Filming All Around Oxford

Reason #12 why I love Oxford: All the filming that goes on here for major motion pictures.

I was first informed of such filming on our walking tour, when Tour Guide Andrew pointed to the different places where they filmed scenes from the Harry Potter movies. My friends and I designated today to be the day we search out all the locations from the movies, so we trekked all over Oxford and happily succeeded in finding what we were looking for!

This first picture was taken at New College...this is where Professor Mad-Eye Moody turns Draco Malfoy into a ferret in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I could practically hear the dialogue from this scene running through my head as we walked in and around the courtyard.

Restricted section, anyone? Scenes from the library, especially in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, were filmed in the Bodleian Library. Walk up the stairs and there are several rooms with books that look just like this.

Here, despite my failed efforts to keep as many people out of the picture as possible, this is where some of the Great Hall scenes for the movies are filmed. The hall was long and beautiful, just as I'd pictured it.

To see the rest of the pictures I took from this outing, you can click here.

But the Harry Potter films aren't the only ones shot on location in Oxford. The other day, my friends and I were lucky enough to witness the crew from the movie The Golden Compass reshoot a couple of scenes from the movie just down the road from our dorm. It takes place in Oxford, and they wrapped shooting about 3 or 4 days before we actually arrived in Oxford, but we were told that they had to come back to do a bit of reshooting before it was completely done. We were hoping for a glimpse of the stars of the movie -- Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, etc. -- but we were disappointed when we found out that they weren't there.

So who were they filming if not the actors, you ask?

A cat. But wait, it gets better -- a stuffed cat. Apparently, the cat is important in the movie/book, but we just found it terribly entertaining that they spent so much time and effort filming a stuffed cat. Once I finish reading the book (which is actually called Northern Lights as part of Philip Pullman's 3-book series), I'll let you know more.

They also filmed at the Bridge of Sighs on New College Lane. Here you can see the massive floating lighting they used at night. It was tied with wire to either side of the bridge and they could adjust how much or little light it emitted. It looks like a giant, glowing battery, doesn't it? This was great fun to watch.

I hope more movie crews come while we're here!