The Gist:
The book profiles every creature that made an appearance in the Harry Potter films, featuring a variety of behind-the-scenes material.
The Review:
After what seemed like an eternity especially for many fans of the Harry Potter film franchise, Titan Books started mining for material in 2011 after the release of the Deathly Hallows Part 2 in order to be able to present fans with works that feature all films, which is a sensible choice.
After the 532-page monster that was From Page To Screen, featuring a general look on all aspects of the films, works that give us more in-depth looks on the design process of different elements of the films have started trickling in.
The Creature Vault is the first one in this line of books and does, as the title suggests, include a myriad of information about the creatures of the Harry Potter film universe.
The book itself is beautifully designed, with an embossed cover and gold lettering it looks almost like something out of an old library, with the pages designed to look like old paper. Yet the design is by no means overwhelming, and each page is set up so the many illustrations can be fully enjoyed.
While The Creature Vault holds extensive descriptions to the different creatures’ origins, the artwork and photographs of the design process are the heart of this book.
Each creature is described in a “Fast Facts” column that gives you its first appearance, a description from the novel and, especially interesting for fans of film design, an interesting technical nugget on production design.
From dragons to goblins and dementors, the amount of detail the book uncovers is astounding, as well as the variety of material: detailed photographs, two-page illustrations and production stills are available for nearly every example.
It makes The Creature Vault into a treasure trove that is shouldn’t be missed by Harry Potter fans, but might also amuse those partial to strange creatures and the magic of film production, as it also serves as a (albeit small) stage to the programmers, puppeteers and animal trainers that made it all possible.
The Verdict:
A truly in-depth look at an important aspect of the magical world of Harry Potter, The Creature Vault supplies fans with new info and lots of new illustrations to marvel at.
Publisher: Titan Books
Publishing Date: October 24th, 2014
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