Harry Potter: The Artifact Vault
Throughout the making of the eight Harry Potter movies, designers and craftspeople were tasked with creating fabulous chocolate-fantasy feasts, flying brooms, enchanted maps, and much more, in addition to numerous magical items necessary in a wizard’s everyday life—for example, newspapers with moving photos, vicious textbooks, and Howlers. Harry Potter: The Artifact Vault chronicles the work of the graphics department in creating vibrant and imaginative labels for potions bottles, brooms, and candy; the creation of Quidditch Quaffles, Bludgers, and Golden Snitches, lovingly crafted by the prop making team; and the stunning inventiveness used by the entire crew to create a rich, bewitched filmic universe.
Accompanying the captivating text are never-before-seen art and design concepts, unit photography, and other filmmaking secrets from the Warner Bros. archive. This striking full-color compendium includes two exclusive bonus inserts—a booklet showcasing the design of The Tales of Beedle the Bard prop and a Black Family Tapestry poster—as well as many more surprises.
Reviews (143)
Artifacts A Plenty in this Delightful New Offering in the HP Vault series
I own all of the Harry Potter Vault series and they are each worth every penny spent. THE ARTIFACT VAULT provides fans and anyone who is interested in the films and books a closer look into the conceptualization of many of the amazing, magical and non-magical objects of the Harry Potter world as depicted in the stories and how these objects were designed for use in the films. These include early concept art, illustrations, behind-the-scenes photos and many more. If like me, you are a devoted fan that just loves all things Potter, you will delight in the many tidbits of information about the process in which these artifacts were brought to the screen. For example, Ravena Ravenclaw's diadem went through several iterations before it finally made it to the big screen in its present form (one of my favorite Horcruxes btw), and the Resurrection Stone too had to be re-imagined in order to remain faithful to author J.K. Rowling's conceptualization. There is so much material here to delight fans - I had always wanted to see close-ups of the paintings decorating Hogwarts Castle and here you get to see many of them with detailed explanations. That's the beauty of this book - you can just peruse the photos if that's your thing, or you can devour every morsel of information, like me. Thanks to Jody Revenson and the publisher for delivering a winner once again!
Harry Potter: The Artifact Vault
The Elder Wand. The Marauder's Map. The Sword of Gryffindor. These items, along with so many others, are essential to Harry Potter. The film series is a visual spectacle. Every frame is rich with meticulous detail, and the wizarding world allows for some unique design elements. "Harry Potter: The Artifact Vault" contains just about everything you'd want to see close up from the films. If you are interested in production design, set decoration, or similar aspects of filmmaking then you've got to see this book for yourself. As a Harry Potter fan, I was already quite familiar with how much effort went into designing the films - but the book has so many different artifacts in such great detail that it's impossible not to be impressed. All the important artifacts central to the story are here: everything from Harry's Hogwarts acceptance letter to the the three Deathly Hallows. But you also get to see background items that aren't necessarily central to the films, but nonetheless help to further immerse the viewer in the magical world. Examples include the paintings in the halls of Hogwarts, potion collections, and the food at the Yule Ball feast. Everything is printed here in great detail for your inspection. The most common type of imagery are pictures of the artifacts themselves; although there is also plenty of concept art, storyboards, etc. The team at Harper Design did an excellent job assembling and publishing this book. Images are very clear and are printed large enough for detail to emerge. Some of the most interesting pieces in the book: - Quidditch Gear, including the Golden Snitch - Collection of Textbooks and the Monster Book of Monsters - Voldemort's eight Horcruxes - Various covers from the Daily Prophet Table of Contents Chapter 1: At Hogwarts Chapter 2: The Sorcerer's Stone Chapter 3: The Triwizard Tournament Chapter 4: Brooms Chapter 5: Food & Drink Chapter 6: Publications Chapter 7: Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes Chapter 8: Wizard Inventions Chapter 9: Horcruxes & Hallows
Stunning!
What an amazing addition to my Harry Potter collection! My daughter and I stopped everything and went through page by page as soon as it arrived. Incredible images, information and one of my favorite things is the Black Family Tree tucked away in the pocket at the end of the book! I HIGHLY recommend this for any fan of the Wizarding World!!!
A Great Book all around!
I have most of the Potter books from this series, the characters, the creatures (my favorite) -but this one-Artifacts? It has so much in it, great stuff. I borrow from it to make Potter props for my Harry Potter classes. Frame some portraits from the Hogwart's gallery etc. It is fantastic!
but what I really like about this book is that it gives you a ...
I already have A Guide to the Graphic Arts Department from the Stage to Screen Collector's edition and this book reminds me of that. Of course they're two completely different books, but what I really like about this book is that it gives you a close up look at certain newspaper ads and other things from the films while also giving you a description of each "artifact". I also really like the bonus insert of the Black family Tapestry from the films.
Behind the scenes of the props department
If you love the Harry Potter movies, you will love this book. It is an amazingly detailed look at what went into the costumes and props of the movies (all through the series). It takes you from the concept sketches to the final product - and it is interesting to see how costumes, and props - such as the Monster Book of Monsters - evolved from the original sketch to what was seen in the movies. The details about each characters' wand was incredibly interesting. The added removable props were interesting, but not the main point of the book. There is a small booklet style Tales of Beedle the Bard printed in runes, and then poster of the Black Family Tree that hangs in 12 Grimmauld Place. The poster is nicely detailed, but had to be folded to put in the book, making display less attractive.
Awesome book for any HP fan!
Awesome book for any HP fan! It is not a detailed account of artifacts from the movie but has a high level description/story of them and nice photos as well as some pull out props. I have really enjoyed learning how much it look to create detail for these movies.
Wife loves it!
I don't know much about Harry Potter but for $20, I had to jump on it. She loves it and shares it with her friends. She'll scan it from time to time when she's bored since there's endless content.
Geat book for Fans
A lot of information and details inside. Recommended for any HP fan.
Full of information
Purchased as a present. The recipient loved the book.
