Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince Behind The Scenes

Want the inside scoop on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince? We've got you covered. We all know and love the Harry Potter series, with the Half-Blood Prince being one of the classics. But did you know about all the magic and effort put into the behind-the-scenes production that made the movie come to life? Right from the get-go, it seems like Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is chock-full of special and practical effects, which make the film stand out. As the production team has led on, this Harry Potter film has about the same amount of special effects as any of the other films. These special effects stand apart from the other films, though, in how they are integrated into the scenes. The use of CGI and other effects is much more blended into the real-world acting and settings that the film uses. The behind-the-scenes of these effects makes the film all the more interesting to watch in its final form. It's crazy to think about all the possibilities that arise when a simple green screen is involved. Green screens were used throughout this film to create the CGI effects that blow viewers away. For the Quidditch scenes in the film, the use of blue screens was truly imperative to creating the right shots. In reality, actors were simply seated on bicycle seats and fitted with a harness on something that resembled a broomstick while placed in front of a blue screen. All the magic of the Quidditch game and the intense background and action were mostly added in digitally. One really interesting and unique iteration of the green screen is in the magical bookshelf scene of the Half-Blood Prince. In this behind-the-scenes look, we can see green hands extending from the bookshelves that Hermione is standing in front of. In the end, these hands would be digitally erased, leaving behind the effect of books magically being placed back in their rightful spots within the library. In the Burrow Burn scene, we can see a green, well, blue screen extending in the background of the shot. This blue screen was used to enhance the locational setting where the scene was actually taking place. In the Burrow Burn scene, wherein the Weasley family home is attacked by Bellatrix Lestrange, special and practical effects were used to set the stage for the gruesome attack on the family home. The special effects team used real fire to simulate the attack, with a ring of spreading around the set at almost 420 feet long. Special effects specialist John Richardson claimed that the ring of fire was definitely a learning process, as the crew had to learn and relearn what ways to make the fire work best on the set. You're Aragog, aren't you? The character, if you can call it that, of Aragog was also a huge component of the practical effects that made the film truly stand out. The practical effects team needed to make a completely new giant spider for this film, says makeup and creature effects designer Nick Dudman. Essentially, it's the same character, and he looks essentially the same, although we've upgraded him a little. Says Dudman, In the creation of this spidery creature, the special effects team chose a material to produce the spider that was translucent to try to mimic what a real dead bug might look like. It took a team of over a dozen people to work on Aragog, including tasks like filling the mold to airbrushing final details. In fact, it took a team of six to seven people just to work on placing the spider hairs on the giant creature, which took weeks on end. The amount of effort that went into creating this giant spider really paid off when paired with the acting seen in the film. Seriously misunderstood creature spiders are. The eyes, I reckon, they unnerve some folk. As Nick Dudman states, Very often, even just an inanimate object like that can have a, you know, a little emotive moment, which is nice. Bringing the cave scene to magical life was a hugely important step in the process of making The Half-Blood Prince. The production team did a lot of research on caves, looking into different rock formations to use, leading them to the crystal cave idea. They visited a quartz crystal cave in Switzerland and a salt cave in Germany to find inspiration. They also took inspiration from the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland for the iconic cave scene. The set itself was too large of a scale to fully build, so the team took to using CGI to animate the setting, having gained confidence from their first all-CG scene in Harry Potter 5. You should have let me, sir. Oh, no, Harry. Your blood's much more precious than mine. As the film opens, the viewers watch as Death Eaters make their way through both the wizarding world and the muggle world, tearing apart a pedestrian bridge as they fly through the sky. It's interesting to take an exclusive look behind the scenes of the making of this scene, as a lot more went into it than one might initially expect. What you might not have figured out about this scene is the insane amount of effort that went into getting those soaring shots through the British skies. It took the use of one helicopter and one stabilized camera to get the perfect shot, and then, obviously, quite a bit of CGI magic to place the Death Eaters within the scene. The acting in all the Harry Potter films worked to set these mainly child star-studded films apart from the rest. It's no surprise that the acting performances from stars like Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, and Rupert Grint also shined through in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. But what were their experiences like behind the scenes and on set? Let's dive in. Can't you trust me? Let's start off with the acting involved in Harry and Ginny's love story. The blossoming of Harry and Ginny's romance takes a central role in the Half-Blood Prince, with the first kiss shared between the two counting as a pivotal scene in the film. As the actors behind the kiss dished, it wasn't as smooth and romantic in real life as it seemed in the film. When everyone comes in and have a look at the scene, you know, lighting or the crew, it's a bit embarrassing, but I think after a while, you just gotta accept it. Daniel Radcliffe revealed that the kiss scene was a bit awkward for him since he knew actress Bonnie Wright, who plays Ginny, since she was just a child of about 10 years old. So, it's a bit weird doing all that, but it's fine. This scene was the very first one that Bonnie actually shot on set, making the tension almost palpable to the young actress. She stated that, I think the first time is always the worst. But after that, it's just like any other scene that you're filming, so it was actually easier than I realized. Harry was also involved in some behind-the-scenes goofing with co-star Emma Watson. In the magical library scene, Watson hit Radcliffe over the head so hard by accident, he even said, You can really hear the crunch of paper on bone. You're laughing because you hit me so hard, aren't you? Okay. Similarly, Lavender and Ron's kiss scene was also filled with a bit of tension and awkwardness. It's just such a weird sort of thing. You've got everyone watching you, and it just doesn't feel right. This kiss scene was at a whole new level of weird in comparison to Harry and Ginny's, because it took place in front of dozens of extras. Daniel Radcliffe in particular was extremely excited about this kiss scene, making a point to be present off-camera while the smooch took place on screen. I don't think Rupert had done a kissing scene. That was entirely new territory for him. Talk about friends cheering each other on. Jesse Cave, who plays Lavender, revealed that it was actually the most awkward to film the rehearsal scene when it was just her, Rupert, and the director, because that was much more intimate of a kiss than the one in front of the cast was. She claimed that the awkwardness of the kiss was not really a big deal to her, but her true fear when kissing Rupert? I was more concerned anyway about honestly chipping a tooth. I really was worried. Another interesting, yet much more serious, note about the acting during The Half-Blood Prince was Maggie Smith's health during filming. The actress who famously plays Professor McGonagall in the series was actually undergoing breast cancer treatment during the time of filming. She was working on set while undergoing chemotherapy at the same time, which was no small feat as the actress said she was in pain constantly and also feeling deathly sick. Smith tried to make light of the situation and is even quoted saying, I was hairless. I had no problem getting the wig on. I was like a boiled egg. It's clear that the special effects and the actors both worked to make this film truly special. But what about the rest of the production team that also made the magic of The Half-Blood Prince come to life? It's clear that the production decisions from the screenwriters to the director worked to make this chapter of the Harry Potter series truly special. The director of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, David Yates, truly shared a unique bond with the actors on set, making their relationship, as well as his professional choices, inherently important to the production of HP6. Not just for me as a storyteller, but also with the actors. I wanted to see them play more comedy. Some of his decisions were a bit controversial, despite his general popularity among the actors on set. It's been revealed that screenwriter Steve Kloves actually argued back and forth with Yates over whether or not they should include more pensive memory scenes showing Voldemort's background in the movie. Yates ended up actually vetoing the writer's wishes, opting for less of the Voldemort flashbacks to be included in the film. Who are you? Well, I'm like you, Tom. Prove it. Film editor Mark Day was also a big player in the creation of the Half-Blood Prince, and his decisions also influenced the way the film came out for sure. With a total of five editors for the Harry Potter series in total, Mark Day has stuck around to edit two of them. In total, Day worked for 14 months editing the film, making decisions when to cut to different shots within a scene, and being responsible for more than 1,700 edits within the film. Editing is very subjective, and so what you may think is a good cut, I may not. Not only do the director and editors have big roles in the production process, but so do lesser-acknowledged team members like stunt specialists. They're in charge of all the quidditch acrobatics that the actors have to perform, including some of these impressive, and not so impressive, saves made by the Keeper Ron Weasley behind the scenes. And we can't forget the important makeup artists like Amanda Knight, who make all the magic of the story really come to life before our eyes. As we can see here, Amanda transforms actress Emma Watson by giving her the dark mark with a temporary tattoo. After all of this in-depth info on the making of the film, it's clear that a lot went into Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. From casting and acting choices to special effects, the various components that went into the film surely paid off with the end product. How did finding out about all these behind-the-scenes details change how you see the film? Let us know in the comments!