Filming for the series began at
Leavesden Studios, Hertfordshire, England, in September 2000 and ended in December 2010, with post-production on the final film lasting until summer 2011. , where much of the film series was shot.
Harry Potter was also filmed in other areas, including
Pinewood Studios. David Heyman produced all the films in the series with his production company
Heyday Films. David Barron joined the series as an executive producer on
Chamber of Secrets and
Goblet of Fire and was later appointed producer on the last four films. Chris Columbus was an executive producer on the first two films alongside Mark Radcliffe and
Michael Barnathan of
1492 Pictures, but he became a producer on the third film alongside Heyman and Radcliffe. Other executive producers include
Tanya Seghatchian and
Lionel Wigram. J. K. Rowling, author of the series, was asked to become a producer on
Goblet of Fire but declined. She subsequently accepted the role on the two-part
Deathly Hallows. Warner Bros. adapted the seventh and final novel in the series,
Deathly Hallows, into two cinematic parts. The two parts were filmed back-to-back from early 2009 to summer 2010, with the completion of reshoots taking place on 21 December 2010; this marked the end of filming
Harry Potter. Heyman stated that
Deathly Hallows was "
shot as one film" but released in two feature-length parts. Tim Burke, the visual effects supervisor of the series, said of the production on
Harry Potter, "It was this huge family; I think there were over 700 people working at Leavesden, an industry in itself." David Heyman said, "When the first film opened, no way did I think we'd make eight films. That didn't seem feasible until after we'd done the fourth." Nisha Parti, the production consultant on the first film, said that Heyman "made the first film very much the way he felt the studio Warner Bros. wanted to make it". After the film's success, Heyman was given "more freedom". This transpired with the succeeding three directors who would work on the series in the following years, with the films beginning to deal with issues such as death, betrayal, prejudice, and political corruption as the series developed narratively and thematically.
Directors After
Chris Columbus had finished working on ''Philosopher's Stone
, he was hired to direct Chamber of Secrets
. The production started within a week after the release of the first film. Columbus was set to direct all entries in the series, but he did not want to return for Prisoner of Azkaban'', claiming he was "burned out". He moved to the position of producer, while
Alfonso Cuarón was approached for the role of director. He was initially nervous about directing the instalment since he had not read any of the books or seen the films. After reading the series, he changed his mind and signed on to direct since he had immediately connected to the story. directed four of the films in the series, including the two-part finale
Deathly Hallows. Because Cuarón decided not to direct the fourth instalment,
Goblet of Fire, a new director had to be selected.
Mike Newell was chosen to direct the film, but he declined to do so for the next film,
Order of the Phoenix, which was given to
David Yates, who also directed
Half-Blood Prince and both parts of
Deathly Hallows, becoming the only director to helm more than one film since Columbus. Columbus said his vision for the first two films was of a "golden storybook, an old-fashioned look", while Cuarón changed the visual tone of the series, desaturated the colour palette, and expanded the landscape around
Hogwarts. Cuarón, Newell, and Yates have said that their challenge was striking a balance between making the films according to their individual vision, while working within a cinematic world already established by Columbus. He also said, "I suppose Chris Columbus was the most conservative choice from the studio's point of view. But he expressed real passion." Producer Tanya Seghatchian said they were "more adventurous" in choosing a director for the third film and went straight to Cuarón. All the directors have been supportive of each other. Columbus praised the character development in the films, while Cuarón admired the "quiet poetry" of Yates' films.
Scripts . It is the main setting in the series; the castle features in every novel and screen adaptation.
Steve Kloves wrote the screenplays for all but the fifth film, which was penned by
Michael Goldenberg. Kloves had direct assistance from J.K. Rowling, though she allowed him what he described as "tremendous elbow room". Rowling asked Kloves to remain faithful to the spirit of the books; thus, the plot and tone of each film and its corresponding book are virtually the same, albeit with some changes and omissions for purposes of cinematic style, time, and budget constraints. Goldenberg also received input from Rowling during his adaptation of the fifth novel; Goldenberg was originally considered to adapt the first novel before the studio chose Kloves. In a 2010 interview, Heyman briefly explained the book-to-film transition. He commented on Rowling's involvement in the series, stating that she understood that "books and films are different" and was "the best support" a producer could have. Rowling had overall approval on the scripts, which were viewed and discussed by the director and the producers. Heyman also said that Kloves was the "key voice" in the process of adapting the novels and that certain aspects from the books needed to have been excluded from the scripts due to the filmmakers' decision to keep the main focus on Harry's journey as a character, which would ultimately give the films a defined structure. Heyman mentioned that some fans "don't necessarily understand the adaptation process" and that the filmmakers would have loved to "have everything" from the books in the films but noted that it was not possible since they had "neither time nor cinematic structure" to do so. He finished by saying that adapting a novel to the screen is "a really considered process". Because the films were being made as the novels were being published, the filmmakers had no idea of the story's outcome until the release of the final novel in 2007. Kloves spoke of his relationship with Rowling when adapting the novels by saying, "The thing is about Jo, which is remarkable for someone who had no experience with the filmmaking process, was her intuition. We had a conversation the very first day I met her where she said, 'I know the movies can't be the books ... because I know what's coming and it's impossible to fully dramatise on screen what I'm going to write. But I just ask you to be true to the characters; that's all I care about. Kloves also said, "I don't know what compelled me to say this [to Rowling], but I said, 'I've just got to warn you my favourite character is not Harry. My favourite character is Hermione.' And I think for some weird reason, from that moment on, she sort of trusted me." The production designer for all eight films is
Stuart Craig. Assisted by
Stephenie McMillan, Craig has created iconic sets pieces including the
Ministry of Magic, the
Chamber of Secrets,
Malfoy Manor, and the layout for the CGI
Horcrux Cave. Because the novels were being published as the films were being made, Craig was required to rebuild some sets for future films and alter the design of Hogwarts. He said, "In the early days, every time you saw the exterior of Hogwarts, it was a physical miniature", which was made by craftsmen and occupied a large sound stage. In the last film, Craig used a digital model instead of a miniature to "embrace the latest technology". On the method of creating the sets, Craig said he often started by sketching ideas onto a blank sheet of paper. Stephenie McMillan also said that "each film always had plenty of new challenges", citing the changes in visual style between directors and cinematographers as an example, along with the developing story in the novels. Due to J.K. Rowling's descriptions of various settings in the novels, Craig noted his "responsibility was to place it together". Craig commented on his experience working in the studio environment: "I'm the production designer, but on a big movie like
Harry Potter I may be responsible for 30 to 35 people; from the supervising art director, and a team of art directors and assistants, to draughtsmen and junior draughtsmen, and then on to model makers, sculptors and scenic artists." He said, "Ten years ago, all the
Harry Potter drawings were done in pencil. I would take my roughs and plans and sections and give them to a professional architectural illustrator, who would create concept art using pencil and colour wash on watercolour paper." He said the process changed slightly throughout the years due to, what he called, the "digital revolution" of making films. Delbonnel's cinematography in
Half-Blood Prince gained the series its only
Academy Award nomination for
Best Cinematography. As the series progressed, each cinematographer faced the challenge of shooting and lighting older sets (which had been around since the first few films) in unique and different ways. Chris Columbus said the series' vivid colouring decreased as each film was made. Michael Seresin commented on the change of visual style from the first two films to
Prisoner of Azkaban: "The lighting is moodier, with more shadowing and cross-lighting." Seresin and Alfonso Cuarón moved away from the strongly coloured and brightly lit cinematography of the first two films, with dimmer lighting and a more muted colour palette being utilised for the succeeding five films. After comparing a range of digital cameras with 35 mm film, Bruno Delbonnel decided to shoot the sixth movie,
Half-Blood Prince, on
film rather than the increasingly popular
digital format. This decision was kept for the two-part
Deathly Hallows with Eduardo Serra, who said that he preferred to work with film because it was "more technically accurate and dependable". Because the majority of
Deathly Hallows takes place in various settings away from Hogwarts, David Yates wanted to "shake things up" by using different photographic techniques such as using hand-held cameras and very wide camera lenses. Eduardo Serra said, "Sometimes we are combining elements shot by the main unit, a second unit, and the visual effects unit. You have to know what is being captured – colours, contrast, et cetera – with mathematical precision." He noted that with Stuart Craig's "amazing sets and the story", the filmmakers could not "stray too far from the look of the previous
Harry Potter films".
Editing Along with continuous changes in cinematographers, there have been five
film editors to work in post-production on the series:
Richard Francis-Bruce edited the first instalment,
Peter Honess the second,
Steven Weisberg the third,
Mick Audsley the fourth, and
Mark Day films five through eight.
Music scored the first three films and received
Academy Award nominations for the first and third films. The
Harry Potter series has had four composers.
John Williams scored the first three films: ''Philosopher's Stone
, Chamber of Secrets
, and Prisoner of Azkaban
. Due to a busy 2002 schedule, Williams brought in William Ross to adapt and conduct the score for Chamber of Secrets''. Williams also composed "
Hedwig's Theme", the series'
leitmotif which appears in all eight films. After Williams left the series to pursue other projects,
Patrick Doyle scored the fourth entry,
Goblet of Fire, which was directed by
Mike Newell, with whom Doyle had worked previously. In 2006,
Nicholas Hooper started work on the score to
Order of the Phoenix, reuniting with director
David Yates. Hooper also composed the soundtrack to
Half-Blood Prince but decided not to return for the final two films. In January 2010,
Alexandre Desplat was confirmed to compose the score for
Deathly Hallows – Part 1. The film's orchestration started in the summer with
Conrad Pope, the orchestrator on the first three
Harry Potter films, collaborating with Desplat. Pope commented that the music "reminds one of the old days". Desplat returned to score
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 in 2011. Yates stated that he wanted Williams to return to the series for the final instalment, but their schedules did not align due to the urgent demand for a rough cut of the film. The final recording sessions for
Harry Potter took place on 27 May 2011 at
Abbey Road Studios with the
London Symphony Orchestra, Desplat and orchestrator Conrad Pope. Doyle, Hooper and Desplat introduced their own personal themes to their respective soundtracks, while keeping a few of Williams' themes.
Visual effects There have been many
visual effects companies that work on the
Harry Potter series. Some of these include
Rising Sun Pictures,
Sony Pictures Imageworks,
Double Negative,
Cinesite,
Framestore, and
Industrial Light & Magic. The latter three have worked on all the films in the series, while Double Negative and Rising Sun Pictures began their commitments with
Prisoner of Azkaban and
Goblet of Fire, respectively. Framestore contributed by developing many memorable creatures and sequences to the series. Cinesite was involved in producing both miniature and digital effects for the films. Producer
David Barron said that "
Harry Potter created the UK effects industry as we know it. On the first film, all the complicated visual effects were done on the [US] west coast. But on the second, we took a leap of faith and gave much of what would normally be given to Californian vendors to UK ones. They came up trumps." Tim Burke, the visual effects supervisor, said many studios "are bringing their work to UK effects companies. Every facility is fully booked, and that wasn't the case before
Harry Potter. That's really significant." However, reshoots of the epilogue scene were confirmed to begin in the winter of 2010. The reshoots were completed on 21 December 2010, marking the official closure of filming for the
Harry Potter franchise. Exactly four years earlier on that day, Rowling's official website revealed the title of the final novel in the book series –
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. ==Films==