The PoA Virginia Waters Set: what I saw

[Ali]

Some of you might be interested in my trip to Virginia Waters 
yesterday. 

I thought I'd give you some background about Virgina Waters itself. 
It's a desiduous forest area surrounding ponds – or lakes; I'm not 
quite sure when a pond becomes a lake! The forest is full of trees 
like sweet chestnuts, silver birches, beeches and a few Oaks. 
Virgina Waters is part of Windsor Great Park, Crown lands 
surrounding Windsor Castle. It is very close to Runnymeade, made 
famous by virtue of the fact that Magna Carta was signed there in 
1215. It is either part of Berkshire or Surrey, but either way, is 
very much set in suburbia. I often used to go there for afternoons 
before my oldest daughter started school, it is a lovely place for a 
relaxing walk. It is extremely dry there at the moment and I noticed 
a couple of fire engines, obviously on hand in the event of a fire.

Half of the car park for Virginia Waters was filled with WB trucks 
and trailers. Perhaps 30, maybe more. There were several more 
lorries around the forest though. Large areas had been cordoned off, 
by fencing which was then covered with green mesh, making it hard 
for onlookers to look through! WB had set up 3 filming sites, the 
Paddock, Lupin's something and the Beach. Unfortunately, my 3 year 
old was refusing to walk so we didn't make it past the paddock – 
although I think that was where all the action was.

I'd have to be honest, I didn't *see* that much. I could see that 
action was taking place, but it was quite a way away and there were 
many people who inconveniently got in the way. No autographs were 
given and no stars came to the fence, as they had done on previous 
days filming – maybe they did later. In fact, in terms of lead 
actors, most of them weren't there. Rupert Grint was there, and I 
think Devon Murray and the boy who plays Crabbe. But most of the 
rest were doubles. It was very strange seeming them from a distance 
and from behind, there was no question as to whom they were 
doubling! There were signs up saying no commercial photography, but 
in practice whenever anyone was spotted with a camera, they were 
asked to stop taking photos. Somebody next to me managed to sneak in 
a couple of shots though.

The extras looked like they were having a fantastic time, several of 
them were telling on-lookers about the filming, and they seemed to 
be having the times of their life. It was a warm humid day 
yesterday, and the extras were seated on plastic chairs out in the 
open, whereas the part actors got to sit separately under gazebos. 
They looked quite bored to be honest.

 Most of the kids took off their robes as soon as their shoots were 
done, and just looked like ordinary scruffy kids in uniform. I liked 
the robes. The hoods for each house are coloured, so it is easier to 
see from a distance who is in each house. It might not be canon, but 
it is visually effective.

 A snippet I did pick up via the extras was that Daniel Radcliffe is 
no longer allowed to walk to the set, but has to be taken around by 
car. He is also apparently no longer allowed to give autographs – I 
heard that from someone else though. Obviously, I've no idea if 
that's true, but if it is, I wonder why. I think it might actually 
be rather lonely in his position, cosseted almost to the point of 
separation from everyone around him. Perhaps it is better to be an 
extra on a Harry Potter film than in it, or maybe it's just extra 
security measures they've been forced to impose when on location.

Perhaps what struck me most about the set, was the sheer size of 
production; there seemed to be hundreds of people involved. There 
were lots of security personnel including a couple of unfriendly 
bouncers – although most were really nice. Another thing that amused 
me was the number of film crew who seemed to have mobile phones 
stuck to their ears. It didn't look like they had much to do most of 
the time, so either they were just chatting, or they were discussing 
the production, I've no idea. 

There were lots of people there to try and catch a glimpse of the 
filming, mostly Mums like me with their kids, but a few adults by 
themselves as well. 

They were obviously filming the Hippogriff scene. I saw "Hagrid" 
although whether it was Robbie Coltrane or his large double, I have 
no idea. They were using a horse, and I only got to see the famous 
Hippogriff contraption that they've made, covered up and from a 
distance. I suppose they will super-impose the Hippogriff's head 
unto the horse in post production.

It was definitely a worthwhile trip, even if it was the ambience, 
rather than anything substantive that I took away with me. 

Ali