Intro...
Last year I got the amazing opportunity to film for the final Harry Potter film called ‘Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows part II’. I was both shocked and excited when I was asked to do it because not only is it a major film, I knew that there would be a lot of well-known actors on set which I could learn from. It was filmed at Leavesden Studios in Herefordshire (and also at Pinewood).
A normal day...
From the moment we arrived on set it was clear that the budget was by no means small and they even forked out the cash to look after us extras! Over the ten days that I filmed, I had a constant call time of 7:00am which was most probably the worst part of the experience as I am by no means a morning person and I don't live near the studios!
The normal regime for the day was:
Signing in and picking up our contract for the day.
Getting some breakfast.
Being called into costume.
Going into hair.
Going into make-up.
Returning to the green room to get dusted up.
Watching the odd episode of Jeremy Kyle before costume checks!
Costume checks.
Going on set.
Filming.
Lunch.
Another costume check.
Filming.
Being released.
Signing out
The normal regime for the day was:
Signing in and picking up our contract for the day.
Getting some breakfast.
Being called into costume.
Going into hair.
Going into make-up.
Returning to the green room to get dusted up.
Watching the odd episode of Jeremy Kyle before costume checks!
Costume checks.
Going on set.
Filming.
Lunch.
Another costume check.
Filming.
Being released.
Signing out
Hair, costume and make-up...
We were all very excited going into costume as we all wanted to find out exactly what we had to wear. We were all informed that we would be playing the students of Hogwarts and we were all pre-assigned a house to be in. I, myself was in Ravenclaw, ergo I had a dirtied shirt with a stripy blue tie with a grey jumper over the top which had blue around the rim, a longish black skirt, black tights and normal school shoes. Below is a picture of me in the uniform.
The reason behind the uniform looking dirty is that the scenes filmed took place after Voldemort had being killed and in the process a lot of the students were supposedly caught up in explosions. Make-up and hair was a key aspect on set and it was given a lot of priority as naturally we all had to look our worst! Hair wise, I had to have brick-dust gelled in, with my pony tail backcombed. The make-up varied from character to character, with some people having cuts and gashes across their face and some (like me) who just got dirtied up with a black eye, which can be seen more clearly in the picture below.
I think the funniest moment in relation to the make up was one day on the way in we were caught in a freak snow storm that suddenly blasted Herefordshire and unfortunately for my friend and I, we couldn't get the car up the hill to the studios so we had to trudge through the snow (For any readers that don't live in England, we are useless with dealing with snow!) This was fine in the morning, it woke me up a little bit! But when we were released, it was about nine o'clock and we certainly weren't looking forward to trying to get back home. We rushed out of the studios to find about a foot of snow on the ground and we started hiking our way back trying not to fall down the ditch by the side of the road. As we got a little closer to humanity, we walked past a group of kids who looked at us like we were stir crazy but we assumed it was just because we were underdressed for the weather. We then, as we approached the car was stopped by a man checking to see if we were okay. Being as tired as we were, we still hadn't triggered that our faces were still covered in the post explosion make-up, which for me included a lot of dirt and a black eye, and for my friend included an equal amount of dirt and a bloody nose! Note to self, always remember make-up wipes!
The reason behind the uniform looking dirty is that the scenes filmed took place after Voldemort had being killed and in the process a lot of the students were supposedly caught up in explosions. Make-up and hair was a key aspect on set and it was given a lot of priority as naturally we all had to look our worst! Hair wise, I had to have brick-dust gelled in, with my pony tail backcombed. The make-up varied from character to character, with some people having cuts and gashes across their face and some (like me) who just got dirtied up with a black eye, which can be seen more clearly in the picture below.
I think the funniest moment in relation to the make up was one day on the way in we were caught in a freak snow storm that suddenly blasted Herefordshire and unfortunately for my friend and I, we couldn't get the car up the hill to the studios so we had to trudge through the snow (For any readers that don't live in England, we are useless with dealing with snow!) This was fine in the morning, it woke me up a little bit! But when we were released, it was about nine o'clock and we certainly weren't looking forward to trying to get back home. We rushed out of the studios to find about a foot of snow on the ground and we started hiking our way back trying not to fall down the ditch by the side of the road. As we got a little closer to humanity, we walked past a group of kids who looked at us like we were stir crazy but we assumed it was just because we were underdressed for the weather. We then, as we approached the car was stopped by a man checking to see if we were okay. Being as tired as we were, we still hadn't triggered that our faces were still covered in the post explosion make-up, which for me included a lot of dirt and a black eye, and for my friend included an equal amount of dirt and a bloody nose! Note to self, always remember make-up wipes!
The set...
The set itself was amazing! As Leavesden Studios use to be a World War II air base, the studios are all air craft hangers which although look small from the outside, are actually huge on the inside! As we walked through the various different sections of set, it became apparent that the majority of the set is polystyrene like material and wood! We were filming in the ‘great hall’, which had had half of a wall brought down in an explosion, and had being set up as a make shift hospital! Obviously I was unable to take any pictures of the actual set because I could be sued!
I'm not going to lie, the studios are no-where near as near as nice as Warner Brother's or Universal studios in Hollywood, but they're the best England have! You American's beat us at everything! (Ps. Anyone American want to hire me? I'll take any chance to go to America!)
I'm not going to lie, the studios are no-where near as near as nice as Warner Brother's or Universal studios in Hollywood, but they're the best England have! You American's beat us at everything! (Ps. Anyone American want to hire me? I'll take any chance to go to America!)
The Cast...
The actors on set were great and the majority of them were very friendly and chatty, Daniel Radcliffe, Julie Walters and Maggie Smith in particular were very grounded and down to earth which is always a refreshing quality for actors nowadays! Daniel Radcliffe even got us to start a mexican wave with him, and I have to say it's the weirdest feeling in the world when you start to call Harry Potter, 'Dan!'
Maggie Smith was also super friendly and came over and introduced herself (not that she really needed to!) and asked us where we came from etc, general chit chat! The crew were also really friendly- stressed, but friendly
Maggie Smith was also super friendly and came over and introduced herself (not that she really needed to!) and asked us where we came from etc, general chit chat! The crew were also really friendly- stressed, but friendly
Overall...
Overall it was an absolutely amazing experience that I'll never forget! I probably won't be seen in the film, or you may see a blur of me at some point as I run about screaming because of Voldemort. But nevertheless, I want to do it all again!
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