VFX artists share their mixed opinions about a Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) scene in theHarry Pottermovies. The scene is adapted from the fourthHarry Potterbook,Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, whenSirius speaks to Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) at Hogwarts through the Floo Network. Instead of physically traveling to Hogwarts through the fireplace, Sirius is able to make his head appear in the fire while he is elsewhere, allowing him to communicate with Harry without physically going to Hogwarts.
In aCorridor Crewvideo,VFX artists break down the visual effects used in the scene and discuss how it has been changed from the book. In the source material, it is described as"Sirius’s head was sitting in the fire,“with his head floating in the flames. In the movie, his face pushes up and is formed out of the fire’s coals since there are no flames.Corridor Crewexplains how this effect is technically changed and what does and does not work well with the change. Check out their comments below:
I think [the face] is an actual 3D model that’s been animated based off his face and his performance, but I think it’s an actual render.
The vast majority of what we’re looking at is full CG. Pretty much all of it has been fully replaced.
It looks like there’s a very clear mask where the embers kind of shift underneath the other logs, so you’re saying all of that burnt wood is CG?
Pretty much the entire bed is CG, and the face itself, Gary Oldman did his performance with tracking marks on the face. They reconstructed the face in 3D, and they basically just caked him in dynamic wood pieces. And I do believe that there is also a certain level of compositing in his performance footage too, specifically in the eyes and the nose, the contrast there, I believe they did some sort of filtering on that footage to layer it in.
It just looks so bizarre with the pupils standing out so clearly like that.
I feel like these days you could do this pretty quickly by using lockdown and after effects, just get a wood-like texture on somebody’s face using an AI-style transfer, or literally just putting stuff on it, grabbing patches of bark, and then you can use lockdown, and you can still do the physics simulations around it with a much simpler face model.
I know it’s not what it says in the book. His face appears in the flames. What do you do when there’s no flames, though? Granted, they could have had the fire, but it’s coals, so this is kind of a fun, unique way of showing it and I really like the aesthetic.
What This Means For The Harry Potter Movies
The Visual Effects Are Not Entirely Effective In This Scene
AfterSirius escapes Azkabanand plays a major role in the previous movie, his role inGoblet of Fireis smaller, and in the movie is condensed to this one conversation. Depicting Sirius' head through the coals is a visually distinct way to depict the scene. However,some of the focus on Harry and Sirius talking, and the valuable information Sirius shares, is overshadowed by the visual effects, making them more distracting than helpful in this scene.
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To a certain extent, this was always the case due to the creative decision to portray his face through the coals instead of having his head sitting in the flames. The distraction is now further amplified due to the visual effects now being somewhat outdated, with simpler, more efficient, and more effective tools now available to bring the scene to life. It is not a bad scene by any means, but one thathas not aged as well as other scenes in theHarry Pottermovies.
Our Take On Corridor Crew’s Comments
This Is A Scene That Could Be Enhanced In HBO’s Harry Potter Show
This is an example of a scene that could be improved on inHBO’sHarry Pottertelevision show. Theadvancements in technology and visual effects could allow Sirius' head appearing through the fire to appear more convincingand to be less distracting than in the 2005 movie. Other Sirius scenes that were cut from theGoblet of Firemovie can also be included in the television series. With a season being dedicated to each book, there will be more time to include scenes cut from the movies, another reason theHarry Pottertelevision series has narrative and visual potential.
Source:Corridor Crew
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a multimedia franchise about an orphaned boy who enrolls at Hogwarts School of Wizardry, where he learns the truth about himself, his family, and the terrible evil that haunts the magical world. Adapted from the novels, Harry Potter is an eight-episode film saga that follows the journey of Harry Potter and his friends, Hermoine Granger and Ron Weasley, as they navigate the tricky world of growing up, school life, and magic. Starting from year one and moving to their seventh year, the films chronicle the students' time at Hogwarts while unfurling a sinister plot that centers around the unsuspecting Harry. With the return of the dark wizard, Voldemort, the students and professors at Hogwarts will fight to carry on as the world around them may change forever. Harry Potter has expanded beyond the world of its films and novels with several video games, a spin-off film series titled Fantastic Beasts, and even attractions at Universal Studios.
