I have watched the Harry Potter movies countless times, but I have never liked this.
An 87-meter LED dome stretches upwards. In the center, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone plays, while the surrounding 3D images expand the film’s scenes to fill the display. It feels less like watching a movie and more like being inside a magical world.
During the opening on Privet Drive, the many beige homes and bright lights stretching in each direction, drew me into the film immediately. As Harry enters Diagon Alley, the skyscrapers rise up around me, and I share his sense of wonder. In the Great Hall of Hogwarts, hundreds of flickering candles seemed to float overhead, making it seem like I was walking with the first year students towards the Sorting Hat.
The experience is captivating, enveloping and transporting. It’s part of a viewing format called Shared Reality at Cosm Los Angeles, an entertainment venue with locations in Dallas and Atlanta. The large dome display combines standard movie viewing with computer-generated visuals, surrounding audiences and scenes unfolding on screen — no headset required. Other films that have received the Shared Reality treatment so far include The Matrix and Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory.
I attended a press preview of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in Shared Reality last week, ahead of its public opening on May 7.
Virtual and virtual reality headsets also allow viewers to feel drawn into their favorite movies and TV shows. But headsets can be distracting, distracting and uncomfortable after a long time. There is no opportunity for public viewing, which is my favorite part of going to the movie theater. I love laughing with other audience members and reacting to shocking or emotional moments together.
Shared Reality achieves a balance between two experiences. I feel immersed in the wizard world without the headset blocking my surroundings. I can happily react alongside other members of the audience as we seem to fly over the Quidditch pitch or walk across Platform 9 ¾. We can peer into a deep wizard’s chess scene — even more impressive in Shared Reality as giant chess pieces shatter from above.
“That community element, that shared element, is very important to what sets Cosm apart in this market,” said Devin Poolman, Cosm’s chief product and technology officer. “We want to make you feel like you’re there and really transport you as part of the experience.”
Looking around, you’d think you were at King’s Cross Station.
Adaptation of Harry Potter for Cosm’s big dome screen
It was my first time at Cosm, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Will the formatting be like The Sphere, where movies like The Wizard of Oz are simple enough to fill the dome display? I was surprised when, instead, a small window appeared and played Harry Potter in the usual format that I had seen many times before, surrounded by additional 3D visuals.
When CNET shared a clip of my experienceon Instagram, many commenters were disappointed that the scenes of the film did not extend to the Cosm area. I had the same concern at first — would this feel really immersive if the movie had been made with those 3D surrounds? But it eventually strikes the right balance, keeping the film as it was made while still drawing me deeper into the screen.
It also helps that not every scene is dynamic; others are designed to make you feel like you’re in a place like a Gryffindor common room or a Potions classroom, with flashing lights or flickering herbs. Too much movement throughout the film can be distracting and visually exhausting. Instead, those moving scenes like walking Diagon Alley or riding the Hogwarts Express are sprinkled in for maximum effect.
“Film is a hero; we want to put it together,” Poolman said. “But if you do too much, the movie starts to wear you down. We realize that the fans are paying attention to the movie. … We also want you to be surprised and excited about everything else that happens.”
Poolman says the team followed a traditional 3D visual effects workflow to create the experience. A multi-disciplinary team of artists, creatives and technical engineers worked on how each scene should look, from a list of photographers and storyboards to building those worlds using three-dimensional tools. Scenes are then rendered in 12K resolution to look sharp on the big screen.
It took about a year from concept to completion. Cosm’s in-house team led the entire effort, working with Little Cinema to drive visual decisions and slow motion, and MakeMake Entertainment to handle the best technical and artistic details of creating these 3D worlds. Partnering with Warner Bros., the studio that produced and released all eight Harry Potter films, helped the teams figure out the best way to present and build upon iconic scenes in the movie.
“We’re trying to highlight a moment and not overshadow what the film is trying to achieve,” Kirk Shintani, creative director at MakeMake, told the audience during a Q&A after the screening. “There will be a lot of people coming in to see [Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone] first of all. So we want to make sure that they get the purpose of the film. What we’re doing is trying to get you into that moment so you feel less and feel more.”
Some backgrounds simply extend the setting of the scene, rather than creating movement.
There’s no denying the passion of the Harry Potter fan base, which is a big reason why Cosm chose Sorcerer’s Stone as the third Shared Reality film. It also helps that the franchise offers a visually rich environment.
“The film — and the canon as a whole — really helps transport what Cosm is doing,” Poolman said.
Whether that means more Harry Potter films will be set for this action is unclear. But a look in the Mirror of Erised would reveal that it is one of my deepest desires.