World News for Students of English

19-11-2021 15:00

November 16, 2021, was 20 years since the release of the popular film ’Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone‘.

The Hogwarts acceptance letter was one of the earliest props; Graphic designers Miraphora Mina and Eduardo Lima designed the letter. They also worked on the whole series. Designers achieved many of the special effects through the analogue way with sets, props, and models built by hand.

Filmmakers wanted to get as much reality into the first movie as possible, and the first two things that concerned them were flying broomsticks and floating candles. 20 years ago, the development of CGI was much less, so it was much more challenging to make some scenes look realistic.

However, the effort was worth it, as all eight Harry Potter movies grossed 7.8 billion dollars.

Difficult words: prop (an object that’s used on the set of a play or film), analogue (not involving the use of computer technology), CGI (computer generated imagery), gross (total, without deduction of tax).

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