Lord Voldemort

In the introduction to our unit we watched a short video explaining the process of the creation of Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter film series. We watched this so that we were able to understand the importance of characterisation and the processes that go into making a specific character. In this video they explained the importance of getting the look and characterisation right of Voldemort as he plays such an important role throughout the films and is who the audience have been waiting to see. They wanted to try to capture the sense of foreboding and pure evil and terror that he gives off throughout the films. Ralph Fiennes plays this character and he is said to have been the first and only choice for the role of Voldemort. They chose him due to his outrageousness as well as the fact that he is 'really frightening sometimes and mad'. Fiennes said one of the reasons that he wanted to play this role was the artwork which he saw of Voldermort's character, showing his bald head, reptilian like features and long fingers.

They wanted to try to represent the idea that the good and moral side of Voldemort is missing, which is represented in the book by his snake like features. One of the most interesting points in the video was the idea that in the book Voldemort has red eyes, but they decided that for filming this concept would not work as the audience would be unable to read what they were expressing. I thought that this was really clever as it highlights the importance of translating properly fictional ideas into a film in a way that compliments the book but also works well for cinema, and that sometimes ideas don't work for both. This video also highlighted the importance of leaving a large part of the human being in the character so that he could fully scare the audience.

They also discussed how they chose Fiennes' costume for the film; they wanted a light costume that represented the idea that he has only just been formed and was something like a skin. Costume designer Jany Temime then came up with the idea of layers of thin silk, which when moved represented the idea of a spirit.

Make Up Designer, Nick Dudman said that one of the hardest parts of making the films was creating a character that has never been seen and turning him into a character that people would believe to be as they had imagined. The nose became one of the important features in the character design, which was looked into being developed through the use of different prosthetics. However it was decided that the shape and type of nose they wanted was a very flat look which could not be achieved through the use of make up, so it was then decided that it could only be achieved by digitally removing it. To create this snake like look would be too tricky as a whole face piece would need to be constructed which would be obvious to audiences and distract from the creepy nature of Voldermorts character. Therefore in post production they removed the nose and created two slits instead, going along with the snake like representation of his character. The film team's goal was that the audience would look at him, see something quite normal, look closer and realise that he is not quite normal. In the video, actor Ralph Fiennes said it was important for him not to have on too much make up so that he was physically free to move around. Fiennes wanted to try to put across the idea of Voldemort being new, and testing his body by showing off different movements and expressions, such as when he is touching and feeling his face.

Watching this video before creating my own character was really useful as it highlighted to me the importance of character creation and also how much thought and work by many different people goes in to creating a successful and believable character. It showed me that I need to consider all aspects of characterisation before I go ahead and create my own.

Ralph Fiennes
http://www.pastemagazine.com/tag/ralph+fiennes

Ralph Fiennes As Voldemort
https://inalonelyplaceencounterswithfilm.wordpress.com/tag/lord-voldemort/

The Video We Watched:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aYtNKOZ86s