“Potter” Visual Effects Supervisor Tim Burke discusses “Deathly Hallows” creation

While Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 might not make the cut for the “big” awards in the upcoming Oscars, one of the strong contenders to receive an award for the series comes from Tim Burke and his Visual Effects team.

In a new article, Tim – who has been with the franchise since Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – discusses his experience behind-the-scenes of the franchise and how the visual effects were instrumental to the film’s success. Of note:

“We created the world of ‘Harry Potter’ whole,” for the two-part finale, including, or perhaps especially, the concluding section which features, primarily, the climatic battle between Harry and Voldemort – and their respective forces – to determine the future of the wizarding world.

The visual effects seen in the film are truly remarkable; for example, the giant spiders (the company that did Aragog in the second film was no longer in business) used during the final battle and the entire Chamber of Secrets (the set was struck long ago) had to be rebuilt from scratch. Additionally, the Hogwarts castle itself had to stradle between the real and digital worlds as they used a model for the basis of building the CG model including the back of the school, which had never previously been rendered.

We hope Tim Burke and his visual effects team can ultimately win an award at the Oscars, which takes place February 26.