1. Technology
Given the large budget which was used to create films in the
harry potter series the director had the ability to use high end
and new technologies which were only recently developed
such as the troll which was completely rendered using cgi, this
scene would then once the movie was released become a
talking point and draw to the film. Another example of cgi
include the millennium bridge which is broken by death eaters
and the duel between voldemort and dumbledore at the ministry of magic which was also
used as draw for a film. These films were also an early adopter of digital recording which had
only emerged commercial a couple of years earlier in star wars the phantom menace a
couple of years before hand. This large use of technology would have encouraged people to
have come to watch the films so they could experience what
these technologies could do. The films also used real effects
amatonics extensively for a variety of things such as making
the spoons in professor snape's pots spin the use of these was
especially useful in early films when cgi had not fully matured
and their was still noticeable flaws in the technology as this
meant any animatronics looked extremely realistic examples of
this is griphon in the first third film.
Location
The central location of harry potter “hogwarts” was filmed at a
variety of different locations, in order to ensure that it appeared
as the filmmakers desired, with many of the external scenes
being taken from Gloucester Cathedral, and all of the scenes
shots of it form quidditch games being taken from Alnwick
Castle. As the series went on a large number of other scenes
were filmed in other locations such as the bridge scene at the
start of the order of the phoenix. Almost all of the shots in the
film were taken in the uk which is especially noteworthy when
taking into consideration that warner brothers the company
financing the films is an american company. This ensures that
people consider england the “home of harry potter” which
allows for the tours and other tourism spots that warner
brothers creates here to do so well. Due to constraints in
filming in real life location the crew for harry potter also made
use of studios for several scenes such as when the main characters escape from gringotts
and are in the water.
cast and crew
2. Members of the crew who did not play characters in the films would change between films
though either the publisher wishing to add new inspiration the the series or the crewmen
getting the desire to do other roles.
Directors
The harry potter films were directed by a total of 4 people over the course of the series, the
first director was Chris Columbus who directed the first two followed by Alfonso Cuaron who
directed the third film and was followed by Mike Newell who directed the forth film before
leaving the rest of the series which was finished off by David Yates.
Chris columbus
Was selected to be director for the first two films as he had already shown skill in directing
films for younger audiences having previously directed “the goonies” and “home alone” this
made him an ideal choice to deal with the young actors in earlier films as mentioned
beforehand he directed the first couple of films however did not want to direct further films
citing that he felt burnt out, so he moved to the position of producer instead.
Alfonso Cuaron
Was chosen to be the director for the third film in the franchise, he was chosen to be director
because the fancise was already established and was able to take risks when hiring people
and his skills would prove useful to help start getting the series ready for latter darker
instalments through the use of destaturating the film of colour and other methods as well as
expand the area around hogwarts.
Mike Newell
Directed the 4th film “the goblet of fire”. Newell was the first english director to take the
reigns of this franchise, one reason for this choice of actor was to try and make the film feel
more british as this was something the films were closely associated with at this point in the
series meaning if they could do this they would become more synonymous with this idea.
David Yates
Took over the series form this point though to its conclusion. He was the second british
director to take over the series and was selected due to David Heyman believing him
capable of handing the darker more edgy, emotional aspects of the later films as well as
political nature that was shown tough out them.
Actors
Daniel Radcliffe
Daniel Radcliffe was was discovered by David Heyman (producer) and the writer Steve
Kloves, when he has sitting behind him in a theater and noted he looked just like what he
wanted wanted for the role and then managed to convince Radcliffe’s parents to allow him to
audience which was then viewed by J.K Rowling who said they did not believe they was a
better choice.
3. While he as not used in the promotional material much in the first couple of films due to not
being recognized as the films when on he became more famous and as such started to take
interviews and photo shoots in order to help promote the film himself.
Emma Watson and Rupert Grint
I have grouped these two actors as they both got their roles though auditioning where they
were selected despite their only previous acting experience being form school plays.
Much like Radcliffe these two actors were not known when they started filming and as such
did not make much use in terms of promotional material but as the films progressed the
become synonymous with the roles and as such took part in large amounts of interviews and
other promotional materials.
Richard Harris
Harris played Dumbledore in the first two films before he died in 2002. He was chosen for
this role due to being easily recognizable by many adults who would be the people who take
the children to see the films as this would show them this film has a large budget and has
good talent behind it.
Dame Maggie Smith
Smith is another famous and easily recognizable actor and played professor mcgonagall
throughout the series from start to finish. She was also used to promote the film having
alongside Harries a prominent position of the poster for this film.
Alan Rickman
Rickman played Snape throughout the series. He was chosen for this role due to the ability
to play a corrupt official such as his role as the sheriff of nottingham in the prince of thieves.
He was also a well known and respected actor at this point in his career and as such was
also utilized in the marketing material for the films.
While this is all that I will mention in detail there's also a variety of other famous actors who
played roles in the films who were used to help market the films to a mass audience such as
Warwick Davis, Gary Oldman, Ralph Fiennes.
The publicity and marketing strategy.
Harry potter had a large number of factors in its favor in the earlier
films which would help to ensure that it was a success. The first of
these is that it is based off of a book series which even at the time
was hugely popular which would help gain the films a large audience
in the uk meaning success here was more than likely and if a film
became successful here it would make the film appear successful and
as such make people in other countries want to see it as well.
Secondly harry potter was created in such a way as that people could
easily become passionate about it though the setting being a school
4. something which everyone can relate to, too the 4 house based on traits which people could
relate too and argue about the virtues of. The books create a large and fantastical world
which many people wanted to be a part of and experience meaning that the films just have
to translate this to the big screen, throw this they can then create a variety of other things to
keep the audience interested in the films from one to the next such as “pottermore” a
website which allows you to discover what hogwarts house you a part of what wand you
would have e.c.t. Creating games to explore more of the wizarding
world of which there are more than 20 and a spin off series set in the
first wizarding war shows just how much synergy is used in this
franchise in order to create a group of super hardcore fans who will
buy every release of the films books and game and this put out.
The actual advertising was also very important to the success of
the harry potter franchise. The trailer for the first film made sure to
include big moments from the books such as (the boats over the
lake, the moving staircase) in order to show what a film has to
offer over the books which shows people who know of the series
the films will be a accurate recreation. The following trailers
followed this basic formula of recreating large moments from the
films to show it is still following the materials. All of the trailers uses the music piece
“hedwig's theme” which meant this song became iconic and synonymous with harry potter
meaning causal fans would recognize it if a trailer came on tv and
would keep them from switching over. Towards the end of these
trailers they would show off the host of famous actors who would
be showcasing their skills with in the film to help incase the films
mass appeal to those who follow particular actors works. The
trailers are also tailored for which region they will be shown in with
one example being how cho is shown much more prominently with
in the chinese version of the trailer as this would allow the
audience here to better connect with the film though having a
character who is like themself. Trailers were not the only form of
advertisement which was used by the franchise with other being
posters such as those which could have been seen on the side of
busses, newspapers, magazines, as well as extras on the dvds
which would give a hint at the next film to ensure people who liked one would look forwards
for the next. In terms of advertising through social media the earlier films did not do so as
social media had not taken off fully and many filmmakers had not fully embraced its use
however it started to use social media such as facebook and twitter for the later films in order
to better communicate with their audience.
