Harry Potter : A Look To The Past

“Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless.” Mind is the greatest tool for a human being, if the brain cultivates ideas of great potentials the human being is bound to see it to the end. If man hadn’t wanted to cross the water bodies, he would never have made those ships. If man hadn’t wanted to cross borders, he never would have thought of trains. If he hadn’t wanted to fly like a bird in the sky, airplanes may never have been invented. Imagination is what makes life full of possibilities.

By now I’m sure you all know what I am to trying to convey I these above lines. Also I think the title of the article “Harry Potter: A Look to the Past” is pretty much explanatory. When I say HARRY POTTER only one thing comes to mind “a simple yet effective imagery that captured the whole world in its wake”.

Yes, my dear fellows, I’m sure you all are acquainted with the inception of Harry Potter. In 1990, J. K. Rowling (the wonderful creator of this wonderful world) was on a crowded train from Manchester to London when the idea for Harry suddenly "fell into her head".

So what say Ladies and Gentlemen, shall we go on a journey into the magical world of Harry Potter and gain the knowledge as to how this wonderful world sprang from imagination and enchanted the whole world?

Yes we shall!!!!

Now you all know after Miss Rowling wrote the manuscript of the first book, she had a hard time finding a published, after submitting her scripts at 12 publishing house, she got a green signal  a year later by editor Barry Cunningham from Bloomsbury, a small British publishing house in London, England.

From there started the journey of a life time, after The Philosopher’s Stone, came The Chamber of Secrets, The Prisoner of Azkaban, The Goblet of Fire, The Order of the Phoenix, The Half-Blood Prince and finally ending the epic saga with The Deathly Hallows. Each book focusing on a particular year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry of the three lead characters, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger as they grow up and fight against the Dark Lord Voldemort (snake-face).

Not only does the story evolve with each book with a beautiful pace, but we readers grow as well. I personally feel that the Harry potter series is definitely a right to passage while coming of age, for I grew up and entered the gates of adulthood reading these books (those who still haven’t read it READ, you are missing some of the best moments of your life).

But the series did not only remain as books, the stories were brought to the silver screen as well. In 1997, producer David Heyman searched Hollywood for a children's book that could be adapted into a well-received film. His staff at Heyday Films then suggested Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, which Heyman believed was "a cool idea." Heyman pitched the idea to Warner Bros. and the following year, Rowling sold the company the rights to the first four Harry Potter books. A demand Rowling made was that the principal cast be kept strictly British, nonetheless allowing for the inclusion of Irish actors such as Richard Harris as Dumbledore, and for casting of French and Eastern European actors in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire where characters from the book are specified as such. Miss. Rowling was hesitant to sell the rights (a good decision too) because she "didn't want to give them control over the rest of the story" by selling the rights to the characters, which would have enabled Warner Bros. to make non-author-written sequels.

From there on began the journey of a lifetime, as each of the films released they became a world-wide phenomenon, growing in numbers as each of the them released. For me the first movie titled “The Sorcerer’s Stone” was what initiated me into the Harry Potter World, although yes my paternal uncle and a cousin of mine were the ones who suggested me the first as an interesting read, but naturally I dismissed the idea. But after watching the sorcerer’s stone when it was released in 2001, I knew I had to read it and I did but after second film The Chamber of Secrets came out. I started reading with the third novel The Prisoner of Azkaban and it soon became a tradition for me I would demand the next book every year on my birthday as a present.

Each book I’m happy to say was beautifully woven for the silver screen. The actors Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, the three leads as well as the cast and crew grew and evolved through the 10 years they spent filming the whole series and I dare say they did a marvelous job out of it as well. For they started young, grew up, saw marriages, child births, divorces, and deaths along this bumpy ride of a lifetime.

But the books and movies weren’t the only thing out there regarding this magical world, a whole lot of merchandise were also produced, clothing line, broomstick and wands from the series, a few side along books for comic relief, props used in the films were produced as merchandises, picture books, colouring books, pop-up books, and a very recent book on the whole production of the series of which I am a proud owner “Harry Potter Film Wizardry” and the video games based on every film released. These merchandises not only helped to create a wider fan base for the series but also provided for a whole new level of commitment toward the series of the boy wizard.

From these lines it is clear that the human mind is a powerful store house of ideas. A simple idea or an imagination can prove to be the foreword to a huge phenomenon. But the clocks have started to tick for the end has begun, for the end for this epic saga of the harry potter series that had enchanted the whole world.  

Harry Potter : A Look To The Past

Harry Potter Film Wizardry

Normally I don’t elaborate on products or production based book, but this one is good enough to do just that.

With the end of the Harry Potter film franchise nearing, it seemed the right time to go back and savour the highlights of the ten-year long series. Harry Potter: Film Wizardry does just that: a scrapbook that encompassed the decade-long saga, where everyone from the producers, directors, and production designer explain in details how they conceptualised some of the plot points and settings; and the actors, including the three stars, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson, hit memory lane to disclose some of the best, funniest, and sometimes most uncomfortable times they had playing Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the films. 

The book begins with a foreward from Dan, Rupert, and Emma, who gush about how much of an impact the series made in their lives. Dan remarked on the journey both he and Harry endured in the ten years; Rupert took pride in playing brave Ron Weasley, the "ultimate ginger," in his words; and Emma voiced her respect for her young, annoying, brainy Muggle-born fictional counterpart she thought she had nothing in common with early in the series, but who she embraced with all her heart by the end. It then lead into the first of many producer's notes scattered throughout the book, where David Heyman, the man who read the first Harry Potter book, fell in love, and immediately insisted on making the films, explained how he began to piece the movies together well over ten years ago. 

Author Brian Sibley compiled the scrapbook with a combination of production notes, countless cast and crew interviews, set visits, knowledge of the book and film series, and production photos and movie stills to make the quintessential anthology of the Harry Potter film series. The book itself ended with a sneak preview of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II, with nothing more than image captions under a dozen or so small photos from Gringotts and Hogwarts. Just enough of a teaser to make the reader wish there were a few more pages at the end, chronicling the end of the saga. 

One of best features of the book, however, was that it focuses on so many of the minor details fans could never have been expected to notice, and the production teams that worked endlessly to make them. Here you have clear shots of Daily Prophetarticles and issues, rooms filled with creatures like Buckbeak and thestrals, various angles of the Room of Requirement both from Order of the Phoenix and Deathly Hallows: Part II, Privet Drive and Diagon Alley, and countless rooms, corridors, and facets from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. (I definitely wished there were more photos than only the sneak-peek of Gringotts). 

"Everybody involved in these eight films knows that we have been part of something very special, and that there will never be another experience like this one," proclaims producer David Heyman in the introduction. He's right, of course, and while the people who made the movies were there for births, marriages, divorces and even deaths, fans have been along for the ride, hoping for a chance to sit in the front seat. This is finally it!

From tidbits like how Helena Bonham Carter perforated Matthew Lewis's eardrum with her magic wand in Order of the Phoenix, to grand designs like how the filmmakers created an entire Hogsmeade miniature village with intricately detailed micro-window displays the size of a £1 note, the book simply doesn't disappoint. It's the perfect mix of fact and -- as McGonagall would say -- "well-mannered frivolity."

On top of all that publisher Harper-Collins inserted over half a dozen prop replicas, like your very own sealed invitation to attend Hogwarts (addressed to Mr H Potter, The Cupboard under the Stairs, naturally), a Quidditch World Cup programme, and even a "real" Maurader's Map. There are also several fold-out pages, one of which contains the Black Family Tree Tapestry.

I highly recommend 'Harry Potter Film Wizardry' for any passionate Harry Potter fan, from one proud owner of this marvelous book to you all.

Harry Potter Film Wizardry