Back in the half term holiday, we had a jolly excursion down to the Harry Potter Studio Tour, courtesy of my (Ben's) sister who got us a family ticket as an xmas pressie. It had actually been on our to-do list anyway, so the tickets finally gave us the chance to go.
We started with the Great Hall...
Being as we're both creative types, it was amazing to see so many practical builds and things. And stuff we'd quite like in our house to be honest, though the above might look a little out of place in our suburban terrace...
Naturally I was drawn to all the supporting stuff; the concept model of the great hall was stunning, and a taster of what was to come later...
Something else we'd like in the house, if the house was replaced with a castle...
We both loved the Ministry of Magic design in the films; basically we'd love green and red tiles somewhere. More surprising to realise not only was it all polished wood, but that the interior contents were consequently made from card and other lightweight materials because of the wooden set construction. It all looks completely convincing, and a testament to the skill of the production team.
Yep, I can get in some train photography anywhere...
Actually this completed an ambition from a few years ago; the first year the kids moved in we were meant to see the loco run near the house on a railtour, we turned out with The Childs in tow, stood by the lineside... and the loco had been withdrawn as a fire-risk so we never got to see it. Very impressively displayed and lit here. Managed to avoid the temptation to buy a toy of it... though didn't manage to avoid buying a mug and a tea towel however.
Down Diagon Alley, which was pleasantly like York (one of the inspirations).
The bit which The Childs were least interested in, and consequently less than amused at how enthralled we were. The recreation of one of the design offices...
...the plans and blueprints...
...and the works of art which were the concept models.
Which paled into insignificance when presented with the absolute belter of a model which ends the tour. It's beautiful, and a simply superb bit of miniature work. I tend to dislike CGI in films, but do slightly more approve of them building models to shoot and use as the basis. This model is utterly amazing and very, very large.
So thoughts on it all? The tour was brilliant, very interesting to people like us interested in all the behind-the-scenes production and design aspects. It's terrific that so much of this stuff was saved after the films were made and put on display. The Childs were entertained and madly into it all, and the quality of stuff in the gift shops very good indeed. All in all a very nice day out indeed... thanks Sis for the tickets :)
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