June 13th 2019
Year 4 Visit the Harry Potter Studios
On Tuesday, Year 4 visited the Harry Potter Studios. Our English topic this term is ‘Creating Imaginary Worlds’ and the trip certainly inspired the boys to use their imaginations. It gave them a fantastic insight into the world of set design and film production and they learnt how the impossible can be made possible by the use of ‘green screen’ technology.
We started by watching a film about the making of the Harry Potter films, which finished with Harry, Ron and Hermione walking through the doors to the Great Hall. Suddenly the screen itself lifted up and we realised that we were in front of the actual doors too! In the main area of the Studios, we then saw many iconic sets including; the Gryffindor dormitory, the Potions classroom, Hagrid’s hut and Dumbledore’s office. We also rode brooms in front of a ‘green screen’ so that it looked as if we were playing Quidditch. We also saw the Hogwart’s Express and got to go inside the carriages. The atmospheric ‘Forbidden Forest’ was again a big hit with the boys.
Two of the best bits were seeing Diagon Alley, with all the fascinating shops, and walking around a corner and seeing a giant model of Hogwarts Castle. The filmmakers used this model to film all the sweeping aerial shots.
The biggest surprise was confronting a huge fire-breathing dragon in Gringotts Bank! This is a new addition to the tour and an experience that we won’t ever forget; especially as many of us stayed to experience this five times; obviously the Moulsford boys enjoy being scared!
It really was magical and we felt as if we had entered Hogwarts for the day.
