The Dark Arts Are Coming to the Studio Tour for Halloween!

by · September 10, 2015

The Warner Bros. Studio Tour – The Making of Harry Potter always puts on a good special feature for special occasions – such as the recent Sweets and Treats feature and the September film screenings. This Halloween is no exception – the Studio Tour is promising a spooky Dark Arts special.

The Studio Tour will host a special two-week Dark Arts feature this October, running between Friday, October 16 and Sunday, November 1. During the two weeks, visitors to the studios will be able to

try their duelling techniques against a Death Eater after learning wand combat moves in an interactive experience created by Paul Harris. Paul developed the battle scenes involving You-Know-Who’s henchmen in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and is the world’s only wand combat choreographer.

Wand making demonstrations will also take place, and lurking in Diagon Alley there will be

Death Eaters in the shadows of the wizarding shopping street while, elsewhere in the attraction, dark props from sinister antique shop Borgin and Burkes will be showcased, including the Vanishing Cabinet (the Death Eaters’ secret entrance to Hogwarts) and the Hand of Glory (a gnarled artefact that gives light only to the holder).

There will be plenty of other spooky things going on around the tour, from Dementors on Platform 9 3/4 to ghosts in the Great Hall, where all the tables will be set for a delicious Halloween feast. You will be able to find out how the Dementors were brought to life, alongside many other filmmaking secrets.

For more details, check out the press release below. Admission to special features is included in normal ticket prices, which must be pre-booked online. You can read our review of the opening of the permanent Dark Arts section here, which will give a glimpse of what to expect this coming Halloween!

Are you planning on attending the Dark Arts feature this half term? Let us know in the comments!

Press Release

DISCOVER DARKER FILMMAKING SECRETS THIS HALLOWEEN
AT WARNER BROS. STUDIO TOUR LONDON

Special two-week feature this October half-term

Fans of Death Eaters, daring duels and Hallowe'en feasts are invited to delve into the Dark Arts this October as Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter hosts a special two-week feature on the darker aspects of the Harry Potter film series.

From Friday 16th October – Sunday 1st November, visitors will be able to try their duelling techniques against aDeath Eater after learning wand combat moves in an interactive experience created by Paul Harris. Paul developed the battle scenes involving You-Know-Who’s henchmen in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenixand is the world's only wand combat choreographer.

During production, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's followers – the Death Eaters – each wore a unique mask, handmade by the Prop Making Department, and were clothed in embroidered black robes. Their headquarters,Malfoy Manor, is on display at the Studio Tour and the drawing room set comes complete with a 20-foot model of Voldemort's snake Nagini and a floating mannequin of Muggle Studies teacher Charity Burbage (who was captured in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1).

Visitors will also be able to learn how wands were made during production as members of Head Prop Maker Pierre Bohanna’s team demonstrate some of the methods they used to hand-carve wands for the Harry Potter film series. Thousands of wands were made across 10 years of filming, with some being given distinctive shapes and carvings to reflect their owners’ personalities. For example, Professor Slughorn’s wand is inlaid with silver slug trails and has a slug-shaped handle.

On Diagon Alley, visitors will spot Death Eaters in the shadows of the wizarding shopping street while, elsewhere in the attraction, dark props from sinister antique shop Borgin and Burkes will be showcased, including the Vanishing Cabinet (the Death Eaters’ secret entrance to Hogwarts) and the Hand of Glory (a gnarled artefact that gives light only to the holder).

Platform 9 ¾, which opened as a brand new part of the Studio Tour earlier this year, is home to the original Hogwarts Express locomotive; a working steam engine that is almost 80 years old. One of the carriage’s compartments will be dressed as it was for scenes in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban where Dementors board the school train. During production, filmmakers identified how they wanted the soul-sucking creatures to move by floating Dementor puppets eerily through tanks of water.

The iconic Great Hall set, as seen in all but one of the Harry Potter films, will be dressed for the occasion with a section of its long tables laden with a Hallowe’en feast including red apples, pumpkins and cauldrons of lollipops. Eagle-eyed visitors will also spot the costumes of the Grey Lady, Ravenclaw's house ghost, and Moaning Myrtle, who haunts the girls’ bathroom in Harry's second year. Shirley Henderson portrayed Myrtle in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and, at 37 when she began filming, was the oldest actress to play a teenage Hogwarts student.

The Studio Tour’s Dark Arts feature will run from Friday 16th October – Sunday 1st November. Tickets must be pre-booked and all extra activities are included in the ticket price.