How Did They Make Hagrid Look So Big

We all know and love Rubeus Hagrid: Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts, lover of strange magical creatures, and tearing supporter of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. With one-half of his genes coming from a behemothic, this is no small-scale man. In the books he is said to be nearly 12 feet tall, and in the movies he appears around 8 feet tall. There are certainly no 8-foot-tall actors in Swell Britain, so how did they brand Hagrid so alpine?

Robbie Coltrane every bit Hagrid

Robbie Coltrane is the role player who played Hagrid in all 8 Harry Potter movies. As he unfortunately does non take magical giant genes, he measures but 6-feet 1-inch tall, a expert 2 anxiety shorter than Hagrid appears. While Coltrane makes an amazing Hagrid (he was the only one always considered by J.K. Rowling for the part), they had to come with some clever ways to make him expect much taller than he really was.

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4 Ways They Manipulated Hagrid's Size in Harry Potter

1. Cleverly Designed Sets

Did you lot know they created TWO huts for Hagrid? One was made large and so "normal" sized people would expect small in it. The other was made much smaller in guild to brand Hagrid expect like a giant. They filmed with both and then cut scenes together. Additionally, the objects that Hagrid used (silverware and cups, for example) were smaller than average so that they made Hagrid'due south hands look big in comparing.

ii. A Stunt Double

Martin Bayfield, a 6-foot 10-inch tall former rugby actor, secretly appears in several shots in Harry Potter. Just y'all would never know it. Donning a fatsuit, Hagrid's iconic overcoat, and even an animatronic head that looks similar Robbie Coltrane's confront, Bayfield plays Hagrid in far-away shots and total-body shots where Hagrid needed to clearly be larger than anybody and everything around him.

This video shows the process of Bayfield getting ready to play Hagrid. Because he had to clothing the padded outfit for long hours, the designers fitted information technology with tubes of water to continue him cool. And that Hagrid mask – it sure fooled us! No wonder nobody ever noticed he had a stunt double in the movies.

3. Forced Perspective

Forced perspective is a filming technique that makes people or objects wait larger or smaller than they actually are. Information technology works by having a shut object and farther object equally in focus so that they announced to be well-nigh each other in the aforementioned plane.

These images, taken by Danielle from Wanderlust on a Budget while on a Harry Potter studio tour, illustrate this concept well. You tin can actually run across how the forced perspective worked within Hagrid'southward hut! Hagrid would of course be the i closest to the photographic camera, making any guests await smaller by comparing.

Another slightly less technical fashion they accomplished forced perspective was simply by lowering the camera and filming upwardly. Other characters were filmed straight on, but when showing Hagrid, they oftentimes filmed him from a lower vantage point. Using this bending, it makes us (the viewer) feel every bit though we're looking upward at a very tall Hagrid.

Filmed at abdomen-top so that it appears nosotros're looking upwards at Hagrid.

4. Greenish Screen

Another method used to make Hagrid look so big was to film him in front of a green screen. They could then take footage of only his torso and superimpose information technology into other scenes – but scaled up, of class, to expect larger. The light-green screen came in handy when Hagrid was shown in close proximity to other characters, a time when neither forced perspective nor a stunt double would practice the trick.

Coltrane standing where they would subsequently work in a larger Hagrid.

Hagrid looking much taller than Coltrane really was!

There you accept it – the secrets of how they made a regular homo expect like a giant!

If yous want to see more behind-the-scenes tricks, the Harry Potter DVDs actually have some really great bonus content. And yes, that may audio sometime school, only just remember that Harry Potter doesn't stream on whatsoever platform! Having a snazzy box collection is one style to ensure yous've got HP and his pals at your fingertips any time you want to watch.