Didn't you say that we would lose money after filming?

Xia Yuan's chosen method was also very simple.

Since the Harry Potter series cannot be separated from the novels and focused solely on the film aspect.

Let's release the novel first, and then the movie will follow.

He won't release all of the novels at once; instead, he'll choose a compromise.

One film is released every year, keeping pace with the release of movies.

Since there's concern that the movie viewing experience might be diminished without the novel, let's start with the novel.

The novel came first, and then the movie was made.

Actually, Xia Yuan had a tough time preparing for it.

Because making this movie was really troublesome, and there were many things to consider.

First of all, the selection process for the roles was extremely rigorous, requiring a rigorous selection process that can be considered the first major hurdle.

Every lead actor was handpicked; Xia Yuan and his team reviewed nearly 100,000 candidates before selecting them all.

Then there are actors who delve deeply into their roles, which can be done by seasoned actors.

For example, the entire cast of actors in England was almost entirely emptied out by their production team.

With so many actors, there are bound to be some unexpected problems. For example, some actors might not be in good condition, some might want to quit the show, and some might have other issues.

It's fair to say that coordinating a large film crew is a huge undertaking.

Then comes the biggest, biggest, biggest challenge: the paradox of creating a realistic scene.

It's extremely difficult to extract and transform all those magical scenes from the text.

Most of the scenes described in novels are actually filmed in real life!

If you want a suitable setting, what do you do?
The only way, and the best way, is to build a scene.

Then, green screens were used extensively.

Some scenarios that are easy to handle are fine, but even those suitable scenarios that can be found in reality are not easy to handle.

For example, on Platform 9¾, there might be instances where actual filming attempts fail, such as building a hollow wall and crashing it in, only to find that the effect is not good. Don't ask Xia Yuan how he knows this is bad; the answer is simply that he tried it.

It's not easy to perfectly recreate the effect of an isekai movie.

This film can certainly be described as a work of comparable difficulty to some of the Oscar Lifetime Achievement films of the past.

So, after much analysis and simulation, Xia Yuan decided to use CG effects and add mechanisms to create this Platform Nine and Three-Quarters scene.

These are some prototype scenarios that can be found.

Of all these scenes, the most challenging one has to be the one that is the actual setting of the movie, the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!

In the backstory, Hogwarts is located in the Scottish Highlands, admitting magical students from England and Ireland. It is funded by the English Ministry of Magic, has a seven-year academic year, and uses a flexible class system. It is a full-time boarding school.

Hogwarts was founded around 990 AD and is one of the three major magic schools in Europe.

These are Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Beauxbatons School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Durmstrang School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

It is also one of the 11 known magic schools in the world and is recognized as one of the best magic education institutions in the magic world.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is divided into four houses.

The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own representative color and animal. During the Sorting Ceremony before the opening banquet each year, first-year students take turns wearing the Sorting Hat to be sorted into their respective houses. The Sorting Hat determines which house a student should belong to based on their personality and qualities.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry primarily teaches students how to control and use their magical abilities, cultivate and develop their magical talents, master various magical theories and apply them in practice, and understand, join, protect, and hide within the magical community.

And this school is a castle.

This large building is eight stories high and has a Gothic style.

Outside the castle is a wide meadow, along with flowerbeds and vegetable gardens. Beside the castle is a lake (called the Black Lake), a dense forest (called the Forbidden Forest), several greenhouses and other outbuildings, and a standard Quidditch pitch. There are also owl houses where all the students' and the school's owls live.

The three tallest towers are the Astronomy Tower, Ravenclaw Tower, and Gryffindor Tower.

The main castle building houses the vast majority of Hogwarts' classrooms and offices.

The castle has 142 steps, some of which are wide and large, while others are narrow, small, and shaky; some lead to different places every Friday; and some steps disappear halfway up, so you have to remember where to jump over them.

Everything in the castle seems to be "constantly moving," including the aforementioned steps. Albus Dumbledore once said that even he didn't know all the secrets of Hogwarts Castle, because the castle has a long history and has witnessed centuries of ancient magic.

This made filming incredibly difficult.

How can randomly changing, moving stairs be implemented?
Where can you find such a large castle?

Where can we find a large castle that perfectly meets the criteria?
Not to mention, in order to fit the setting of Hogwarts Castle as the best school in the wizarding world, some of the settings are outrageous.

For example, Slytherin's dormitory was the former dungeon of Hogwarts Castle.

Located at the bottom of Black Lake, it is an underwater dormitory.

There's also the Quidditch pitch.

If you ask Xia Yuan how he solved these problems...

So he can actually give you an answer.

That is: Buy!
He did indeed buy a castle, a very old, historically significant castle located in England.

Then, for some scenarios, we can build them directly!

The Black Lake was created by digging a hole right next to the castle!

You could say that even before filming started, you could already smell the money in the air.

Indeed, He Ye has already spent over 40 billion yuan on this film.

Clearly, this is an extremely exaggerated figure.

Even a master director like myself wouldn't be able to guarantee what would happen next.

Aside from that, some of the minor difficulties are better left unmentioned.

Unlike suspended candles, the hundreds of candles on the auditorium ceiling need to be lit manually, which could waste hours for each shot.
Quidditch, a disaster that invented a new sport, even director Xia Yuan only understands 75% of the rules.

Then there's the physics simulation puzzle of the Golden Snitch's trail.

The frequency with which actors are suspended by wires, and the fact that wire work is expensive, means that the wear and tear is enough to make anyone suffocate just by looking at it.

Then there's the risk that the audience won't understand the rules, which can be indirectly explained by using "Oliver Wood's teaching play".

These are all issues that need to be addressed, but thankfully, so far all preparations have proceeded without any problems. (End of Chapter)