Warner Bros. Film Studio Tour Evaluation

   On Tuesday 11th December our Media class took a trip to the Warner Bros. Film Studio in Leavesdon, London for a tour of the making of the famous Harry Potter films. We went on this trip to gain more knowledge on how the film comes together from script to screen.
   It was a very exciting day filled with interesting facts about the movies and I learnt things I never knew before! It was an amazing experience. Firstly we took a tour of the settings that were used in the Harry Potter films which included the main dinner hall at Hogwarts, the Griffyndoor common room, certain class rooms and Dumbledoors office! It was amazing to see how the sets were put together and then made to look realistic when on screen. We then had  lesson on Script to Screen with a man called Will.
   The lesson was very intriguing as we were told things about the film and how it is made that we never knew before. He told us how much planning goes into these films, for example when making Hagrids Hut it wasn't built from scratch. Set designers had to make many drafts and sketches of their ideas before deciding what it was going to look like exactly. Then from the sketches they had to create set models. A set model is literally a miniture version of the real thing. With the set models they can also test what angles to shoot from. Once the director is happy with the design, layout and the model they then go on to creating the real set.
   He also told us the process of how the script transfers onto the screen. The script is taken and then created into images on a storyboard. A storyboard shows the film scene by scene. It shows every camera angle and movement. We was shown and example. Will had a part of the script and then a storyboard that was made to go with it. He showed us exactly how it transformed on to the screen by reading through the script and looking through the storyboard.

10 highlights of the studio tour:

• Walking through the dinner hall where Daniel Radcliffe had been!
• Seeing the actual sets used in the film
• The lesson on script to screen, it was very intriguing.
• Dressing up in a robe and sitting on the broomstick!
• Holding Harry Potters wand
• Sitting in the flying car
• Seeing how the props were made
• Viewing the concept art
• Seeing the large model of Hogwarts, absolutely breathtaking!
• The overall experience of the entire day.
   

From this experience I have gained skills and knowleged that will be very useful to me for the rest of this course. I now know how to transfer scrip to screen and how it all works behind the scenes. I also know how important planning is.