This holiday season, conjure the gift of magic as Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Ultimate Editions have arrived on Blu-ray and DVD!
Created for fans of the world’s #1 film franchise, each Ultimate Edition features a new chapter of “Creating the World of Harry Potter,” a unique 8-hour documentary series with never-before-seen footage, intriguing stories and the definitive insider look behind the films. Each hour-long chapter deepens the relationship Harry Potter fans have with the movies and adds to their understanding of and connection to their favorite characters, creatures and more. “Creating the World of Harry Potter” is available exclusively in the Harry Potter Ultimate Editions.
Release Date: October 19, 2010
Rating: PG / PG-13
Running Time: 142 minutes / 157 minutes
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Ultimate Edition Special Features Disc 3:
Creating the World of Harry Potter Part 3: Creatures (1 hour 3 minutes) – Never-before-seen footage of the Creature Shop! Explore never revealed concept drawings, interviews with creators who describe the quest to create real creatures with emotional power to move the adventure forward. Go behind the scenes with Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as they interact with a marvelous menagerie from magnificent Buckbeak to malevolent Dementors. Watch creatures develop from page to sketch to model to screen. Discover how actors are transformed from humans to rats and werewolves. Witness Voldemort’s evolution from grotesque, infant-like creature to the Darkest Force of all.
The feature begins with the cast and crew talking about how the creatures are grounded in reality as the interviews begin to evolve into much more. After a tour of Nick Dudman’s Creature Shop, the feature is broken into segments…the first being “Dragons, Acromantula and Basilisk.” My favorite part about this discussion was the challenge of making Aragog, a talking spider not seem cheesy. Watching the troll dummie dance off set in pre-production was a highlight in the segment, “Grindylows, Mandrakes, Trolls and Cornish Pixies.” If you want to learn a fun fact, you’ll find out that the pixies are a reference to the film, Gremlins. Also, the hippogriff exists in folklore and mythology as J.K. Rowling mentions in the segment, “Hippogriff, Thestrals and Phoenix.” I particularly found it astounding the extensive make up and prosthetics used for the elves, shown in the segment, “House-Elves, Goblins and Centaurs.” Other segments include “Animagi and Werewolves” and “Lord Voldemort.” Overall, this was a fabulous look into all that goes into creating the creatures of Harry Potter. It’s really quite fascinating and no matter how many times you view this feature, you will always be blown away.
Appearing in this Special Feature:
Directors, Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuaron, David Yates, and Mike Newell
Actors, Daniel Radcliffe, Warwick Davis, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Matthew Lewis, Robbie Coltrane, Jason Isaacs, Evanna Lynch, Toby Jones, Jason Piper, Timothy Spall, Dave Legeno
Production Designer, Stuart Craig
Animation Supervisor, Pablo Grillo
Special Makeup Effects Designer, Nick Dudman
Producers, David Barren and David Heyman
Visual Effects Producers, Emma Norton and Theresa R. Corrao
Concept Artists, Rob Bliss and Adam Brockbank
Visual Effects Supervisors, Tim Burke and Jim Mitchell
Sculptor, Chris Fitzgerald
Author, J.K. Rowling
Screenwriters, Steve Kloves and Michael Goldenberg
– Tour Nick Dudman’s Creature Shop
– An Interview in Spanish with Alfonso Cuaron
– 3 Vintage TV Specials
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Ultimate Edition Special Features Disc 2:
– Creating the Vision: an interview with J.K. Rowling and the filmmakers
– Conjuring a Scene: Creating Buckbeak and the Dementors for the screen
– Johnny Vaughan and the Shrunken Head Lead Raucous Interviews with the Cast
– Self Guided Tours of Honeydukes and Professor Lupin’s Classroom
– Meet the Animal Trainers in Care of Creatures
– 3 Great Challenges
Inside Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Ultimate Edition:
– 48-Page Creatures Photo Book
– Year 3 Lenticular Card
– Two Collectible Character Cards: Hermione Granger and Sirius Black
-Bonus Digital Copy of the Theatrical Film
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Ultimate Edition Special Features Disc 3:
Creating the World of Harry Potter Part 4: Sound & Music (54:07 minutes) – For the first time, discover how musical themes for Harry, Hedwig, Luna and Lord Voldemort define each character’s identity. Learn how sound effects experts create the crunch of footsteps on snow and the whoosh of a flying broomstick. Visit recording studios and see how each composer brings his orchestral vision to the films. Plunge into fun as Daniel gets the sound of underwater. Feel the magic as music is added to a scene, intensifying the emotion and steering the story.
This feature will blow you away. As a lover of music, specifically the orchestra, I found this feature to be way more fascinating than the “Creatures” feature. This feature takes viewers inside he recording studio as each of the composers are directing and the massive orchestra playing. It is a beautiful sight to see as the feature gives a spotlight to each of the films’ composers. The feature shifts from the scores to the sounds and afterwords intertwines. But as for the sound, it is interesting to hear the crew talk about using layers of different sounds in the wizarding world vs. using normal sounds in muggle world. You’ll also see the crew around town recording their own sounds and hear them discuss not only the challenging scores and sounds but the delight in making their sounds affect the viewers’ mood. The feature starts to come to an end once discussion of ADR (70% in this film) begins. After that, the feature comes round circle back to the orchestra recording at Abbey Road Studios and Air Studios – Lyndhurst Hall and the cast discussing “Hedwig’s Theme.” All of this truly is quite fascinating and far more complex than one might think, so I appreciate it very much that this feature was made for fans to see all that goes into making such legendary scores and out of this world sounds.
Appearing in this Special Feature:
Actors, Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, Matthew Lewis, Bonnie Wright, Jason Isaacs
Producers, David Barren and David Heyman
Composers, John Williams, Patrick Doyle, Nicholas Hooper
Orchestrators, James Shearman and Jeff Atmajian
Musician, Randy Kerber
Orchestrator Leader, Marcia Crayford
Re-recording Mixers, Stuart Hilliker and Mike Prestwood Smith
Supervising Sound Editor, James Mather
Sound Effects Editors, Andy Kennedy, Jon Olive, Jed Loughran, Martin Cantwell
Sound Designer, Richard Beggs
Directors, Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuaron, and Mike Newell
Conductor & Adapter, William Ross
Foley Artist, Peter Burgis
Production Sound Mixer, Stuart Wilson
ADR Supervisor, Dan Laurie
Chorus Master, Terry Edwards
– 5 Vintage TV Specials
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Ultimate Edition Special Features Disc 2:
– Preparing for the Yule Ball
– Conversations with the Cast
– Reflections on the Fourth Film
– Triwizard Tournament: Dragon Arena
– Triwizard Tournament: Lake
– Triwizard Tournament: Maze
– Additional Scenes
Inside Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Ultimate Edition:
– 44-Page Creating the Sound & Music of Harry Potter Photo Book
– Two Collectible Character Cards: Ronald Weasley and Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody
– Year 4 Lenticular Card
– Bonus Digital Copy of the Theatrical Film
Own Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Ultimate Editions on DVD today.