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July 16, 2011

Harry Potter: Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes

Here are 20 facts about Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, Fred and George Weasley's joke shop from the Harry Potter series:


THEY'VE GOT THE LOOK
1. The shop was designed into three sections – Fireworks and Explosives; Muggle Magic and Consumer Products – which included the Love Potion and Floo powder. In the book there were three or four products mentioned – the other 110 products had to be created by the staff.


2. The shop contains bright windows and harlow shelves crammed with jokes, tricks and magic. It is a colorful icon and a bit of defiant fun in a depressed Diagon alley with Olivander's Wand Shop destroyed a few doors away.


3. It took construction three months to build the set.


4. It is three floors high and has three staircases.


5. The painters used thousands of liters of paint in seven colors.


MOVING PARTS
6. The cash till was bought on eBay and adapted.


7. There is a moving ladder that Fred and George travel on around the shop.


8. There is a 20-foot-high mannequin in the front window of the shop of one of the twins. His costume was specially printed & dyed white felt. He lifts his hat & underneath is a white rabbit, when he lifts his hat again, it reveals a fez.


9. 90 huge balloons were printed with the Weasley "W".


10. A bicycle enthusiast made the balancing Umbridge bicycle from scratch.


PRODUCT PLACEMENT
11. 600 gummy eyeballs were made as well as 600 shopping bags, 300 meters of hand dyed orange cord and 5,000 printed boxes. 400 of those boxes (the Skiving Snack boxes) were specially made in the Czech Republic.


12. The graphics team of eight worked exclusively on the shop for three months and used approximately 460 reams of A4 paper/ 350 ink cartridges. There were 73 different fonts used, along with 500 rolls of tissue paper and 250 meters of printing paper.


13. The graphics department sat down and brainstormed and came up with many ideas, including one of their favorites - Rubby O'Chicken.


14. Concept artists designed 8-10 hero props (hero being the term for the main props the actors use), such as the Puking Pastilles sculpture and the WWW sculpture, and graphics did more of the paper/signage/fireworks.


15. Approximately 223 names were cleared to use for the product names.


16. All the products/labels were printed and assembled at Leavesden studio.


17. 6,850 labels were cut for products.


18. 300 liters of silicone were used to make the Puking Pastilles & all the other sweets in the shop.


SHOPKEEPERS
19. The shop team consisted of three graphic designers and five assistants.


20. Three concept artists and the graphics department designed 120 products.


Fred and George at their WWW joke shop.jpg


[Source: Hollywood Reporter; Image: Harry Potter Wikia]

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