April 26th 2023
Inspiring creative writing
On Tuesday, Year 4 visited the Harry Potter Studios. One of our English topics this term is writing a story that includes a magical beast in it. Our trip certainly inspired the boys and helped them to see how magical characters are created. The studios 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! The great hall was vast and we learned all the clever digital effect tricks with the ceiling. 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 continued by riding on brooms in front of a ‘green screen’ so that it looked as if we were catching the golden snitch. Next, the Hogwart’s Express, with many of us having a go at running through the wall on Platform 9 ¾ . It was like being in Harry, Ron and Hermione’s shoes and we saw chocolate frogs, dementors and flying cars pass by.
Two of the best bits were the misty walk through the atmospheric ‘Forbidden Forest’ where some of the magical beasts were hiding amongst the trees. The other was the incredible giant model of Hogwarts Castle. The filmmakers used this model to film all the sweeping aerial shots and it was magnificent when it was all lit up by fireworks.
The biggest surprise was confronting a huge fire-breathing dragon in Gringotts Bank! An experience that we won’t ever forget; especially as many of us stayed to experience it multiple times; obviously the Moulsford boys enjoy being scared! This year we had the new addition of The Greenhouses for Herbology lessons. We had great fun walking around them and pulling out all of the wailing mandrakes. The boys thought it was great fun!
It really was magical and we felt as if we had entered Hogwarts for the day. We are ready to come back to school to create some mythical, magical beasts of our own.
