Wouldn't you like to know? The staff of The Quibbler mingled about Diagon Alley, asking random witches and wizards if they knew what a “film” was. We received many thoughtful and thoughtless answers—none of which were correct. And no, Mr. Fox, a film is not “a flamboyant muggle man dressed in pink and green polka-dotted pantyhose”. If you’ve browsed the pages of The Quibbler, you may have noticed that some of the images present on certain pages don’t move. This is because we have used some muggle images in this issue as well. Like the wizarding world, the muggle world also needs entertainment, but as they are far behind the advancements in the wizarding world, they have a slightly different method of making pictures move. As most of us know, a camera in the wizarding world will capture a whole event with the simple click of a button, which results in our moving pictures. However, muggles must use their amateur video cameras and stand still through the prolongation of the whole event that they wish to record, or film. The events are recorded on what muggles call ‘film reels’. The still pictures present in some of the articles in this issue are the result of developing a single frame of a film reel. The process of film development for muggles is very much similar to that of witches and wizards, save muggles rarely lose their necks due to paper cuts from pictures with particularly violent or overexcited people in them. Now it is evident that muggles are capable of creating moving pictures, but ordinary muggles make very unprofessional versions of these moving pictures. In order for an event recorded on a video camera to actually seem real, a muggle director is needed. A director is like a muggle wizard—except not really since they do not exist. By shouting simple one-word commands and flailing his or her arms about, things are done and the finished product of what is recorded on the video camera is then called a film. Seeing as ordinary muggles are not very good at making moving pictures, they actually pay to view these films, or movies, which last for only about two hours each, but were made in the span of a year, and oftentimes even longer than a year. Also, each year, certain events are held to praise the best movies made that year, one of which is usually the film regarding the adventures of a certain Mr. Harry Potter. “That’s stupid,” Mr. DeeDee says, whom we ran into near Knockturn Alley. “Why should muggles praise their stupid moving pictures and then get paid money, among other things, for being praised and noticed? If that were the case, every witch and wizard with fingers to operate a wizard’s camera ought to be drowning in mountains of galleons!” However, the mere ability to capture moving moments on film is not what makes a film worthy of praise. The plot, no doubt, has a lot to do with the success of a film, but special effects (what makes magic seem real to muggles) as well as actors’ ability to act (to make the film seem real), as well as a film’s appeal to its viewers are all factors that must be taken into account in designating a film ‘praiseworthy’. Besides that, muggles must put forth more effort than a wizard must in order to make pictures move. Apparently, the ability to make a film seem real is quite important in the development of a film. Still, the wizarding world is quite fake to muggles, yet Mr. Potter’s story is extremely well known and popular among muggles everywhere. Why? The answer: Imagination. Muggles thrive off imagination, among other things, and are on a constant quest to improve their world—perhaps improve it so much that they may be able to make their world just like select science-fiction (sci-fi) or fantasy, a category the wizarding world falls under, movies. The muggles aren’t quite there yet, but perhaps some day. |