Pottermore explains process by which Moments are produced

Since the original launch of J.K. Rowling and Sony’s joint online project, Pottermore, the Pottermore Insider has been the perfect place for staff from the main site to interact with fans, running fan art contests and updating their following about changes to Pottermore‘s design every so often.

Today, the Insider released a very interesting blurb describing the process by which Moments, the main illustrations and page designs that make up the chapters on Pottermore, come to be. The article provides a sequence of rough sketches for a relatively new moment from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, revealing the Magical Menagerie, and explains how they logically lead to the final product, which you can see atop this news post.

Within the Insider article the editor also speaks to the thought process that goes into deciding which scene from the book constitutes a good moment for the Pottermore website. The editor writes,

Each potential scene is weighed against various criteria, from its relative importance in the narrative to how it might look when visualised and whether it lends itself to the inclusion of interactive features and content. We also like to highlight scenes that were omitted from the films or those where the film depiction differs from the books.

With its cage-lined walls and the “squeaking, squawking, jabbering or hissing” of their inhabitants, the Magical Menagerie Moment was selected because it is described so vividly in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. It provided an opportunity to introduce a new location and a narrative moment that was not shown in the film. It is also our first introduction to Crookshanks.

How have you enjoyed the new moments from Pottermore‘s companion to Prisoner of Azkaban? Let us know in the comments!