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It's from Hogwarts, the school for wizards, and
it is addressed to a certain "Mr H. Potter, The Cupboard under
the Stairs, 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey".
It was "the very first prop that I got to design on 'The
Philosopher's Stone' and the whole series, rather naively
thinking that it would just be one simple envelope," Mina told
Reuters. "Of course we required many, many (more)."
Tuesday marks 20 years since the release of the film "Harry
Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" ("Sorcerer's Stone" in the
United States and some other countries). The story of how its
young stars were catapulted to global stardom has often been
told. But for a generation of other creative professionals it
was also the beginning of a long, fantastical journey, building
author J.K. Rowling's magical world.
Just like the characters in the films, they found themselves at
a strange place a train-ride from London - Britain's Leavesden
Studios - where they learned to make magic.
"The studios became a kind of Hogwarts, a place where people
came in and learnt their craft through the 10 years of being
involved," said Mina.
Rowling's books were already a sensation before the first film
was shot, and the filmmakers knew they had to make the magic
look real.
"How do you fly people around on broomsticks to play a game, you
know, with a chasing a ball and they're 40 feet in the air and
they're children?" recalls Nick Davis, visual effects supervisor
on the movie.
Eight "Harry Potter" movies went on to gross $7.8 billion, and a
third instalment in the "Fantastic Beasts" spin-off film series
is coming soon.
Filmgoers these days are used to seeing fantastical worlds
conjured up with computer-generated imagery. But for those who
worked on director Chris Columbus's original vision of Harry
Potter, the film was special because so many effects were
achieved the analogue way, using sets, props and models built by
hand, and a sprinkling of old-fashioned movie magic.
"This was 21 years ago, CGI wasn't quite where it is today and
we wanted to get as much reality into everything we did,"
explained special effects supervisor John Richardson.
"Chris was really up for that and I think it's why those first
films have got so much reality to them and the magic. Because
everything we could do in camera, we did."
With child actors being taught their regular lessons off camera
by teachers in tents, Leavesden became quite literally a school.
Davis recalled the moment he finally saw hundreds of kids, all
wearing their costume gowns, take their seats on the huge studio
set of the Great Hall.
"Oh my God, you -- we're in Hogwarts."
(Reporting by Mindy Burrows; Writing by Marie-Louise Gumuchian;
Editing by Peter Graff)
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