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As Warner Bros. Studio Tour London prepares to deck the Great Hall for the winter, we celebrate Harry Potter’s snowiest cinema moments
From the minute you walk through the huge doors to the Great Hall, a visit to Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter feels like you really have stepped into the Wizarding World. As well as getting up close to film sets, costumes and props from all eight Harry Potter movies, you can explore the detailed craft and the special effects that went on behind the scenes.
A visit here changes with the seasons, and an annual highlight is seeing the Great Hall dressed for a Yuletide feast, the Gryffindor Common Room adorned with greetings cards and the famous 50-feet-wide model of Hogwarts covered in snow. The model was used for long-shots of the school during shooting and, for a limited time only (November 17 to January 27 2019), you can see it covered in a layer of film-making snow.
Book now at www.wbstudiotour.co.uk to make sure you don’t miss out. And to get you in the mood, we thought we’d treat ourselves to a weekend walking in a Potter wonderland, reliving Harry Potter’s finest snowy moments on film…
As snow gently falls, Harry and Hermione stand by the tombstone of Harry’s parents. Not the most cheery way to spend Christmas Eve, but this is ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One’, after all. At the Studio Tour, find out how they created three different kinds of fake snow – including one to drift down this smoothly.
Want to see the Hogwarts in the Snow model in all its frosty glory? In ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ there’s a magnificent scene where horse-drawn sleighs take the students on a wintry jaunt, marking the start of the festive season.
Rather pleasingly, the snowy scenario above melts into location in the Great Hall, where, as any good Potterphile knows, it snows from the rafters for the most special festive feasts.
Blink and you’ll miss it, but in ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’, Harry and Ron are riding the school train as beautiful countryside scenes outside the window glisten in the snow. It’s a wonder Dumbledore never set up a ski school for wizards and witches. But then who needs skis when you’ve got a broomstick?
Well, we couldn’t expect Harry to get through his adolescence without a bit of snogging. We’re cheating here, of course, because his romantic clinch under the conveniently conjured mistletoe with Cho Chang doesn’t involve snow, but it is snowing outside. And hats off to this film (‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’) for the especially chilling moment when a swirl of snow outside takes on the shape of Voldemort’s face.
As a Hogwarts fresher in ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’, our young hero gets his first ever experience of festive cheer after his many miserable Christmasses chez Dursley. The Great Hall is magically set for the season, flanked with fir trees, each dragged through the snow by Hagrid (and decorated with golden baubles levitated into place by the wand of Professor Flitwick).
Want another fabulous chance to see Hogwarts from above? In ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’, Hedwig, Harry’s loyal feathered companion, gives us a Snowy Owl’s view of the school under a blanket of the white stuff.
Ooh, and another! Arguably the most awesome aerial shot of Hogwarts is in ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’, when Harry steps out on his own to contemplate the heavy Triwizard Tournament stuff going on in his head and, on his way back, plucks up the courage to ask Cho to the Yule Ball… and gets turned down. Ah, Cedric Diggory got there first.
Perhaps it’s the warming prospect of a flagon of butterbeer, but Hogsmeade seems particularly lovely when covered in snow. On the Studio Tour, you can find out how they made the crunchy kind of snow for Harry’s footsteps when he wears the invisibility cloak in ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’. And who can forget the visit to the Three Broomsticks, which ends with the grim discovery of the cursed Katie Bell, on the snowy walk back to school in ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’?
It’s not easy playing Quidditch at the best of times – sneaky Slytherins trying to knock you off your Nimbus, that pesky Golden Snitch darting through the air, and the thought that at any moment, a cloud of Dementors might invade the pitch. Still, against the odds, and in the snow, Ron manages to prove himself the star player in a match in ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’. Altogether now, ‘Weasley, Weasley, Weasley!’
Remember that Invisibility Cloak that Harry was given on his first Christmas at Hogwarts? It came in really handy in ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’ when Malfoy minor was picking on Ron and Hermione. Harry treated himself to a one-sided snowball fight to send the dreaded Draco and his sidekicks scurrying from their unseen attacker. A Christmassy treat for Potter fans everywhere.