Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire:
A Flying-Cam was used to capture the dynamic of the dragon point of view at the Leavensden
Production : Warner Bros
Country : UK

After two successful collaborations on the "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and the "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban", the 2nd Unit Director, Peter Mc Donald, requested for the third time the Flying-Cam technology to capture the dynamic of the dragon point of view in the arena especially built at the Leavensden Studios for the "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire".

The impressive arena was build in two separate parts; the rocks and the steps were placed side to side by the visual effects team. The Flying-Cam team provided Dragon POV's and back ground plates, flying over the scene when Harry Potter is fighting the dragon to catch the golden egg.

The arena set was large scaled but too narrow to use conventional aerial filming system. In order to perform the fight between Harry Potter and the dragon, one of the most thrilling event of the 4th chapter, Warner Brothers tried several systems such as a crane and wires. But finally the Flying-Cam was the only device able to give the organic feeling required for the dragon behaviour and to achieve the complex motion path of the dragon.

Framing a plate for moving 3D objects means to imagine the position of the CGI character and the action. It require a very mental framing. This was the first time the remote control helicopter of Flying-Cam had to play a Dragon. The set, a realistic 360 arena of rocks, helped a lot to feel the presence of the beast. The fly path of the dragon and the entire sequence was accurately designed trough an animatic with raugh 3D sequence. Jeff Burke, Special Effect Supervisor, directed the whole arena sequence. The use of a digital recorder in the Flying-Cam video assist allowed to immediately compare the takes with the animatic.

Additional takes were shot in Skye island - Scotland to give a more dramatic felling to the fight between HP and the Dragon.
Pictures
(click to enlarge)

Flying-Cam, Close Range Aerial Filming
Flying-Cam, Close Range Aerial Filming
Flying-Cam, Close Range Aerial Filming
Flying-Cam, Close Range Aerial Filming