As you’ve probably already read, the upcoming movie featuring the wizarding world’s most famous young wizard has seemed to captivate the muggle world. One of the reasons for this muggle infatuation is the unique nature of the wizarding world; many items we take for granted in our everyday lives, the muggles sadly do not possess in theirs. One such event is the popular wizarding game of Quidditch. Quidditch is similar to a very popular muggle sport, football, but seems to be slightly more interesting to muggles because it is played while flying on broomsticks—a trick they, of course, cannot perform. For the new Harry Potter films (for more on the basics of a film, please see What is a Film?, pg 6; for more on the actual film, please see Wizarding World makes it to the Big Screen, pg 1), muggles have had to try their best to imitate the art of flying. Amazingly, they have managed it rather well, through the use of what muggles often refer to as their own form of “magic”—Computer generated special effects. We’ve already described to you the basics of a film; but here we will look at how “special effects” are created to simulate almost perfectly the wizarding form of flying—making it appear that the actors in the Harry Potter films are actually enjoying the sport of Quidditch almost as much as we really do. Actors on the films begin with what all wizards begin with…broomsticks. The difference is, their broomsticks are really just fancier version of their own cleaning equipment, and have no magical powers whatsoever—they simple look brilliant. The actors and their stunt doubles (muggles who look similar to the actors, but are placed within dangerous filming situations to ensure the real actors don’t get hurt) are filmed on the standing broomsticks, or on broomsticks hanging with wires. Both types of broomstick action is filmed in front of what is known as a “green screen”—a muggle backdrop that is of a bright green color. The Green Screen will allow the muggles to later insert images of the field behind the actors during the final stages of filmmaking, in a manner that is similar to conjuring up a false background behind a wizard, or using an illusion spell. The actors are filmed in all situations and positions that might be used during a real Quidditch match, including flying side to side, up and down, and spinning around. The film of the actors on their broomsticks is then taken and loaded into a computer. A computer, to put it simply, is a box created by muggle companies which allows them to manipulate the film images, as a wizard might do when he rearranges the position of items in his house with his wand. Wizards have very little need for such things as computers, because we possess magic which can help us take of ordinary little things in our lives. But muggles, who are not so blessed, have a need for objects that might simplify their lives and make their daily tasks get completed faster. The computer takes the film images, and allows the muggle moviemakers to manipulate them. They can create and place backgrounds, such as a Quidditch pitch, onto the Green Screen behind the actors, and they can erase cumbersome, unnecessary images, such as the wires on the broomsticks, from the shots. They can also manipulate the shots to turn them sideways, backwards, and upside down, so that it appears the actors are flying at amazing angles when, in actuality, they were not. Many of the shots on broomsticks for the first two Harry Potter films were done in this manner; a few were completely drawn within the computer (this technique is called CGI, or computer generated imaging). Like most forms of movie “magic”, this technique allows muggles to use their imaginations and create situations they might not have been able to film. CGI and actual shots of the actors can also be overlayed; images of Harry chasing down the Golden Snitch was actually an impressive blend of CGI (which explained its golden, rather than silver, wings), and real film shots of actor Daniel Radcliffe. Even the actors are CGI’d at times, if there are situations it would be difficult to film an actor doing on wires or standing broomsticks. Some of Wood’s “goal-protecting” in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was actually CGI images of muggle actor Sean Biggerstaff. The second Harry Potter movie featured a vast improvement in special effects for the Quidditch sequences; muggles tend to develop new and innovative special effects in a rather short period of time. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets had much cleaner CGI and better graphic shots. As in its predecessors, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban features only one Quidditch match, but this one should triply impressive, as filmmakers have selected the match played in the rain. Pre-movie “clips” (small segments of the film used to entice Muggle audiences to attend opening weekend) show fantastic shots of Muggle actor Daniel Radcliffe, who plays Harry, falling through a cloudy sky as a Dementor chases after him. The image is quite frightening and appears to be an even more impressive use of special effects. Of course, only upon seeing the film will we really be able to tell. All we do know is, although muggles can’t really fly on broomsticks, using their muggle technologies, imaginations, and directorial eyes, they can come rather close! Quidditch Scores British National Teams: Appleby Arrows (2-3): Off Caerphilly Catapults(3-4) d. Ballycastle Bats (1-3): 300-120 Chudley Cannons (1-4): Off Falmouth Falcons(4-2) vs. Holyhead Harpies (1-3) (ongoing…tune into “The Daily Prophet” and Max Macgame’s Magical Sports All Night for continuing coverage) Kenmare Kestrels (3-2) d. Wigtown Wanderers (2-2): 150-140 Kenmare Keeper Surchase: 15 saves Montrose Magpies (2-4) l. Wimbourne Wasps (3-2): 100-190 Wimbourne Chaser Smith 100 points. Pride of Portree (4-1) d. Tutshill Tornadoes (3-4): 370-300 Puddlemere United (5-0): Off Hogwarts standings: Unchanged until June matches |