On the Set: Props, Special effects, CGI

Many students who study film, animation, or other creative subjects in the UK go on to work in the film industry and contribute to famous movies, including the Harry Potter series.

Here are some examples of UK university students who had a hand in creating Harry Potter for the big screen:

• Students from the University of Sunderland have worked on special effects, hydraulics, and rigs for the Harry Potter films.

• Alex Moseley, who studied archaeology at the University of Leicester and now works in the university’s Medieval Research Centre, worked on font designs that were used on props such as the Daily Prophet newspaper and Marauder’s Map. He and his friend, Roger Mills, own the company, Crazy Diamond Design, which is dedicated to researching ancient handwriting styles and accurately digitizing them for computer use. Mills studied at the University of Manchester and University of Liverpool.

Daily Prophet Font, © Crazy Diamond Design.

• University of Hertfordshire students and/or alumni have contributed to all of the Harry Potter films, including building the large model of Hogwarts School. A team of four students made hundreds of scale trees which were used for the edge of a magical forest in the films. Another Hertfordshire graduate made the Knight Bus, a triple-decker London bus, which features in the third Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Five Hertfordshire graduates made the scale model houses of Privet Drive -- the road where Harry Potter's Uncle and Aunt live -- for the Knight Bus sequence.

• Students earning their MSc degree in Computer Animation from the University of Kent worked directly with Framestore CFC a visual effects and computer animation studio in Europe. Framestore CFC has worked on special effects for a number of movies, including Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Troy, and Mission: Impossible II.

•The Jewellery Industry Innovation Centre (JIIC) at the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, Birmingham City University was asked by a special effects company that worked for Warner Brothers to produce very small scale, 3Dimensional models from computer generated data for some of the dragons that appeared in the films. The dragon models they produced were used as the starting point for the full-sized versions shown in the film.

• Ben Morris, an award-winning (Oscar, Emmy, BAFTA) visual effects supervisor, has worked on a couple of the Harry Potter films and is a faculty member in the film department at Oxford Brookes University.

To learn more about UK creative industries and arts degrees, visit our Arts Education page.

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