Finding Harry BTS: Gen Z Harry Potter Keeps Its Millennial Charm Intact

"Some stories change us, some define us, few live with us - just like the 'Boy who Lived' - a story to be told by HBO very soon.

It would be an outright lie if we said that the first glimpse of the upcoming series was not a disappointing blow for the millennials who grew up with the wizard that was Potter in 1990s Britain.

Every 'detailing' seemed less; the beloved cast who 30 years ago cast a spell on our hearts are so deeply entrenched that the new cast seemed to need to work a lot harder to seep into their places.

We found something missing in everything. Perhaps that's why HBO decided to drop a crisp 25-minute documentary - Finding Harry: The Craft Behind The Magic - and it steadfastly does its job. It re-instils the hope and wonder that every Harry Potter aficionado and the newborn novices would want to hold on to.

The documentary is skilfully divided into the key elements that make this mega project such a phenomenon. It is not just JK Rowling's timeless stories of the wizarding world - it's as much the robust costume detailing, set designing, and rigorous attention to detail that makes the world come alive.

Narrator Nick Frost takes us on a journey as we begin in the meandering lanes of the Forbidden Forest, filled with mystique and looming smoke. Hagrid (also played by Nick Frost) leads a cluster of Hogwarts first-year students, clad in their robes, with utter disbelief in their eyes.

The meticulously planned sets are commendable: the chugging of the Hogwarts Express on Platform 9 and 3 quarters, the seemingly ordinary Privet Drive in the Muggle world, Harry's stifling room under the staircase, flying Hogwarts acceptance letters and whooshing Quidditch broomsticks to the buzzing Snitch.

From the magical village of Hogsmeade to the cha-ching sound at Gringotts Bank, Harry's first transport to the magical world through the Leaky Cauldron and on to Diagon Alley, flashing key locations such as Ollivanders where Harry buys his first wand, to delicacies like Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and chocolate frogs. The Great Hall and its gigantic tables laden with swathes of delicacies, where food ceases to dissipate.

The Sorting Hat welcomes you, Professor McGonagall's (Janet McTeer) strict demeanour intimidates you, Snape's (Paapa Essidieu) leering stare tatters you. It all brings a wistful smile to your face, for the reimagination of Harry Potter is nothing if not for the elements that have expanded into delightful merchandise today.

The artists behind the scenes do a stellar job in bringing the core principle of building this world to life - their superpower?

Nature.

As the narrator reiterates, they had to curate a universe that is rooted in naturalism. While magic has no logic, its implementation had to be the answer to the consequences of magic. So they dug deep, and it shows. Every ornamentation to make this Harry Potter verse glisten comes with a glossary - at least that's the notion with which the craftsmen tend to put two and two together in the sets they have built to take us back to 1990s Britain.

But what truly steals your heart is the trio: Harry Potter (Dominic McLaughlin), Ron Weasley (Alastair Stout), and Hermione Granger (Arabella Stanton). And might we say, we might have been too quick to judge their calibre. For there's a friendship behind the scenes that did not quite reflect in the first look of the series. In calculated intervals, BTS glimpses of the trio are shown. From auditions to recorded tapes, their innocence mirrors what the OG trio (Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson) brought all those years ago, and it is reassuring. The friendship does not look forced. Hermione's accent is on point, hoping for the Leviosa moment to resurrect itself; Harry's searching eyes still melt you; and Ron's idiosyncrasies still make him the one with the touch of lightheartedness amid all the gory and heartbreaking plotlines to come.

As Jon Lithgow - the 80-year-old actor who turns in Albus Dumbledore for the upcoming series - says in a quiet moment in the documentary, "They are going to grow up with this, and I am going to grow old."

The best segment of the documentary is perhaps the one titled Life, Handcrafted.

Harry Potter is nothing without its bizarre creatures and the oddities it carries.

As the film series introduced us to a number of them - such as Dobby the house-elf, Buckbeak the Hippogriff, Fawkes the Phoenix, and the giant spider Aragog, the towering dragons, and the grotesque trolls; from deadly serpents like the Basilisk to cloaked Dementors and treasure-guarding goblins - the fantastical world was incomplete without the roles that these added.

30 years later, the makers of the upcoming Harry Potter series have put technology to full use. A particular segment shows how they sat and observed an owl and then tried to copy that movement using animatronics and creature effects to make it feel organic. Laura Sindall - CFX Senior Fabricator - talks about the extensive fabrication of the owl, where a feather expert tediously sticks about 36,000 feathers per owl on to the mesh created. Stronger and faster motor movements are placed within rats and owls for proper neck movements and biting actions. And it indeed makes it all the more fantastical than the magic the legacy already carries forward.

This is no ordinary adventure film; it is primarily categorised in an urban fantasy world. Hence costumes require double the effort. And once again, nature is where the makers turn.

Nearing the end of the documentary, the costumers come in, spearheaded by the costume designer Holly Waddington. She time travels back to 1991 and builds from scratch what would suit the wardrobes of a Muggle world just transitioning.

The Muggle universe - home to Aunt Petunia, Dudley, Uncle Vernon - has a palette imbued with pastel-oriented, cold colours, synthetic fabrics, shell suits, crinkly tracksuit tops that she tactfully rakes in.

As for Harry Potter, who has never had the luxury to choose his own clothes and just picks castoffs from his cousin, he gets an assortment of sorts that enlivens his backstory.

Uniforms made of British wool, organic cotton, shell and wooden buttons, Scottish tartan, and technical processes such as leaf printing, hand painting, marbling used to give the wardrobe a rustic charm. Which furthermore excites the audience about what's to come, what's restored, and what stays true to the vibe of this story.

The costume designers drop hints to keep the mystery alive, and that magic is around the corner - clothes have a story to tell.

To put it together, the documentary did what the teaser couldn't. It reassured the judgmental lot of the Potterverse that a lot has been thought of in detail and it all comes together on the canvas. It is honestly breadcrumbing at max, to make you want to not give up yet. To say the least, the work has been done, and not a callous take at that. And until Christmas dawns upon us this year, we shall have to hold on to that feeling.

Finding Harry: The Craft Behind The Magic directed by Eliot Rausch, is the beginning of another story where it seems like mischief will be managed in the upcoming series.