Tag: Movie scrapbook

Harry Potter – Diagon Alley: A Movie Scrapbook by Warner Bros with Jody Revenson

diagon alley.jpgTitle: Harry Potter – Diagon Alley: A Movie Scrapbook

Author: Warner Bros with Jody Revenson

Genre: Film Guide, Harry Potter, Children’s, Fantasy

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Published: 5th July 2018

Format: Hardback

Pages: 48

Price: $27.99

Synopsis:Diagon Alley is a cobblestoned shopping area for wizards and witches, and it was Harry Potter’s first introduction to the wizarding world. On this bustling street, seen throughout the Harry Potter films, the latest brooms are for sale, wizard authors give book signings and young Hogwarts students acquire their school supplies – cauldrons, quills, robes, wands and brooms.

This magical scrapbook takes readers on a tour of Diagon Alley, from Gringotts wizarding bank to Ollivanders wand shop, Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes and beyond. Detailed profiles of each shop include concept illustrations, behind-the-scenes photographs and fascinating reflections from actors and film-makers that give readers an unprecedented inside look at the beloved wizarding location. Fans will also revisit key moments from the films, such as Harry’s first visit to Ollivanders when he is selected by his wand in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, and Harry, Ron and Hermione’s escape from Gringotts on the back of a Ukrainian Ironbelly dragon in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1.

Destined to be a must-have collectible for fans of Harry Potter, Diagon Alley: A Movie Scrapbook also comes packed with removable inserts.

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The latest companion book to the Harry Potter series, specifically related to the movies, is a movie scrapbook of Diagon Alley, its various stores and how the street, exteriors and interiors were created for the series of eight movies that began as a series of books in 1997. With the recent release of the 20th anniversary edition of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, this movie scrapbook complements its release and will become a good shelf companion.

Starting at the Leaky Cauldron, and ending with Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, the book is interactive, with maps, and pictures, stickers, and pieces of wizarding money peppered through the book, to illustrate the visions from the books, and how they ended up being translated onto film, as well as where inspiration came from: Tudor times, Georgian and Victorian times, and Dickensian illustrations. The Wizarding World is shown as being from a distant time and place, untouched by modernity – ensuring the magic remains intact – just as readers would have imagined it when reading the books, and just as I did – Diagon Alley could be a mishmash of various architectures from Tudor times to Victorian times, all imbued with the magic used to create the buildings.

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As each new movie guide or character comes out, a new layer of information and enjoyment is added to the series for fans new, and old. These fun and quick reads can be dipped in and out of as well and used as you watch the movies to identify various aspects of Diagon Alley and keep an eye out for them as they watch. It is an exciting and fun book for the whole family to enjoy.

Each companion book to the Harry Potter series – whether related to the books or the movies enriches the experience, and this one is no exception. I enjoyed reading it and will enjoy revisiting it, either after watching the movies or during them, to pick up on the subtleties that I may have missed in previous viewings. As there are so many things to explore, these guides are the perfect way to discover or rediscover these things and fully appreciate the complexity of the books and movies.

Diagon Alley is shown in the book from the beginning of the series to the end, from light and airy to dark, and dingy, a world that has been destroyed during war time, to accompany the darkening themes and moods of the books and films. Diagon Alley is central to the Wizarding World, in both the books and the movies. It gives readers of the books and those who enjoy the movies a chance to see behind the scenes of how the sets the most well-known areas of Harry’s world were created in a creative, fun and interactive way for all ages.

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J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World – The Dark Arts: A Movie Scrapbook

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Title: J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World – The Dark Arts: A Movie Scrapbook

Author: Warner Bros

Genre: Fantasy, Children’s Literature

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Published: 10th August, 2017

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 48

Price: $24.99

Synopsis: Celebrate 20 years of Harry Potter magic!

hp20_230A fascinating guide to the Dark Arts of the Harry Potter films and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, these pages cover both Dark wizards and the heroes who rise up to combat them – from Dumbledore’s Army and the Order of the Phoenix to the Hogwarts Defence Against the Dark Arts class and the Aurors of MACUSA. This collectible volume comes filled with removable artefacts, such as ‘wanted’ posters, stickers and other extraordinary items.

Learn all about Voldemort, Death Eaters, Horcruxes, the Obscurus and more in this collectable movie scrapbook – packed with info, inserts and images from the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them films.

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The ever-expanding Wizarding World of JK Rowling started in 1997 as a novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the beginning of seven book saga that would spawn companion text books – Quidditch Through the Ages by Kenilworthy Whisp, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander, and Tales of Beedle the Bard, the Wizarding World’s version of fairy tales. From here, eight movies, and a prequel series of movies centred around Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them has been spawned. As a result of these movies, several movie companions have been published, that focus on characters, and methods in the movies, sets and magical creatures.

The most recent of these is The Dark Arts, due out this month, exploring the darker side of Harry Potter. Starting with an introduction to the Dark Arts, the book then moves into profiles of Dark Wizards, such as Voldemort, discussing how they created his look in the movies, and the effects and make used to do this. Moving onto other Dark Wizards, Bellatrix Lestrange and her fate at the hands of Molly Weasley, a member of the Order of the Phoenix is included, and so a section is dedicated to this brave group who fight Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Each section on various aspects of Dark Magic is accompanied by fold out letters, posters and other paraphernalia that had been featured in the movies, which enhances the experience of reading the book and adds to all the fun, rediscovering Sirius Black’s wanted poster, and the list of Dumbledore’s Army, with a few secrets from the films that readers might not know, and will have fun discovering in this book as I did. The final pages of the book are dedicated the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and touch on those characters and Newt Scamander especially, who has a book of his own in the same series. This was a divine surprise from Bloomsbury and a wonderful accompaniment to my Harry Potter library.

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Exploring the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in this way adds an extra dimension to the books, films, scripts, play and music already out there in the world. It gives fans a chance to explore the movie beyond what is seen on the screen and interact with images, and articles from wizarding newspapers, such as The New York Ghost. It is a fantastic book, and one that will be treasured for years to come. A wonderful surprise from Bloomsbury that I read in one night, and that I am sure I will explore again, maybe even as I watch the films, or after watching them again.

Enjoy another wonderful book to help celebrate the 20th anniversary of Harry Potter!