Thank you all
for the 100's of wonderful e-mails regarding our site and the set report which turned out to be longer than expected!

So, as promised here's more news from the set of Prisoner during our recent visit.

Can I first just explain a few of the common questions?
1- Im sorry, I have NO information to help you visit the film set, we were invited through someone who works there but it is not common place to offer set visits only to family of the cast & crew.
2- YES - the Dobby raffle/Competition is still going ahead, were just dealing with the legal requirements and making sure it runs smoothly and news will be posted asap, also, yes I do have some autographed items which we will be featuring too.
3 - YES - the call sheets are genuine, as a call sheet collector I have lots, so I will post a few more for you all to read as you all enjoy them as much too. PLEASE do not call the studios asking for them, they are not meant to leave the set folks!.
4 NO, we were not accompanied by any other HP website people on our visit, just us, so if you read anything else different anywhere else, it is false.

Film Set. Leavesden, Hertfordshire 2 of 2
First highlight, possibly something for future reference, Sam Neil (Jurassic Park,etc) with Alfonso and some of the other managers walking around the film set, got us wondering, any vacancies for Goblet of Fire ?? - Karkarov maybe? who knows, hes a fine actor, remember you saw it here first.
The day before we visited Elijah Wood was there having a look around the set, I doubt we'll be seeing him in any HP films, but wish we could have said well done for the LOTR work.
Ok, so many requests for info on the Dementors, well, we didnt see any live filming of them, we did however get to see and touch the outfits the actors wore while filming the scenes. As per the books, 7-8 ft tall black hooded figures, the outfits matched exactly the way theve all been described to us, what didnt see were the Dementors themselves, from inside the creatures dept we saw the skeleton figure of one hanging up and it was almost half human on top with what I can only describe as the bottom half of a crocodile, scaled and ending in a curved pointed shape. The prop department had a Dementor hand, which looked fantastically real.What we did watch though was awesome from the finished sequences of the film, what im sure many of you (as we) were shocked at, is that in the film they fly, whos idea was that ?, we were watching the scene of the Quidditch match, when Harry hasnt managed his Patronus spell yet, a good five minutes footage, hovering over the whole stadium, through the clouds, the rain, underneath him (in the book) he looks down, horrified, to see hundreds of Dementors,but in the film he is chased through the clouds by Dozens of them, the action was truly amazing, he is frantically trying to get away from them but they are chasing him through the clouds, high above the stadium. For me, unfortunately being a huge JK fan I dont think the extra ideas should be added (more of them later).
ALL of the Quidditch scenes, for all the movies so far, have been filmed in a huge warehouse type room, completely blue walls,floor,ceiling,etc,brilliant,we saw one of Harries doubles flying through the sky on a wild broomstick, terrifying, about 10ft of the floor that is) on a specially rigged broomstick with around 20 crew around him, looked great, I cannot stress enough, the people that are needed to make just one scene possible is amazing, each unit crew consists of around 200 and there are at least 3 crews. All top professionals.
There is just one 'real' stadium stand, this we see though the first 3 films, although in the films it seems as though there are many, through special effects the various crowds are filmed in there and then put together for the final scenes.
Gary Oldman, Sirius, was heard to remark during his filming with the Dementors,hes ******* strangling me, such was the reality of Alfonsos directing.
We were told, that Gary Oldmans scenes were so intense (simply because of the mans talent) that as many cast and crew, when they were able to, went to watch as many scenes as they could, he gave 200% for everything, I was told and blew them away everytime, so I think we should all congratulate the casting people for this choice.
Daniel Radcliffe was told, by one Actress, Shake the hand of the best actor youll ever meet when introduced to Gary Oldman, whos handshake is meant to be vice like.

The animal dept.
Well I have to say, this was for me brilliant, we met Fang,Scabbers,Crookshanks,Hedwig - all of the animals!, it was superb. At the studios they have a purpose built animal dept, where all of them live with 5* facilities!The guy who looks after them was fantastic too, he knew all of them back to front, with exactly who was who, what they all liked and individual diets. This was some skill as there are around 10 of each of them.
Crookshanks for example, theres the main cat, then theres a lazy one (for petting), an action one (for the energetic work!), another for this and another for that, all to make sure of the right shots for the films.
Fang is just huge, sits there, while lots of other dogs are barking and going nuts without a care in the world and just the odd growl. The owls are just gorgeous, esspecially Errol (Weasleys) who you could stroke all day long and he'd still want more.

The Great Hall.
As you all know now, this was built in the studios exactly the same as the original location that was used for The Philosophers Stone, so it can be used over and over again, the detail is amazing. Some days there are over 200 students, so thats a lot of toilet trips. The walls however all move so the hundreds of students that fill it on filming days can get in and out without too much trouble and to make way for the cameras and crew. The tables are actually new with old wooden tops added for authenticity, it was just so cool to walk through the great hall (sorry to rub it in, just trying to share the experience) up to the teachers table and sit in Dumbledores chair, he, he.
I'd never noticed in the previous two films the big house points counter which sits to the right of the hall as you look at it, with all the different colored stones for each house. In the empty hall it is huge and looks great. The actual floor of the film set has been made with genuine stone, for its authenticity and future usage. The ceiling, although scaffolding while we were there still had the mechanism used for the floating candles attached which was very clever. Just a fantastic room.

The Nightbus.
How cool was this! We all know that its purple, we watched a full five minutes live filming in nearly total darkness. They were filming a lower deck scene which was of these skull things that are hanging down from the rear view mirror ? of Stan & Ernies bus - bit like us Muggles having an air-freshener or something in our car, except the Wizard ones shriek and howl, it was great to watch, beside us was a crew guy with a remote control making it move and talk, while the bus was moved on platforms to simulate driving. All these little extra bits will just add tons to the final film, but again, not in the book (unless I missed it?). What you dont realize when you watch the films is the amount of work it takes and how many people are needed to get what might be a 5 second shot.
Hate to say it but ive been told this, Alfonso is awesome, so intense BUT also Dont mention that guys name to me, I decided I dont think I should elaborate too much on that really apart from I think Prisoner will be much better acted than previous, with Alfonso bringing the best out of everyone,BUT, there will be quite a few scenes which are not in the books, please remember this is just my opinion and if it was up to me id make ALL the films about 5 hours long each!.

The Basilisk and Aragog ARE the same size as you see in the films, they are brilliant, made basically out of a rubber type material, they are huge, just sitting there now in the props dept with no more scenes to film,unless,that is, they are needed in future films?.

Ok, apologies for delay in submitting the rest of this report, hope you enjoyed it.

We will hopefully be there for the Goblet of Fire too

Check back HERE after November 25th, well have some exciting news and pictures for you all.

Check out the first Prisoner of Azkaban trailer!

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