under tables and along the floor):
To Christmas cakes and House-themed Christmas crackers and gift boxes:
This room has it all and so much more, so make sure to stick around a while to take it all in!
Next it’s on to Production. My favourite part of this is Hair and Makeup, which giving you a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes of the actors’ appearances:
I love how the desks are laid out with wigs, latex, glue, lists, a box of ‘teeth’ and a profile photo of Bonnie Wright – just like the set is still being used. The way sets, props and departments are arranged along the tour is another of the reasons why it never fails to excite – the process of filming is so easy to imagine when you’ve got what it took right in front of you!
This drinks centre-piece from the Yule Ball is another of my favourites. It looks so magical and festive!
Another great feature is the Goblet of Fire, just past the gates to Hogwarts. The goblet sets alight and can be opened out or shut back up again. It’s mind-boggling to see the talent that goes into making some of the more technical props, and the level of detail and engineering in props like this amazes me.
Other notable features in this area include the Fat Lady’s portrait, the Mirror of Erised (which you can take a photo in) and Hogwarts’ giant pendulum. The scale of these features is astounding, drawing attention to the care taken to achieve realistic effects.
The Gryffindor Male Dorm Room is fully decorated, and adorned with tinsel to add to the Christmas vibe, as well as the Gryffindor Common Room looking even more festive than usual:
The tapestries and murals on the walls at the tour are another of the special additions to give visitors an idea of the level of detail in the film-making process. A personal favourite of mine is the Chamber of Secrets mural outside the toilets next to the Visual Effects section. It was hand painted by Andrew Williamson over the course of nine days this year (29 June – 7 July 2015):
A few other highlights from around the set section include Making Snow and Fire tutorials:
Dumbledore’s Office:
The door to the Chamber of Secrets:
And the kitchen at The Burrow:
Then it’s on to the Visual Effects section, where you can test your skills with a wand, look at how flying effects were produced, and even have a go at flying a broom (in the snow) and the Ford Anglia yourself!
After this, it’s time to visit the tour’s newest attraction: The Hogwarts Express!
Considering most visitors probably will have come from London train stations to get to the tour, the replica Platform 9 and 3/4 within Kings-Cross station bears striking resemblance to the (almost) real thing.
There is also a Railway Shop on site, and the option to have a photo inside interactive carriages of the Hogwarts Express.
Again, the arrangement of the set to look as realistic as possible is stunning. The sweets left on seats, the costumed mannequins and trolley of sweets gives you the feeling you’re really on the Hogwarts Express (which you are!).
I particularly liked the inverted R + L heart from Lavender Brown in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Round the corner are the costumes of Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Ron in the ‘Nineteen-Years-Later’ scene on Platform 9 and 3/4, and a Graphic Design display:
Outside in the backlot, you have the option of purchasing Butterbeer from one of only three places in the world that sell the real deal. It’s delicious, and you can also now purchase it in ice-cream form! (I’d go with both).
The Knight Bus greets you, along with other sets such as the Hogwarts Bridge, 4 Privet Drive and the Potters’ house in Godric’s Hollow.
The ‘snow’ outside at this event really adds to the festive vibe, and makes the Potters’ House look less gloomy and more mysterious and magical than ever.
The Special Effects department is another of my favourites, giving you an insight into make-up, props and animatronics that you might never have guessed were so technical!
Again, the arrangement of desks like they’re still being used to make the props adds a great dimension to the tour – you feel as though you’re suddenly a part of the film-making process, connecting you even more to the film series.
When you finally approach Diagon Alley, you feel just like Harry in The Philosopher’s Stone. The shops make you want to run wild, the lighting is perfectly warm and inviting (much alike the Great Hall) and the amount of things to see is endless!
Next up is the Design department. The concept art will make you insanely jealous of the artistic ability of the people involved in the film-making process:
The mini-figures are absolutely breath-taking. The attention to detail is impressive even in comparison to the rest of the tour – you can really see why the films turned out as well as they did. Part of the beauty of the tour is that the crew behind the cameras are allowed to express their talents to visitors, and visually show fractions of the hard work that went into the making of the films.
HOGWARTS SPOILERS AHEAD:
After you’ve been thoroughly impressed by Design, it’s time for the main event.
Turning the corner, Harry In Winter by Patrick Doyle begins to play, and – completely in awe – you come across an intricate scale model of Hogwarts castle in the snow.
It’s well worth visiting whilst it’s decorated like this. Not just for the castle, but for all the little extras the team at the Studio Tour add to the sets to give the homely festive feelings the films so excellently evoke.
Without the snow (for comparison):
The castle is surrounded by interactive boards, which tell you more about how the model was used to shoot film scenes of Hogwarts, and more on its construction (which took 80 model makers over 7 months!). From the website:
‘The crew updated it over the years when the story required it (the bridge was added for Prisoner of Azkaban, the Owlery for Goblet of Fire, and the Astronomy Tower for Half-Blood Prince), and the model was used for nearly every exterior shot of Hogwarts seen in the first six Harry Potter films. The specialist work was so detailed that it would have taken one person more than 74 years to complete!’
This truly is the most magical part of the tour, and I’d recommend you spend a long time appreciating just how perfect the model is, and get loads of photos!
Even the gift shop at the end of the tour is immaculately presented. Almost like a set itself, you pass through Olivander’s wand shop (where you are reminded that around 17,000 wand boxes were inscribed by hand for the films), to reach the best place to buy yourself and others amazing presents. Wands, sweets, plush toys, mugs, keyrings, robes, notebooks, pens, house jumpers and t-shirts – you name it, I bet they’ve got it!
Hogwarts in the Snow will be running from today (13th November) until Sunday 31st January 2016. It’s such an amazing experience, and we at Leaky would definitely recommend visiting!
More information can be found on the event’s page here, and tickets can be purchased here. The guided option of the tour is narrated by Tom Felton, and this is definitely recommended if you want to know the inside-out details of the film-making process as you walk around the tour.
We’d like to say a huge thank you to Warner Bros. for inviting us to this special event – it was an absolutely amazing evening, and we hope everybody else enjoys Hogwarts in the Snow as much as we did!