Prizoner of Azkaban Set Design

[hermeeownninny]

I don't know if any of you read the article from the Aug. 4 Newsweek that the first Sirius pic came from, but I just did, and some things are a little troubling.

First of all, Honeydukes. "For Hogsmeade, set designer Stuart Craig labored to avoid a 'pretty, chocolate box' village, creating a main street that swerves zanily. Honeydukes, the candy store, is floor-to-ceiling psychedelia, with tangles of licorice and a Cuaron touch- Mexican skulls made of sugar." Isn't Hogsmeade supposed to look like a Christmas card? And what's up with the psychedelic Honeydukes? It's like he's turned it into a post-head shop left over from the '60s.

Also it said that Gambon portrays Dumbledore as an "elegant old hippie". Well, isn't Dumbledore 150 years old according to JKR? So he came a bit before the whole hippie thing, don't you think?

Something more disturbing to me was that Cuaron seemed very anti-American and Anti-British. As an American I took offense to that, but maybe the Harry Potter movies would be better off with a British director, who could bring the needed, um, Britishness to it.

Also on a side note, it said that Dan, Rupert, and Emma will be back for GoF.

Moderator Note: Please use this thread to discuss all set designs in Prizoner of Azkaban. As the topics written in smaller text have already been discussed elsewhere, please do not discuss them here. Thanks.

[daniel4hp]

Many of these things have been discussed elsewhere, but since the issue of Hogsmeade hasn't really been discussed before, I'll leave this thread open.

Attn: Please use this thread only to discuss the set designs for Prizoner of Azkaban. If you wish to discuss Cuaron, Dumbledore, the actors returning, or anything else like that, please do so in the appropriate threads.

[Llopin]

Stuart Craig is a genius. I'm sure he'll build a good Hogsmeade. While it has a magic look, I don't care wheter it's Christmas-like or not. Actually those mexican skulls seem promising.

[Cat]

Dumbledore doesn't really look like a hippie. Don't take things that are said in newspaper or magazines (or indeed websites) so seriously.

Also, I don't see why having swerving streets means Hogsmeade won't look old fashioned Christmas card-y. I've never seen a code for Christmas card villages that states they must be symmetrically lined.

What's wrong with a weird Honeydukes? It's supposed to be a bit weird. I mean, it's a magical sweet shop, it's not going to be normal.

What did Cuaron say that makes you think he's anti-American? Just curious about that one...

EDIT: sorry, started writing before your post, daniel4hp.

[Sirius83]

Doesn't the book describe Hogsmeade as having a windy main road? I'm very glad he has been trying not to produce a chocolate box place, that would be pretty unsuitable for Harry Potter. From what i've seen of the sets in pics, they look amazing.

[daniel4hp]

What did Cuaron say that makes you think he's anti-American? Just curious about that one...
He said that Voldemort was a mix of Bush and Hussein, since all three of them are in love with power and lie to those they rule. He also said that Fudge reminded him of Blair, a "perfect politician."

But this is off-topic.

[Cat]

That's not anti-American, that's anti-Bush. I mean, I'm from the UK and I don't care that he compared Blair to Fudge. In fact, I agree with him.

Just continuing on the off-topic theme, there.

[Sebastian06]

"Let's complain about everything!" :rolleyes: Seriously, why the hell is everyone so pissed off at these little changes? "Hermione's wearing pink! Blame Cuaron!" "Sirius has a tatoo on his chest! This movie is ruined!" "One tiny little detail isn't exactly how I imagined it in my head! This means the movie's going to suck, because, you know, my imagination of these books is always correct and supreme!"

Honestly, some of you are just so pessimistic. Just thank your lucky stars that Cuaron is mending the errors of the previous two films.

[Cat]

You're right, Sebastian06. But I wouldn't use the word 'pessimistic'. Being pessimistic is rather sweet, it means that you must care a great deal about the outcome. Some people are being outright whingey.

[rkenshin19]

Doesn't the book describe Hogsmeade as having a windy main road? I'm very glad he has been trying not to produce a chocolate box place, that would be pretty unsuitable for Harry Potter. From what i've seen of the sets in pics, they look amazing.
I may be comfused ...but have you seen pics of Hogsmeade????. If so..SEND links Please

[daniel4hp]

There have been no pics released of Hogsmeade, but it has been stated that Hogsmeade is not going to be the chocolate box villiage, and that its main road is going to be very windy.


Now for my views on Prizoner of Azkaban set design...

I enjoyed the work Craig did on the first two films, but looking back, I don't think it was as good as it should have been. In particular, the classrooms, which I think ought to have looked a bit more, well, normal (single desks, a regular chalk-board, etc). They'd have been set in the castle, and the desks would be old-fashioned looking, but they wouldn't look as odd as what they ended up looking like. Hogwarts, I felt, while enchanting enough, was a bit unrealistic, since castles built at the time when Hogwarts would have been would probably have had a less ornate exterior and have been built with protection more in mind (A Great Hall with huge windows jutting out into the lake? Not likely).

However, I'll stop complaining about the first two movies. The set design certainly did look interesting, albeit unrealistic, and there is something to be said for that. It fit the spirit of the movies well, considering Columbus' style. Now, in the third movie, it looks like Cuaron has requested that Hogsmeade not be as picturesque, and I like that.

I think that Cuaron has the right vision for this film, and from what we've seen, that's showing through in more than one area. Not only is the cinematogiphy/lighting/acting different, the costumes are different, the special effects are being greatly improved, and the set design is apparently being effected. Cuaron has a very different vision than Columbus did, and its showing throughout the entire film.

Now, back to the set design. I have high hopes. Will Hogwarts change? Very likely not. There may be minor adjustments, but I doubt Cuaron will want to revolutionize it to much (although I wouldn't object if he did). However, from what I've heard about the Hogsmeade set, I think that we can expect any new sets to have the right feel, and who knows, the old sets might get new life as well. A lot of it comes down to the fact that most of the sets were done during the Columbus era, and you can only change so much.

I trust that Cuaron will do a good job, though, and I think that Craige does have the tallent to make good sets, providing he recieves direction from the director. And if the old sets I'm less fond of haven't changed, I won't let it get me down. Its still going to be a great movie.

[hermeeownninny]

You're right, Sebastian06. But I wouldn't use the word 'pessimistic'. Being pessimistic is rather sweet, it means that you must care a great deal about the outcome. Some people are being outright whingey.

It's not that people who have a problem with some of the things Cuaron is doing are whiney. . . some of them (well at least me) are literary purists. I'm a literary purist for everything, not just Harry Potter. I'm not just Cuaron-bashing, I don't agree with some of the things Columbus did either. For example (of the literary purism), I read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in my english class, and loved the book. Then I saw the 1930s Boris Karloff movie and that upset me, because it got the character of the monster totally wrong and set it in the 1930s, not 1800s, like the book. On the other hand, I saw the BBC miniseries of Pride and Prejudice, and thought they did an excellent job of translating the story from page to screen.

I'm sorry if this is off-topic, but I just had to address that comment.

[Cat]

I wasn't referring to you, hermeeownninny, I was referring to the people who complain about everything incessantly.

I'm infatuated by books and I have a particularly stubborn imagination. But I seldom care about small changes or adaptations made in films. Films are just fan art. They're not supposed to be accurate mirror-images of the book.

Besides, I don't see how the things you described are inaccurate. Hogsmeade isn't meant to be in neat rows like a chocolate box, Honeydukes isn't meant to be orderly and Dumbledore isn't meant to be straight-laced (but he's not REALLY transformed into a hippy for the film, by the way, that was just the vague description given). So where are the changes here?

[hermeeownninny]

I am infatuated with books too, Cat, and I guess my problem with the movies is that I want to see my vision of it, and the director has a different one. It doesn't make it wrong, just different.

I've thought about the Hogsmeade/Dumbledore thing, and I've thought of a reason why Cuaron may be taking a slightly psychedelic route. Hippies are mystical, and sort of strange. Dumbledore is definitely mystical, and kind of strange. Well, not strange, but eccentric. That's a part of his character that Columbus missed entirely. So maybe Cuaron is trying to bring that part of Dumbledore out, and the journalist just compared it to a hippie. And nothing in the wizarding world is orderly, so on second thought, it doesn't sound that bad.

[Cat]

I think Dumbledore was described as hippyish because, if you look closely in the picture, his hat has a very fetching trim of Indian style stiching and beads.

[daniel4hp]

That's a part of his character that Columbus missed entirely. So maybe Cuaron is trying to bring that part of Dumbledore out, and the journalist just compared it to a hippie.
I think this is all that happened. The journalist compared a more lively/eccentric Dumbledore to a hippie, when really its nothing more than Cuaron altering Dumbledore so he better fits the character in the book. Many of these people have never read the books, so compared to Harris, Gambon may look somewhat hippie-ish, but those who have read the book know that its just a more accurate Dumbledore.

This is, again, a far cry from set design, but ah well...

[phoenixsong]

I'll just say that I was thrilled to hear about the sugar skulls - they are beautiful objects and perfect for Honeydukes. They'll fit in well with the blood lollypops.

I agree with the hippiesque-Dumbledore thing probably just being based on his hat, though Cuaron might be picking up on the whole idea of the magical world being sort of "countercultural".

[Dedalus]

I think everything sounds great. Hogsmeade can be all twisty, and not just because it's apt to be a little eccentric, being a magical village - but because most villages make you out of breath by just walking up the street, with all the twists and slopes they have.

And Honeydukes sounds pretty much right as well ... bright coloured sweets and strange shapes, from floor to ceiling is pretty much psychedelic, and that's just an ordinary sweet shop. Honeydukes is bound to be even more fun.

[Rose Zeller]

I like the idea of a "floor to ceiling, psychedelia" version of Honeyduckes it sounds pretty cool! :cool:
And Mexican skulls made of suger sound just like something for the Day of the Dead celebration, I like it already.
I wonder what Azakaban Prison will look like.
Does anyone know what movies this Sturt Craig has worked on?

[remusjlupin1980]

In addition to the Harry Potter movies, Stuart Craig won Oscars for working on The English Patient and Gandhi.

[Cat]

I think everything sounds great. Hogsmeade can be all twisty, and not just because it's apt to be a little eccentric, being a magical village - but because most villages make you out of breath by just walking up the street, with all the twists and slopes they have.


Exactly, Dedalus. A 'chocolate box' village would be one with perfect little rows. Instead of looking like it should in the books, it would look like the Dursley's neighbourhood. Forget Hogsmeade, magical village, it wouldn't look like a village in the UK at all. I don't see how anybody could think this would be the correct way to make it, so I think hermeeownninny was muddled up by something in the wording here...

[fawkesthepheonix]

I'm infatuated by books and I have a particularly stubborn imagination. But I seldom care about small changes or adaptations made in films. Films are just fan art. They're not supposed to be accurate mirror-images of the book.
:agree: Exactly. Movies that are based on books are seen through one point of view, which can sometimes be frustrating for the fans!

But I'm looking forward to seeing the news sets, especially for Hogsmeade. So far the sets in the other movies have been close enough to what I've been picturing while reading the books, and sometimes they help me visualize a scene even better.

[daniel4hp]

Exactly. Movies that are based on books are seen through one point of view, which can sometimes be frustrating for the fans!
Or for at least some of the fans. Really, how Cuaron, or Craig, views the sets is just one person's interpretation. Even if one of us designed the sets, most of the rest of us would still be annoyed by it, because everyone, including the set designer, sees it a slightly different way. In many cases, its not wrong, its just a different way of seeing it. (Although, where it contradicts the book, it could be said to be wrong, but even there, sometimes those sort of changes just have to be made.)

[Mistress Snivellus]

So far so good. I'm liking the idea of a more psychadelic magical world. I really enjoyed the first two movies, some parts were quite beautifully done, but I admit the style seemed quite rigid - like everything really was set in a chocolate box.

I'm looking foward to the PoA crew's interpretation of Hogsmeade - and the idea of a tripped out, eccentric approach can be quite limitless in terms of direction, set deign and art direction. The more I read about this the more excited I get.

As far as the Dumbledore/hippy reference - I have to agree with phoenixsong's "Cuaron might be picking up on the whole idea of the magical world being sort of "countercultural". Hat's off to you phoenixsong, I not only wish I'd have said it, I couldn't have even said it better myself if I tried!

[Lupin Loopy]

Didn't Harry describe Hogsmeade as looking like it was straight off of a Christmas card (to the same effect as being like a Chocolate box village)?
.........or am I just making things up again?..........i really need to go through all the books again......

Anyway, from the pics so far of PoA, I think it looks great, and I can't wait until the release! :clap:

[daniel4hp]

I don't remember if Hogsmeade was described as being off a Christmas card or not, but in any case, in the movie, it needs to look real, even if it does look picturesque, and any village that had a nice straight street and neat buildings along the side would most certainly not look real. I don't think its going to look ugly or anything like that, it will just look like an actual village (although, certainly, a nice one).

[Cat]

Didn't Harry describe Hogsmeade as looking like it was straight off of a Christmas card (to the same effect as being like a Chocolate box village)?
.........or am I just making things up again?..........i really need to go through all the books again......


Christmas card pictures of villages usually show thick white snow and gingerbread-looking houses with curly smoke coming from the chimneys. They tend not to include layout maps.

So how is making the roads meander a mistake on Cuaron's (or the set designers') part? It never actually says in the book that Hogsmeade has straight streets.

[Lupin Loopy]

Christmas card pictures of villages usually show thick white snow and gingerbread-looking houses with curly smoke coming from the chimneys. They tend not to include layout maps.


Whats meant by a "Chocolate Box" Village then?

[hermeeownninny]

Cat's right, I got totally mixed up "chocolate box village" with the christmas card thing- I was just sort of mad at some of the other stuff in the article and wanted to find fault with everything Cuaron did. But now that my head's cleared a bit, I don't think Hogsmeade would be like a chocolate box- I think they meant all straight and in rows- it would be all windy. Nothing in the wizarding world is orderly and straight anyway. Look at Diagon Alley- at the Weasley's house.

[Cat]

Whats meant by a "Chocolate Box" Village then?

A village in neat little rows. The allusion is to the different compartments you get in chocolate boxes.

[doctormj]

I'm having some trouble trusting Cuaron to really carry forward the feeling and atmosphere generated in the books, and this is based on some, not all, of his other movies. Though there is not yet alot of information available on the rest of the sets, they, and the costumes, or lack thereof, are part of that atmosphere for me.
Though I really like the sugar skulls, as I have spent a good deal of time in Mexico, i will have to wait 'til I see the movie to know whether or not they seem out of place. There are, after all, some fine wizards and witches in Mexico.
Additionally, I feel that it is just OK to state ones feelings/responses/thoughts/ideas whether or not they are in support of whatever we are seeing of the PoA movie. They are just that...feelings, responses, thoughts, ideas. Nothing more, nothing less.
I haven't seen anything where JKR has commented on any of this yet. Has anyone else?

[XoticRaven]

reminds me of Alcatraz...(sp?)

[Dedalus]

What do people think of the sets we've seen in photos, rather than just what we've heard about?

There are high res. pictures from the Newsweek article posted on the Leaky Cauldron (http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org) right now, and you can see quite a lot of set in some of them. Two in particular show a lot of the set - the Shrieking Shack picture and the Leaky Cauldron (possibly the parlour?). So what about them?

I'm surprised at how much the Shrieking Shack (picture here (http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/images/2003/08/PoAHiResShriekShack.jpg)) looks how I imagined it! The lighting is, presumably, going to change things a lot, and we can only see a small portion, but I really like it from what I can see. It looks dark and dingey and depressing. Basically it looks how it is in the books, all broken and torn apart and old. Except, is that a bit of sunlight gleaming through the cracks? Isn't it supposed to be sunset/twilight around that time? Perhaps it's just a bright twilight, I mean it is high Summer.

I know we've already seen the Leaky Cauldron before but I guess not that bit and things have been changed anyway, so I can still say that I like the look of the Leaky Cauldron as well (picture here (http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/images/2003/08/PoAHiResLeakyCauldron.jpg)). I can't actually remember what we've seen of it in the previous films ... did we ever see a lot? It looks like a lot of pubs I've been if, if those pubs had been invaded by wizards, which seems about right. It looks nice and homely. And, as has been pointed out on other threads and on the Leaky Cauldron site as well, have you seen the wanted poster on the back wall?

One thing is puzzling me about the Leaky Cauldron picture, however ... what on Earth is this drawing supposed to be, on the wall above Harry's head? :lol:
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-8/215904/what.jpg

It looks like a man struggling to fasten a tape measure around a large witch, or something ... can anyone figure it out?

[daniel4hp]

Wow... I like those pics, Dedalus. The sets look good. :tu:

[Sirius83]

The sets look great to me.

[hawk1245]

I think the set design of all 3 potter movies is amazing! Some of the best I have ever seen! The only quibble I have with the POA sets is the new Astronomy classroom. It is OBVIOUS that it was Dumbledore's office! They hardly changed it at all! Now diagon alley was changed to Hogsmead, but you can hardly tell. The only thing they did with ADs office was take the pictures down and put candles where the books were and add a few astrolobes, I think it was a bit lazy there, I think they could have disguised it a bit better. But other than that the sets are great! My favs:

The great hall.

Hogsmeade/Diagon Alley.

The entrance hall.

Hagrid's hut.

The sundial gardens.

TLC

Privet Drive (more the story behind it than the actual set)

[Neonorne]

I like everything we have seen of the sets so far, too. I also like what Stuart Craig said in a recent interview how Cuarón's wideangled shots give room for so many elaborated details everywhere, like strange little tails sticing out from between the floorboards in Hagrid's hut - and what about those carvings we see at the doorpost when Snape enters the DADA classroom in the recent trailer, or the strange stone creature holding up a torch (I think it was - or a beam for the roof, don't remember exactly right now) in professor Trelawnys classroom. It's all these little details that make it all so wonderful, and it will be such a treat to get the DVD and go through the film frame by frame to really be able to enjoy it all!!!

[Elocin4684]

OK, I read in that Home & Gardens clip that there was an astronomy classroom.... I thought they just went up to the roof every Wed night or so and looked at the stars. Where is the astronomy classroom mentioned?

[RangerKing]

Was the Astronemy Classroom where Lupin and Harry was practicing with the Boggart with the Patronus Charm?

[DarkThunder]

Anti-American? How on earth did he seem like that!?

[eobet]

Hrmm... I've never seen a forum ever with so many topics! I posted this in a new thread yesterday, but it got closed down quickly and people accused me of not using the search function, but I did! The entire first two pages of results did not include a single one about movie sets, so naturally, I thought there wasn't one. Oh, well...

I wonder who was responsible for the new, and in my eyes poor, setpieces of Hogwarts in the PoA movie? The director perhaps, as there seemed to be some symbology in the fact that the camera always swept by a huge clock... which I don't think is mentioned in the book? Or at least, the hospital wing is never mentioned to be located in a bell tower? Which itself is seemingly only two stories high? And seemingly adjacent to a small court yard with a bridge which is never mentioned in the book?

If I have a bad memory regarding the books, I am sorry, but I have a notoriously bad memory! I have only read each book about four times, and still forget major plot elements.

However, I thought the fact that many scenes in the movie revolved around this particular set piece (which did seem to me to be one single set, and not a very big one either) wasn't as impressive as the wonderful church (or was it cathedral) that they used in the previous movies.

I hope they bring back the church, and enlarge the sets, for the next movie.

(Btw, I also read that Professor Lupin moved into Albus Dumbledore's office for this movie... talk about a promotion!) :eyebrows:

[glugunkwen]

[SIZE=1][i]I wonder who was responsible for the new, and in my eyes poor, setpieces of Hogwarts in the PoA movie? The director perhaps, as there seemed to be some symbology in the fact that the camera always swept by a huge clock... which I don't think is mentioned in the book?

I believe I remember reading that Cuaron had the idea for the big clock and used it to add interest to scenes.

I really loved the sets of PoA. They seemed much more 'lived in' than sets from the other movies. I think a lot of the differences also seemed to come from the changes in lighting and use of color - both gave a darker, more serious look to the sets. From the first frame, it was clear that this story was different that the ones we had seen before.