A Very Harry Behind-the-Scenes

When we watch completed films on the silver screen, it's very easy to forget that they actually take a lot of effort to get there - makeup teams, CGI teams, special effects, props and costumes... The work that goes into a film as big-budget as the Harry Potter ones is pretty astounding!











[caption id="attachment_1943" align="alignnone" width="900"] Paper models of the Hogwarts interior.[/caption]



[caption id="attachment_1940" align="alignnone" width="900"] The amount of work that went into this is amazing![/caption]





[caption id="attachment_1937" align="alignnone" width="900"] More paper mockups, although if this is supposed to be Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade I can't tell.[/caption]

And then, before you know it...



It's freaking Diagon Alley y'all. The magical first step into the wizarding world, with a ton of apothecaries and owleries and Ollivanders and Flourish and Blotts and can you totally tell that I was one of those kids who was eagerly awaiting her owl to Hogwarts on her 11th birthday?





[caption id="attachment_1934" align="alignnone" width="600"] Because Gilderoy Lockhart is awesome, don't you know.[/caption]













So I guess my day out to Leavesden really was a lot like my entire childhood revisited, and time completely flew by - in between the incredibly detailed audio guide and soaking in the atmosphere, I somehow managed to spend an incredible seven hours at Leavesden.

There's nothing better than reliving all those childhood dreams.