Film Research assignment: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

For this assignment I decided I wanted to research and write about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and 2. I thought that researching the development of films that have come from a book would be an interesting aspect of filmmaking to look at, especially as the book has been split into two films. The tools I have used to research for this assignment are; the special features disc from the DVD of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, the book ‘Harry Potter: Page to Screen’ and websites such as Mugglenet, a website dedicated to Harry Potter and its fans.

The book the Deathly Hallows was published in July 2007 and straight away the makers of the films were unsure how they were going to get all of the important events in the story into one film. Books are always more detailed than the films that follow them, but in this case it seemed impossible to make a film that had all of the necessary plot points without the film being six hours long. This is when the suggestion of making the book into two films came about. They had wanted to do this for the fourth book ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’, but decided they could focus on the main elements and get everything into one film. This wasn’t the case for the seventh and final book. Producer David Heyman was reluctant to split the book at first, but along with fellow producer David Barron and director David Yates, decided that there was too much that would be left out in one film and committed to the double bill. "In concluding the film franchise, we recognized that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is packed with vital plot points that complete the story arcs of all of its beloved characters. That said, we feel that the nest way to do the book and its many fans, justice is to expand the screen adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and release the film in two parts." (Robinov).

After determining they would make two films, they decided to shoot the films together, rather than shoot the first part and then the second. This was because they needed to ensure they could get the whole cast for both films, although shooting two films at the same time would mean a massive constant shooting schedule, 478 days to be precise. David Heyman said that the Deathly Hallows films would be the most accurate to the book, purely because of the longer amount of time they had to tell the story.

Pre-production began in January 2009. In contrast to the filming schedule, script writer Steve Kloves wrote the script for Part 1 first, and then wrote the script for Part 2 in April 2009. During pre production David Yates decided he wanted to shoot a lot of the film with a hand held camera, claiming "I want to shake things up every time I go into this world. I like experimenting as we go along"(Yates). However the amount of hand held shots were more in Part 1, and less so in Part 2 as Part 2 is more ‘operatic’ and ‘dramatic’. Below is a photo montage of conceptual art for the Deathly Hallows double bill, produced by storyboard artist Adam Brockbank. Brockbank worked on all storyboards and concept art for all of the films.

 

 

Filming began in February 2009 and finished in December 2010, including reshoots. Both David Heyman and David Yates distinguished a clear difference between Part 1 and Part 2, saying that Part 1 is a “road movie” and Part 2 is "much more operatic, colourful and fantasy-oriented", a "big opera with huge battles", with the constant narrative of the story running through and linking both parts together. These final films also saw a new cinematographer, Eduardo Serra. The previous cinematographer chose not to work on these Harry Potter films, as he had worked on previous films in the saga and didn’t want to repeat himself in his work.

Before filming could take place however the producers needed to decide where the first film should end. They had many different ideas for when in the story the film should stop, they felt that even though the story wasn’t over, the film should still have some kind of ending, a resolve that would sit well with the audience. This is when they decided to end the first film with the burial of Dobby the house elf. However, in order for the audience to feel emotionally connected to Dobby prior to his death, the producers had to fudge the story slightly. In the films Dobby appears earlier in Part 1, which doesn’t happen in the book. Heyman felt that it was important to reintroduce Dobby to the characters before his death, as he had not been in the story for quite a while. It is an interesting point that not only will films take things out that are in the book, but they will add things in that aren’t in the book inorder to make the story work in a visual way.

Once the final story had been worked out, adult actors in the film, including Ralph Finnes began preparing for their parts and filming first, in October 2009. Location shots were also filmed early on in parts of London, Swinley Forest and Lavenham village. The rest of the production followed on from this at Leavesden Studios and secondary studio Pinewood. Leavesden Studios have been used for all of the first 6 films.

Alongside the production of the Deathly Hallows, filmmakers made a video called ‘The Golden Board’. This video featured the cast and crew members holding up a board which displayed how many days they were into production and how many days left until the end. As well as this, British filmmaker Morgan Matthews made a piece documenting the film making process and what the cast and crew had to do in their jobs. The video including behind the scenes footage of sets and the different departments working on the film.

 

References:

McCabe, Bob, (October 2011): Harry Potter: Page to Screen, The filmmaking journey.

Robinov, Jeff, (13 March 2008): Warner Bros. press release, Business Wire retrieved from:

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080313005332&newsLang=en

O'Hara, Helen (April 2009). "Hallowed Ground". Empire: 100–104.

Yates, David (January 2010): The Leaky Cauldron,  retrieved online from: http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2010/1/24/david-yates-deathly-hallows-a-big-opera-a-great-big-epic-with-huge-battles. Retrieved 20 May 2011

Keith, (August 2011): Article from Mugglenet retrieved online from: http://www.mugglenet.com/app/news/show/4662

Matthews, Morgan: Deathly Hallows documentary

Heyman, David (2009/10): The Golden Board

 

Final Pre Visualisation

 

 

My Final Pre Visualisation. 26 seconds long. After showing the first pre vis to my tutors, there was a couple fo things they pointed out that needed changing. The height of the chair model needed altering and the skin of the William model was too dark. I changed these problems and added an extra shot onto the end, just to make the pre vis a little longer and to add in some extra animation. I am much happier with this final pre visualisation.

Pre Visualisation

My 20 second pre visualisation of a section of a scene in my short film.

Development of Pre Vis: Texturing

Below are some printscreens of my pre vis so far. There are still some objects that need texturing.

3D work

Pre Vis Scene

 

King Henry VIII character rig

 

William Knight character rig

King Henry sitting on throne

William's face rig



Illustrative sketches and montages

Below are the concept sketches and photo montages for my short film. We were required to produce four piece and I decided I wanted to produce two sketches and two photo montages just to make sure I had a varied range of images and styles.

 

 

Character Design: Henry VIII

Character Design: William Knight (secretary)

Henry VIII's chamber

King Henry VIII's castle

Storyboard & Animatic

ANIMATIC

Script

Scene begins with Henry VIII looking at a photograph of his daughter Mary. He puts the photo down and glances to the one of his father that sits next to it on the table. There’s a knock on the door of the king’s chamber. Still looking at the photographs he asks who it is.

HENRY VIII: Who goes there?

WILLIAM: It is William your Majesty, you called for me?

Henry turns outwards towards the room and looks towards the door.

HENRY VIII: Ah yes William, do come in.

William Knight, Henry’s secretary enters the chambers, closing the door softly behind him. Henry looks at him as he enters.

WILLIAM: You summoned me your Majesty?

HENRY VIII: I need you to go and see Pope Clement. I have appealed to the Holy See and I need you to go and sue for an annulment of my marriage from Catherine.

WILLIAM: Of course your Majesty. May I ask, why are you wishing to extinguish your marriage from Queen Catherine? She is a fine woman fit for a fine king.

Henry turns away from Williamand begins pacing the room slowly, looking at William occasionally when speaking.

HENRY VIII: Yes William, she is a fine woman, but I do not yet have an heir to the throne, and Catherine is past childbearing age. And with the number of offspring she has lost over the years, I feel she must go, I must marry my next wife and produce an heir.

WILLIAM: But your Majesty, you have spent many years with Queen Catherine, you love her, do you not? Otherwise, why the marriage at all?

Henry stops pacing and stands straight, facing William, a slightly saddened expression on his face. He speaks with an uncharacteristically soft voice.

HENRY VIII: Love was not the motivation for this marriage William; my father requested her hand in marriage for me. And when he died, I felt I must honor this request.

WILLIAM: This saddens me your Majesty, but very well. On what grounds must I request the annulment of said marriage?

Henry walks over to his large throne on a platform and sits down, facingWilliam. He speaks firmly with purpose.

HENRY VIII: On the grounds that Catherine was wed to my brother Arthur before myself. They claim to have never consummated their marriage, but I believe this to be a false claim. Also, Leviticus 20:21 claims our marriage was never truly valid, it is forbidden to marry brothers. If only father had known this, all of the following events could have been avoided.

WILLIAM: I will take these points to Pope Clement your Majesty.

HENRY VIII: That would be most appreciated William. Then I can move forward and plan my marriage to Anne.

WILLIAM: Anne your Majesty?

HENRY VIII: Anne Boleyn, William, my second wife and the woman that will produce my heir.

WILLIAM: Forgive me if I am mistaken you Majesty, but I thought that Ms. Boleyn was uninterested in becoming your wife?

HENRY VIII: Times will change William, of this I am sure.

WILLIAM: Very well your Majesty. If that is everything, I request your permission to leave now and prepare for my journey to visit Pope Clement.

HENRY VIII: You are dismissed William, you are a worthy secretary Mr. Knight. Good day.

WILLIAM: Thank you your Majesty. Good day.

William bows to the king and turns towards the door. He leaves the chambers and the scene ends with a shot of the door as it closes.

Film/Character Research

As research for my project I watched 'A Man for all Seasons' (1966). 

I watched this film to gain a basic understanding of the look of the tudor period. I looked at the costumes of the characters and the locations in the film. I will use this information when producing my illustrative sketches, photo montages and pre visualisation. 

I am planning on creating illustrative sketches of King Henry VIII and his secretary William Knight. This will be mainly to inform the costumes of both characters.

The film will also help when I create my photo montages. I am going to create one montage of the king's chamber and one of the grounds and the castle. I will use the scenes in the film that feature these places as inspiration for the montages.

Although I didn't particularly enjoy the film, it was good to get a feel for the period and to begin to see what kind of short film I would produce using my pre production work in this module.

My Moodboards

Below are the two moodboards I have created for this module. The first one is the mood board for my short film idea based on the tudors. The second one is a contrasting mood board. I decided to base it on a sci fi, futuristic film, as this is in total contrast to a history based film.

Tudor inspired mood board for my short film idea

Contrasting mood board for futuristic film idea

Historical Research for Project

Since my project is about Henry VIII and how he came to invent divorce, I needed to do some historical research into henry VIII, his life at the time the short film is set and the events that took place. I had to do this in order for the short film to be realistic. Below are some points which I think are important to set the scene for the short film idea.

• Born 28 June 1491
• Died 28 January 1547
• King from 21 April 1509 til death
• He separated the Church of England from the Rome Catholic Church
• Caused the 'Dissolution of the Monasteries' after struggles with Rome
• As well as king he was an author and composer
• He rejected marriage to Catherine of Aragon when he was 14 (1505)
• Married Catherine in 1509 after Henry VII died
• Catherine had 5 children;
• 1st- 1510- stillborn girl
• 2nd- 1511- Henry died 7 weeks late
• 3rd- 1514- miscarriage
• 4th- 1516- Mary- survived
• 5th- 1518- stillborn girl
• Henry became impatient at Catherine's inability to produce an heir and had past child bearing age (40 years old)
• Henry had many affairs including; Anne Hastings, Mary Boleyn and Elizabeth Bount
• Elizabeth had a child in 1519 (Henry FitzRoy- died 1536)
• Henry had 3 options to get an heir
• legitimise Henry FitzRoy
• marry off Mary and hope for a grandson (althoughMary was an undersized child, so couldn't have produced an heir while Henry VIII was alive)
• reject Catherine and find another wife
• 1525- Henry met Anne Bolyen, who refused his advances (he'd had an affair with her sister)
• 1527- Henry told Catherine their marriage was never valid- the Old Testament forbade marrying your brothers wife (Leviticus 20:21)
• 1528- Henry became infatuated with Anne Boleyn and was planning his second marriage
• He appealed to the Holy See and sent secretary William Knight to Pope Clement VII to sue for an annulment on the ground Catherine had consummated he marriage to Henry's late brother Arthur.
• Knight had difficulty getting access to the Pop as he was imprisoned at the time.
• He obtained a conditional dispensation of new marriage.

Even though the scene I am concentrating on for my storyboard and pre visualisation shot will be purely based on Henry VIII trying to get rid of Catherine of Aragon, I will use the background information to make the characters in the scene believable. For example, Henry was involved in so much change in England that he will most likely be a stressed character. I have decided the scene will be set in Henry's quarters with his secretary William Knight, and will be just before Knight goes to find Pope Clement VII. The script to go with my storyboard will reference much of the information above, including a great deal about Catherine and the lack of an heir.

My Treatments: 11/10/12

Long Treatment

He changed the world, changed how we live our lives today. Married to a woman he doesn't love, how does he get out of it? Running the country, he struggles with himself, can he change the law? Dump his wife? He contemplates the future of himself and his country.


Abstract Treatment

Riches, royality, power, the internal struggle, the lack of love.

Mood Boards:11/10/12

Another piece we are required to create for our research and development is two contrasting mood boards, one for our film idea and one contrasting board.
Again in the tutorial we looked at two treatments and then produced a mood board for each, illustrating our interpretation of the film idea.

MOOD BOARD 1:
“After the newscast, Jordan goes out to the parking structure of the New York City studio, gets into his luxury sports coupe and drives off towards his Long Island home.

Parking in the six car garage, he exits the car to a huge hug and kiss from his lovely wife Charlene, who leads him into the palatial home to a candlelit dinner.”

MOOD BOARD 2:
“The opulently dressed QUEEN ELIZABETH I glowers with contempt from her throne, impatiently tapping her boney fingers as she addresses two men whose backs are toward the camera.

She archly reminds them that this isn't the first time they have committed acts of treason against the throne, and that obviously, the only way to put a stop to their behaviour is by having them beheaded.”

In both of these mood boards I have tended to lean heavily towards colour to show mood and emotion. I think that colours can be very powerful and the majority of people interpret colours in the same way, which makes in intention of the mood board easy to understand. I will be using the same methods when producing my own mood boards.

Treatments:11/10/12

The first thing we need to do for our projects is create a 'long treatment' and an 'abstract treatment'. Mel showed us how to write a treatment, which was a new and difficult experience for all of us. In past projects we have been used to writing treatments stating what we want to do and why and how we are going to go about doing it. This year, the treatments are very different. We are required to give just the very basic information of our idea, without giving specifics that could hinder or stunt the creative development and growth of the idea.

We watched a couple of short films and attempted to write a treatment in the correct way:

LONG TREATMENTS:

'Lost in the Woods'

The scene starts with the distinctive sound of birds as a woodland scene appears on screen. A sunny, spring day is the setting for Lost in the Woods. A squirrel looks around, perplexed in his situation. Looking to the map in his hand for answers, the squirrel is confused. Along his journey for the correct path, the squirrel comes across a rabbit, who attempts to show him the correct direction but fails, leaving the squirrel to continue his wander through the trees and lengthy grasses, past a stream. Coming across a field mouse brings him his next hope of finding the way……..

'As Simple as an Artist'

Classical music sets the tone for this film. An artist is frustrated as inspiration is yet to strike him. Angry, he takes his head off and pulls his brains out, brains that take control and create his masterpiece for him.

ABSTRACT TREATMENT:

Chaotic beats. Night and day. Space. TAKE OFF!

The first treatment, for 'Lost in the Woods' was too long and descriptive. Specifics such as the animal characters and what was in the woods is unnecessary. The second treatment for 'As Simple as an Artist' was a great improvement.

Seemingly the abstract treatment is just a few chosen words or phrases and depend on how you interpret the film.

I will be writing both a long and an abstract treatment for my film idea.

Initial Idea: 11/10/12

After the first class in this module I started thinking about what film idea I wanted to base my research and development on. As we don't have to actually produce the film, I knew I didn't need to worry about the logistics of producing my idea, it just needed to be something I could do research for and create interesting mood boards, storyboards and pre visualisation shots for.

After some thought I decided I wanted my short film to be based around when Henry VIII introduced divorce. I thought this was an interesting idea because it is something everyone learns about in school, but no one knows what might have happened when the king was deciding to introduce divorce and deal with his 'wife situation'.

Choosing something from history will give me lots to research as I will need to get as much precise detail as possible, from what the stories tell us happened down to what they wore and what the palace might have looked like.

I am looking forward to incorporating history and film to produce some interesting work for this module.