Tuesday 29 January 2008

Pottering Around The Cathedral

The Citizen newspaper reported yesterday that the crew working on the next Harry Potter film had arrived in Gloucester to prepare for filming, and I immediately thought "photo opportunity!". The magnificent Cloisters at Gloucester Cathedral double up as the corridors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and are filled with children from the neighbouring King's School. A huge marquee has been erected in the schools grounds to get costume fitting for the 174 pupils taking part underway.

The Cathedral has been used twice before by Warner Brothers, for the filming of The Philosopher's Stone and The Chamber Of Secrets. In the past you haven't been able to get near the place, so I didn't know what to expect when I got there - but it was "access all areas"! Above is the garden that is enclosed by the Cloisters, now its turned over to scaffolding and staging.

There wasn't a great deal of activity at the Cathedral, but these guys were working on protecting the stone floor of the Cloisters in readiness for the camera tracks. Outside there was one security guard, from Movie Lot Security, on his mobile phone, stood in front of two vans. I acted all innocently as I walked by him, I got to the back of the vans (and out of his sight) and I pushed my camera through some security fencing without really looking, getting a snap of what I hoped was film cameras...

...but it turned out to be electric cables! When filming of The Half Blood Prince gets under way properly I'm going to head back to the Cathedral and try to at least take a photo of a camera. Maybe even a wizard or two! Watch this space...

7 comments:

brian stout said...

What an interesting post! I just watched Order of the Phoenix last night (i know, i'm behind)... the cathedral is beautiful in your photos. I really love the ceiling and the detail in it.

slim said...

What a wonderful post. This cathedral is magnificent . . . what one isn't ?? I will have to go back and look for this setting in the HP movies. I think it would be fascinating to see them filming.

Gerald (SK14) said...

ah yes I've poked my camera lens through fencing before now and sometimes got interesting pics as a result.

Neva said...

What a great post! Isn't is amazing where we poke our cameras? Nice view of the Cathedral. Can't wait to see how it goes and if you are able to get close enough to snap a shot! I am glad you liked my winter scene from yesterday.

Bergson said...

I like the first a beautiful tunnel to visit

MJ said...

Wow!! This is cool..looking forward to your future post on the set.

The cathedral is beautiful.

Ming the Merciless said...

The first photo looked like inside of an alien space ship. :-)

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