I couldn’t believe my luck when I went to talk to a lady with magical connections; Jessica Lewington, (otherwise known as Jess), the assistant studio manageress of Leavesden Film Studios where the Harry Potter film was made, ( Released on November 16th). Jess was amused by my enthusiasm as I asked her the following questions;
"What do you do in your job as a manageress?"
"That's a huge question! Well, we have a site here of about a hundred acres. Warner Bros. are renting the entire site to make Harry Potter, and as they have taken a lease on the whole site they need someone to look after the buildings. That’s what the studio manager and I do. We have a team of three permanent maintenance people: a maintenance supervisor, an electrician and a plumber. Basically we are here to see that the buildings stay standing, but also to provide ventilation, heat, light or anything else to the flexispace (which is space that can be used for anything). We also provide the basics for the sound stages, as well as the offices, canteen and workshops. We also need to prepare the spaces and clean them."
"How many tiers of people does it take to make a film?"
"Hundreds. In Harry Potter it started with someone getting the film rights, and that person became the producer. He is at the top of the tree and will organise everything starting with the production manager who employs the rest of the team. There are a lot of departments involved; props, painting, carpentry, scenery, set dressing, metalwork and props manufacturing departments are a few, but there are hundreds. The production manager or producer will choose the head of each. As well as that there are publicity, accounts and lots more; it’s a huge process. When we were at full stretch there were maybe 500 people working on this film, and with all the children, over a 1000. The children were the largest logistic problem because we had over 400 of them when we were doing the big Great Hall scenes. There was a chaperone and a tutor for every twelve children. They had to continue schooling whilst they were working on the film, because of the law. There are so many safety issues involving children as well. Most films will not employ so many people because the wages side of a budget is extremely high; the wages proportion of the budget of Harry Potter would be very large I think. How many you employ depends on the level of detail you want in the film and whether you want the best of the best people.
"Have you any tips on how to get into a job like yours?"
"I get CVs in all the time, it depends what you want to get into. My role is the same no matter what the film, i.e. problem solving, I have to be capable, I have to have a knowledge of film, but it's more day to day organisation. Most people start off as a runner; someone who carries messages, goes and buys things and are generally the bottom of the hierarchy of film life. To get anywhere from there you have to show enthusiasm and capability, as so many people want to do the job. The way to get in is by association; if you get to know someone in the business they can recommend you. However I get CVs from people who have done voluntary work on small budget films, or did a lot of theatre at school; and not just to become a runner, to become a costume designer or a props manufacturer. The best thing to do is get involved with theatre at school, film school or local theatre groups if you want to get into the business. The more experience the better. There are lots of other roles as well, publicity, secretaries, accountants, co-ordinators, etc so you don't have to have a complete knowledge of film. You can use other skills as well."
"Could you get into acting that way?"
"With acting I'm not so sure, I'm not really involved, but start soon as you can, local theatre groups etc. and work your way up."
"Where there many famous films shot here at Leavesden Studios?
"Yeah, well this is a funny old site. It was built in the Second World War as an air base and plane manufacturing site and then Rolls Royce owned it for a long time, manufacturing engines. Aeon productions who make the James Bond films bought it in 1994 to make Goldeneye and then another company who turned it into a running studio and added lots of the big features, bought it. You can have several productions on at one time and that's how it got money; from renting out different areas to different films. The other big films we've made are; Mortal Combat, Star Wars Episode 1, The Beach, Sleepy Hollow, of course Goldeneye and Harry Potter. That’s all I think of. But that’s a lot for only seven years."
"Are a lot of films made locally?"
"Yes, in this area you've got us (Leavsden), Park Street, Pinewood, (Tomb raider was made there) Earl Street and Sheperton so there are a lot of studios in the north and west of London."
"How long do films take to shoot? How many would be done in a year?"
"Films vary in length. This film was started in May last year; this is a long film to shoot. Between six months and a year is an average sort of time."
"What qualifications do you need to get into a managing position in the film industry?"
"It depends what you want to do. I have got a degree in English and Media Studies but I can't say it helps me a great deal. It means I can write nice letters. Some people take a lot of notice of it and some people don't. Some people would ask, 'Have they got a degree in Media Studies and where did they go to study it?', whereas others would say, 'Have they got a lot of experience? I want them if they have shown they can do the job and do it well', if you see what I mean. It depends how quickly you want to get into it. If I hadn't got my degree I wouldn't have got my previous job and wouldn’t have this one now. But I use my experience more than my degree. My boss always laughs at me if I mention my degree. There are a lot of courses you can do nowadays if you want to get into design or manufacturing aspects of film, for example mask making or prop making, especially at colleges etc."
"How would you create different locations within the studio?"
"It's a long process. With Harry Potter for example, it started off with the book being broken down into a script by a writer. Then the art department and production designer read the script and interpreted it, worked out what locations were needed, what scenes were needed and what sets were needed; what needed to be built basically. Then he created various designs, which were then approved by people who were involved. Then it was modified on paper and the final design was drawn on big blue paper; like an architectural drawing and sent to the construction dept, the carpentry dept, props and all the different departments and they all made their part of it. It was all put together to make the finished set. For special effects it was the same process; the special effects dept interpreted the script and worked on the special effects until again everyone involved approved them. Then they were done on the day; with a lot of practice first."
"Are animals in films real or are they special effects? In this film I assume animals are involved, so what's the situation there?"
"On this film the animals used were owls, cats and dogs. There were three Neapolitan Mastiffs who played Fang (Hagrid the gamekeeper's Boar hound) and they were huge, slobbery and disgusting and very real. There were a load of cats who were big and kind of feral looking who played Mrs Norris (the caretaker's cat) and a lot of owls. The owls were gorgeous; they came here as chicks last year and grew as they were here; all types; barn owls, snowy owls, eagle owls who were enormous. They trained them in the main flexispace so you'd be walking through on your way to somewhere and whoosh! (She did a creditable impression of a steam train). They would fly past you. They were trying to get them used to people. The small animals were real, but the larger, more fantastical animals like Fluffy (the giant three headed dog who guards the entrance to the secret hiding place of the philosopher's stone) weren’t. Fluffy was a giant paw; he swipes one of them, but the rest of him was computer animated. Rather like walking with dinosaurs; a combination of models and computer animation."
"Will there be a second Harry Potter film?"
"Yes, it said on film 2001 that production for the second one has already started. I don't know if there will be one for each book, but Harry Potter 2 will be the second book as it stands. I've been so involved on this one that I don't really know. I would imagine that Harry Potter 2 would be out a year after the first one; in time for next Christmas maybe."
"How much would a film like Harry Potter cost to make?"
"A lot of money. I don't know exactly, it's always reported in the papers as about £100,000,000 but Titanic was $200,000,000, so I don't think Harry Potter's as much as that. But it's probably the biggest film ever to be made in this country. After all Harry Potter is world famous, especially in America where it's huge."
"Have you met J K Rowling?"
"I have seen her, but I haven't been introduced to her. She was here a lot at the beginning to make sure the designs and props were as she envisaged them. And everyone was willing to help make sure that everything was perfect.
Jess had promised me a tour around the studios and I was definitely looking forward to seeing the sets. First she explained something odd about the studios.
" The floor is 8 feet thick and gets very cold as a result. It used to be the factory floor for making aeroplanes and engines before the site became the studios."
She led me into a large hanger and I could see the walls stretching away either side of me. There would certainly be room to build quite expansive sets in there. She told me that the children's classrooms were here, as well as their costume and makeup departments. "They would go into the tent as schoolchildren and come out as Wizards." If only education were that easy! All the children were from local schools, apart from those who appear often in the film, who are from stage school.
We continued through the hangers until we were walking past huge amounts of scaffolding or "rigging". As we turned the corner I realised I was standing in Diagon Alley, the magical wizarding street in London. The effect was amazing, even with the set in it's undressed state, without any props or lighting. I was astounded to learn that it was all made out of plaster apart from the cobbled street. It curved upwards complete with all the shops from the book, leaning in drunken unreal positions. In the film people wave out of upstairs windows to each other. Earth had been compacted into the slope and the cobbles set into it. At the far end of Diagon Alley was the twisted, pillared doorway to Gringotts Bank…. just the doorway; the rest was computer animation. The next stop was the Great Hall.
I was led up to a huge pair of double doors covered in gilt and as they swung open I saw an image from my imagination when I had first read the books. There were four long refectory tables, which had been bashed and stained then heavily polished to give a wonderful school furniture look. (See older exam tables for reference.) Facing me at the end of the hall was a raised platform where the teacher's table stood, with Dumbledor's chair directly in line with the doors. Above was a "stained glass window", and to one side stood the set of tubes where the house points were measured. A giant blackened fireplace was to the right, and lining the walls were giant animals holding lamps. These were lit with open flames in the film. The emblem of each house was represented by these animals: a badger for Hufflepuff, a giant bird for Ravenclaw, a lion for Griffandor and a snake for the last and most infamous house, Slytherin. The Griffandor table was the one on the right near the centre isle.
Altogether, even without the hordes of schoolchildren or laden tables it was still an amazing sight.
Again the whole thing was plaster apart from the paving, which was real stone to magnify the footsteps.
I was told about the owls and enchanted ceiling, then I looked up and was disappointed to find that it was just a mass of scaffolding and lights.
"The enchanted ceiling is computer animated" Jess explained. "The owls swoop down over the heads of the children and are trained to fly to Harry, giving a good dramatic effect. They come in through a hole up there." She pointed to a hole near the ceiling above the door. "Safety is a huge problem. In case of fire we need to be able to evacuate very quickly. We once did it in less than two minutes, and that’s impressive for so many children. When Griffandor win the house cup at the end of the film everyone throws his or her hats in the air. And fire's a problem then, especially as most kids were trying to throw their hats into the flaming torches!"
We then set off to see the Forbidden Forest. On the way I saw a helicopter to one side of the main hanger. I asked whether it was made here, and Jess laughed. " Yes it was! But not out of what you would expect. It's a wonderful creation from the props department, it's made of plaster and tubing with a lawnmower motor to turn the blades.
We walked up to it. "It's from Goldeneye," she informed me. The Goldeneye helicopter wasn’t real? The truth was revealed! I reached up to its dust-covered surface and added to the graffiti by writing, "Sue woz here" with my finger. (Well, a girl's got to have some fun!)
The forest and the lake scene were the same set. When Hagrid was rowing them across the moat, the action took place in a giant tank with "bluescreen" around it. This acted as a canvas for computer animated scenes. For the forest shots the tank was filled with earth and giant fibreglass and plaster (again) trees were "planted" in it. The smaller trees were real. There were masses of twisted roots all over the set, with a fallen trunk and a big broken tree in a clearing beneath which the Unicorn died. (It could have been my imagination but did I see a silvery shimmer on the ground just there? Maybe not!). The whole thing was covered with ground mist and lighting effects during shooting, but it was pretty overpowering and spooky even in the ordinary light. Fir cones and forest debris covered the ground.
Then we saw the bluescreen studio within which any background can be created for the film. There was a programmable camera to take "moving" shots of broomsticks. It whizzed along the studio floor on its tracks and made a huge noise. The idea was that it moved instead of the broomsticks, which in reality were stuck on poles and fitted with seats for comfort. The children sometimes had to spend a very long time up in the air. To prevent the young wizards from falling there were harnesses suspended from the ceiling. I saw the storyboard for a quidditch scene. It was drawn using computer animation instead of drawn by hand, as is usual practice, as most of the scene was computer animated anyway. Overhead there were linen bags containing lights suspended near the roof to produce a realistic daylight effect. This was better than "daylight bulbs" as they were less blue. However there was a high fire risk.
Now that the film is out, I hope this interview will give you a valuable insite to the production of this first of many harry potter films!
Here is the cast of the film
Harry Potter - Daniel Radcliffe
Ron Weasley - Rupert Grint
Hermione Granger - Emma Watson
Rubeus Hagrid - Robbie Coltrane
Uncle Dursley - Richard Griffiths
Aunt Petunia - Fiona Shaw
Percy Weasley - Chris Rankin
Oliver Wood - Sean Biggerstaff
Sorting Hat (voice) - Leslie Phillips
Hedwig - Ook
Professor Severus Snape - Alan Rickman
Professor Minerva McGonagall - Dame Maggie Smith
Peeves the Poltergeist - Rik Mayall
Madam Hooch - Zoe Wannamaker
Professor Quirrell/Lord Voldemort - Ian Hart
Professor Flitwick & Goblin Bank Teller- Warwick Davis
Nearly Headless Nick - John Cleese
Mrs. Weasley - Julie Walters
Fred Weasley - James Phelps
George Weasley - Oliver Phelps
Dudley - Harry Melling.
Ginny Weasley - Bonnie Wright
Lily Potter - Geraldine Somerville
James Potter - Adrian Rawlins
Ollivander - John Hurt
Seamus Finnigan - Devon Murray
Headmaster Albus Dumbledore - Richard Harris
Draco Malfoy - Tom Felton
Neville Longbottom - Matt Lewis
Don't forget to look up more information on Harry Potter and the Harry Potter film on the following web sites.
Bloomsbury website
The official website!
Good Fansite
PS: By the way, the special effects are really special if you get my drift…. (Muggles need not apply for the job)
Special thanks to Mirielle and John Mcarthy for helping me get this interview.
