He was requested by director Alfonso Cuaron to add physical magic to the third movie – ” Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”.

He created magical effects performed ‘live’ for the cameras in a number of scenes including the opening Leaky Cauldron shot, the distinctive floating spheres in the Astronomy Room, as well as making a cameo appearance in the Three Broomsticks pub (the first and only magician ever to actually perform magic in a Harry Potter film).

Paul created, constructed and operated the final folding Maurauders map – the last full-sceen effects shot in the movie.

A scene involving Hogwart’s students performed magic in Hogwart’s Hall was deleted from the movie but appears on the DVD. In preparation for this scene Paul held the first ever magic class on set.

Paul also acted as a pre-production consultant to Mike Newall and the producers for the fourth movie “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”.

On a smaller scale he worked and collaborated with renowned German artist Christian Jankowski to create and star in a short film called “Flock” in which he transformed an audience into sheep and lead them around an art gallery.

He has worked closely with writer Tim Firth to develop a script for Sam Mendes and Working title for the forthcoming movie entitled “Fool”.

The post Paul Kieve – magic consultant to Harry Potter and other films appeared first on Paul Kieve.

Earlier this year, Paul Kieve was awarded The David Berglas Award for outstanding contribution to magic. Past recipients of this prestigious trophy have included Paul Daniels, Geoffrey Durham and Alex Elmsley. Researching this feature, I began to realise just how much this laid-back magician with the Mediterranean looks has played a part in modern day magic. Not only is he an accomplished performer (he recently became the only magician in history to appear in “The Proms” in the Royal Albert Hall) and Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe’s personal magic tutor, he is, perhaps, the most prolific and successful magic consultant in UK theatre history!

Paul Kieve has left his magical influence on many major theatre productions over the past fifteen years and this success has led to his
talents being in demand in other areas, too.

The only magic consultant to work on any of the Harry Potter movies, he has continued to skilfully juggle a variety of exciting projects
and yet his name may be relatively unfamiliar to many magicseen readers. I travelled to London in the sweltering heat of mid-July to
interview the man who puts the magic into our entertainment experiences…

Rare magic posters adorn the walls, halls, landing and lounge of Paul’s stylish house in Hackney, London. There is an imposing old book case crammed with magic books that would keep a magic scholar busy for years. Paul is obviously a man who respects magic history and he enthusiastically informs me of specific details from his book collection.

I begin by asking him how he copes with the pressure of having to develop magic effects to order. Surely it cannot be easy to meet deadlines – with the director, cast and financial backers waiting to put on a production?

“I’ve learned how to put myself in a position where I’m most likely to succeed,” says Paul, “When I started out I didn’t know the way theatre budgets, politics and
schedules worked, particularly on big musicals, but now I know how shows are put together and staged and that helps me a lot. I’ve also learned not to commit myself to
things that are truly impossible! In some situations I will go into a meeting and basically say that I will be able to help, but that the producer is employing my expertise
and not necessarily a guarantee of an absolutely specific result. I also make sure that it is understood that my work can only be achieved with co-operation and collaboration from other departments. Having said that, one way or another, I’ve had a good success rate at coming up with what is asked and nobody is more surprised than I am! I do admit that there is pressure, as I’m constantly being asked to come up with things that haven’t, or seemingly haven’t been done before, but I have been working on theatre productions for over 15 years now so I suppose I get used to the demands. Also it’s amazing how many clues can come from what has been done in the past.”

How do you cope with those inevitable mental blocks? “If I get stuck, I try and visualise what I would like the final result to look like. I imagine myself sitting in the audience and how I want it to look from their perspective without getting too hung up on the method.”

Paul seems so relaxed that I don’t doubt that he can cope with anything that stressed Director’s throw at him. But what actually makes great magic within a theatre production?

“The most successful moments are when a strong magic effect co-incides with a dramatic peak. Take the unmasking in The Invisible Man where Griffin takes off his bandages to reveal an invisible head. If that exact effect had theoretically happened earlier in the play at a less important moment in the story it wouldn’t have had the same impact. In “The Invisible Man” the whole first half of the story is entirely built upon the suspense of who this bandaged stranger is. The un-bandaging is where the dramatic and emotional arc is at its highest. If I can deliver a good magic moment at the top of this dramatic climax, then I have my greatest chance of creating a strong and memorable impact.”

I ask Paul how he got the job on The Invisible Man – a production that received rave reviews – not least for over 40 amazing magical effects. “At the time, I was in a magic
double-act called The Zodiac Brothers and we had just finished our last contract. I wanted to move on. I knew that the act would always work, but on ships and overseas. I found the experience of working on cruise ships quite claustrophobic – I didn’t necessarily want a chocolate mint on my pillow every night!”

The very next day, Paul received a call from the Theatre Royal Stratford East where writer and director Ken Hill was planning his next production and it proved to be a very significant moment in his career. “Ken wasn’t afraid of a big challenge. He saw the absurd fun of staging The Invisible Man live. He was cavalier in his approach and had already decided that it could be done with or without a magic designer! His favourite phrase whenever anything seemed to be an insurmountable challenge was: ‘We can just
jig it out of a bit of ply!’”

What does Paul see as the most rewarding aspect of working on a production?

“A really good collaboration between all the departments has resulted in the best experiences I’ve had. A recent example was the 2005 production of “Theatre of Blood” at
the National Theatre in London. The story concerns a hammy Shakespearian actor who murders seven critics that have slammed his performances. All are dispatched in the style of a death from a Shakespeare play. The production was based on the 1970’s film starring Vincent Price.

Says Paul: “I had to create impalements, electrocutions, drownings and dismemberments! The great thing for me about “Theatre of Blood” was that it placed all my effects at critical points of the plot. I got totally immersed in the projects and worked on it solidly for about 3 months. I was in charge of all the murders and blood effects and that was a big learning curve for me. At some of the rehearsals we used literally litres of stage blood and the actors were dressed in white plastic all-in-one protective boiler suits. The floor and walls of the rehearsal room had to be covered in protective plastic. Everything was built inhouse at The National Theatre workshops and the set and costume designer Rae Smith was incredibly helpful. She just helped to make everything work as well as it possibly could. In addition I was working with Improbable Theatre (who were co-producing the play). I had worked with them in 1998 at the Lyric Hammersmith, and they have a great love of visual theatre. Director Phelim McDermott was very keen for the murders to be as horrific and spectacular as possible.”

Oscar-winner Jim Broadbent, probably best known for his movie work with Director Mike Leigh and his role in Moulin Rouge took the lead role and Paul found him a joy to work with. “He was very down-to-earth, a consummate professional who very keen to learn the details. It really was a dream job for me, but the critics didn’t know how to react to it as the whole play not only dealt with their grisly deaths, but speculated that their roles in theatre were irrelevant! The Evening Standard newspaper reviewer, Nicholas De Jongh was vitriolic . However, much of the press praised Paul’s work as the highlight. No lesser journal than The Hollywood Reporter wrote “Illusionist Paul Kieve stages the murders in quite extraordinary fashion. They are as utterly convincing as they are hilariously horrific”

After consistently receiving enthusiastic reviews for his work in theatre productions, Paul received a call that most magicians dream about. He was approached by Director
Alfonso Cuaron to work on Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban. However, it wasn’t simply a matter of saying “yes”, as Paul reveals: “I had to do a two-hour ‘show & tell’
presentation to all the departments gathered together, showing what might be possible using physical magical effects as opposed to computers” says Paul, calmly.

“On that day in Leavesden, near Watford I felt like an ambassador for magic because I was the first magician to be asked onto the set. It was a freezing cold day and I demonstrated more than forty different effects live with another 30 examples from video. After I had finished, they said: What are you doing tomorrow?” Amongst many other things Paul had showed them a number of animation effects and a self-folding bill during his presentation and he his first task was to have a look at the ‘Marauders Map’ which they wanted to magically fold itself up. “My existence on the film was sometimes politically tricky as they had already completed two films with existing computer and special effects teams. I was a new, albeit one-man, department, so I had to tread carefully! In the end the other teams were very helpful to me, particularly John Richardson and the special effects department.”

After having got through the “Show And Tell” and my first couple of scenes, I had to create a second presentation which was actually held on the set of Hogwarts Hall. This was to demonstrate possibilities for a scene where all the kids had been to Zonko’s joke shop (this will mean something to Harry Potter readers!). One of the things I showed was a floating sphere -which I rigged to go the whole length of the hall and back again. Designer Stuart Craig came up with the idea of having a number of spheres floating around The Astronomy Room. So I set up some globes to float around live for the cameras on the set, which was not easy due to the restrictions of lights, camera cranes, and
constantly changing shooting angles.

Paul laughs as he explains that when he demonstrated the original effect he had used a Christmas tree bauble ‘bought for a quid’ from a Hackney newsagent. “The astronomy
room sequence took thirteen days to complete. Working on films there is an unbelievable amount of hanging around,” says Paul, “but when they want you on set you have to be ready to perform instantly!”

We heard that you actually conducted amagic class on set, is this correct? “Yes it is, I held a series of classes over a day, to assess the ability of the kids. Almost all the kids
turned up for one of the sessions – Emma Watson who plays Hermione, The Weasley twins, it was quite surreal. Everyone was there except Daniel Radcliffe, who, of course,
plays Harry Potter – he was busy filming.

When we were doing the scene the following week, he came up to me on the set of Hogwart’s Hall and said: ‘I can’t believe you’ve taught everyone else magic except
me!! So I promised him that I’d teach him whenever there was an opportunity. He was genuinely interested – he’d previously bought a magic set in New York…” So you
started giving him lessons on set? “On the set he has a dressing room, and next door to that is a classroom where he does all of his school studies – that’s where I held the
magic lessons. I really wanted to inspire him as he seemed so keen to learn. He is an exceptionally bright kid and very humble considering the amount of media attention
he has received” continues Paul. “I’d take over an old magic book and tell him a few things about the history, then show him some practical things too. The first lessons were a
couple of hours and then I continued giving him lessons at his family home in Fulham, often for three or four hours at a time.”

Daniel has really got the magic-bug and during the filming of The Prisoner of Azkaban he took tricks on set. He told me the first time he met Emma Thompson he showed her
a trick had learned from me and she screamed – that really helped to break the ice! Towards the end of filming, Paul received a call from the Director: “He asked me if I
could think of a present for Daniel as a ‘wrap’ present. Daniel had been practising the cups & balls with paper cups, so I suggested we get him a professional set. We got him a
beautiful set produced by Brett Sherwood.”

So how is Daniel doing with his magic now? “Well, at present, I’ve more-or-less taught him a lot of what I know when it comes to close-up magic! Daniel told me that
he was in a restaurant and he started doing some close-up magic at the tables…and he went down really well. He was most pleased when a table of Japanese customers failed to recognise him, but responded purely because the magic was done well! Daniel has kindly written the introduction to my forthcoming book on magic.”

Perhaps the most memorable of Paul’s effects in The Prison of Azkaban is where ‘The Marauders Map’ magically self-folds itself – the last effect shot of the movie. Paul
got a call months after he had designed it – and was asked to bring in the long-forgotten map that he had worked on months earlier.

“They asked how long it would take to get to the stage where it could be filmed – the time it would take to transfer my system onto the real Maurauder’s map and I said 2-4 hours.

They asked me to start straight away and that it would be filmed in the afternoon. I designed, made and operated the mechanism. And out of all the stuff I have ever done, I guess it’s The Marauders Map that’s been seen and remembered by the most people,”

Not only was Paul responsible for memorable magical scenes in the movie, he also landed a cameo appearance in ‘The Three Broomsticks section’. As Paul tries to
find me the clip on a huge DVD projection screen in his lounge, he says, “I hope my three seconds are worth it!” But even those three seconds were the result of three days
filming at Shepperton Studios.

Working on perhaps the highest profile movie in the world must have been an amazing experience, and yet there was another blockbuster-project – this time in theatre-land, waiting for him. Twenty-Eight million Canadian dollars (about £14 million) were spent on the mammoth task of bringing The Lord of the Rings to life on stage. This was a project that according to Paul had been bubbling under for many years – even pre-dating the films – and it was always going to be an epic. “They were waiting for a theatre in London to become available,” explains Paul. “The scale of the show was so huge that only three theatres in London were big enough to accommodate it. The producers
were waiting for We Will Rock You to come off at The Dominion, but every time ticket sales flagged and we got ready to go, they would extend the booking period again. Waiting for West End Theatres is an absurd business full of rumour and speculation!. It transpired that Toronto, which has a huge theatre industry, had the perfect theatre – one that had been built specifically to house Miss Saigon. An opportunity arose and so the full English production team was flown out there to make it work with a March 2006 opening date!”

The Princess of Wales Theatre, owned by Toronto’s famous Mirvish family, proved to be perfect, but how on earth do you put The Lord of the Rings on stage? Says Paul: “It
tells the story of all three books in one evening. It’s a play with atmospheric music – composed by a Scandinavian folk group called Vartinna and A R Rahman – the well
known Bollywood composer who wrote the show “Bombay Dreams”. It really is not a traditional musical in any sense – you don’t suddenly get Gandalph singing a song about
the Hobbits and doing a tap Dance. Music is an important part of the story and is referred to by Tolkein in the books, so on the whole it fits into fairly natural places in the story.

“On the first day of rehearsals I was struck by the sheer scale of what we were involved in. There were 250- 300 people in the rehearsal room– 65 actors and musicians
are actually on stage at the same time!”

It took four solid months to assemble all the sets in Toronto. The production is truly epic in every way. Paul was involved in the early creative process and had a number of
effects to achieve. “I had the task of making Bilbo disappear, and of course a number of times when Frodo puts the ring on and vanishes. There is also a scene where Sam
has to cut all the Orcs to pieces, and a 10 minute pre-show section. In terms of my work, although this is physically the largest show I’ve ever worked on, it’s not the biggest
job as far as my contributions go”, says Paul modestly. “It is the sort of production that magicians will love! It’s the equivalent in scale of a Las Vegas Show is a huge visual feast!”

Other members of the creative team include peter Darling who choreographed the stage and film versions of Billy Elliot. The principle creative team were all behind the Oliver Award winning musical “Our House” which Paul worked on in the West End in 2003.

In Toronto, the production came in for criticism, partially for running too long. Will this be the case when it opens in London? “The show has now been re-structured and
shortened. Part of the critical problem in Toronto was that Lord of the Rings was hoped to revive Toronto’s tourism and theatre industry – a large amount of government
money went into it over there. In the end it is only a theatre production, albeit a spectacular one – and it couldn’t possibly live up to what it was expected to”. The show is
set to open at The Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London in June 2007.

As I climb into my taxi to head back to kings Cross Station, I realise just how many pages of my notebook I’ve filled and I’m already starting to worry about the massive
task ahead. How am I going to write a feature on someone who has achieved so much? As the taxi draws away, Paul is leaning out of his office watching the busy street scene at the end of his road. He is unaffected and modest about his success, and you just know that there’s a lot more to come.

The post Paul Kieve on The Lord of the Rings, The Invisible Man and Theatre of Blood appeared first on Paul Kieve.

Unlike a certain other wizard, Paul Kieve’s study of sorcery didn’t begin at Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross. And forget about it being written in the stars because, according to the man who is now one of Britain’s top illusionists and official magic consultant for the Guinness Book of Records, his entry into the arcane arts was hardly the result of some divine destiny.

“I was lucky because my hobby was something I could go out there and do,” explains Paul, who has been obsessed with magic since receiving a toy tricks set as a kid. “Magic
is a performing art at the end of the day but I never consciously thought ‘I could do this as a career’. I just had a few lucky breaks and followed my nose.

“When I started there was more of a variety circuit than there is now, so you’d get work doing end-of-the-pier stuff with Sue Pollard or someone,” he goes on. “I just took on jobs that interested me, which took me on a career path I could never have planned. I’ve ended up in a place where there’s really no-one else doing what I do. So if people need something quirky or odd doing, I tend to get the call.”

GETTING PHYSICAL

It may not sound as mystical as Hogwarts, but Paul could teach Harry Potter a thing or two. In fact he has: One of his most high-profile jobs has been arranging physical
magic sequences for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, teaching Daniel Radcliffe how to perform his tricks as well as supervising special effects for the Marauders Map sequence.

“I was contacted by the Harry Potter production office because [director] Alfonso Cuaron wanted to increase the amount of background magic in the film without having to rely solely on CGI,” reveals Paul. “CGI sequences are very expensive and the other advantage of doing things physically is that you can see them through the camera. Actors interact with something that’s happening in real time and space, which is very attractive to a director.”

“The first meetings I had were quite nerve-wracking,” he admits. “I was the first illusionist to work on any of the films, so I felt that I was representing not just myself but my profession as a whole. They asked me to demonstrate about fifty things and show them some of my previous work on video before they gave me the job.”

TRICKS OF THE TRADE

Young Potter isn’t the only wizard to have benefited from Paul’s wisdom; he was also responsible for designing an on-line wizardry course to promote the Sci-Fi Channel’s recent mini-series adaptation of Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea novels. But the magic spreads beyond the silver screen:

As well as being a performer in his own right, Paul is also highly indemand as a consultant and special effects designer for the stage.

His bulging portfolio includes a number of illusions and effects for musicals and plays such as The Witches of Eastwick, the English National Ballet’s version of Alice in Wonderland and the stage adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Witches, which recently completed its run at the Birmingham REP.

But whilst Paul is called upon to add a sense of the supernatural, he is utterly down-to-earth about the processes involved.

“My role is a collaborative one with the director, writer and set designer,” he reveals. “Unlike performing a magic show where you can just wheel on any prop you like and put a glammy girl inside without having to justify it, for a stage show the illusion has to fit into the context of the story which is more of a challenge.”

“There is a technical aspect to it, but I don’t like explaining how things actually work. People know that actors are just wearing costumes and speaking other people’s words, but they still believe that there’s an art behind it. But for some reason when you tell people how an illusion is performed they just go, ‘Oh; so it’s just a bit of wire,’ which demeans it in some way,” Paul laments.

MASTER OF PUPPETS

One of the most spectacular scenes in The Witches comes when the lead character is transformed into a mouse: The actor must appear to shrink, and be replaced by a model mouse. On this particular production Paul collaborated with local puppet maker Craig Denston, who began his career at Birmingham’s Cannon Hill Puppet Theatre and has
subsequently crafted puppets and masks for numerous stage shows at The REP and elsewhere.

Craig believes that while the hand of a craftsman is essential for his creations to function properly, it takes the eye of an artist really to bring them to life.

“First and foremost you need to remember that you’re designing a character,” he asserts “I was trained as an illustrator;  just as I’d labour for hours getting an eyebrow right in a drawing, I’ll do exactly the same for a puppet to give it personality.”

“Puppeteering is about performance, but the skill of making them is much more like sculpting. They’re quite separate disciplines,” Craig insists. “But whilst puppets can do all sorts of things that actors can’t, when you’re working on a stage show you have to be aware of the dimensions of the set and how the puppets will have to interact with the actors. You can’t always show off really clever tricks,” he admits. “There’s just as much onus on the actors to work well with the puppets and treat them as another member of the cast.”

UNDER NO ILLUSIONS

Although today’s audiences are used to having their eyeballs fried by spectacular special effects at the cinema, Craig believes that live illusions and puppeteering add an extra element to a shows that computers simply can’t simulate. “I don’t feel like I have to compete with CGI at all,” he shrugs. “Unless they come up with a way of projecting a three-dimensional character into space my job should be pretty safe.”

“Films are actually a great source of inspiration for me because I find a lot of traditional puppet theatre very unadventurous,” admits Craig. “Films like Finding Nemo and A Bug’s Life are great because they’re very design-led and the characters are so colourful, which is exactly what I try to do with my theatre work. But on stage I think they actually appear more real.”

MORE TRICKS UP THE SLEEVE

Paul concurs, but acknowledges that the success of the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings franchises – and the popularity of TV performers like Derren Brown – have made people aware that there’s more to the magician’s art than pulling rabbits out of hats.

“The Paul Daniels era is long gone, thankfully; when he was the only magician on TV people began to think that that was all that magic was,” says Paul. “These movies have put an idea of magic and mysticism in the air, so there are plenty of opportunities for people who can perform magic well.”

“Even David Blaine’s act where he went without food for weeks was important. It might have been a little misjudged for this country, and when I went down there loads of people were just taking the Mickey. But everyone was having a good time whether they were laughing at him or not, and he transported people away from their everyday lives for a few minutes whilst they watched him – which is what a magician’s supposed to do, after all.”

The post A Kind of Magic appeared first on Paul Kieve.

Ruby Wax in The Witches at Birmingham Rep

Article by Diane Parkes for the Birmingham Post / Birmingham Mail group to tie in with a production of The Witches at Birmingham Rep.

What do you need to turn children into mice and make witches into giants? Well, a magician of course.

Step in illusionist Paul Kieve who has created a whole host of special effects for the adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic The Witches.

It is the fifth time Paul has worked on the show, alongside David Wood, who adapted the tale of two small boys and a grandma battling against witches.

All the cast members involved in the illusions are sworn to secrecy and while Paul is more than happy to talk about the show, his lips are sealed on the mechanics. And he is still working even as we speak. Our interview takes place hours before the first preview but he is on the hunt for a slight adaptation to one of the effects.

“You just have to make sure it is right,”he says. “With magic or illusion there are no half measures, it has to be exactly right for it to work.”

Magic Circle member Paul has an impressive CV when it comes to creating illusions for the theatre. He has worked on a host of West End shows including Scrooge with Tommy Steele and Richard Chamberlain, The Witches of Eastwick, pantomime, and is currently creating effects for a Lord of the Rings musical.

He was also the first real magician to be called on for help with a Harry Potter film and his work can be seen in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

“I was asked to do a ‘show and tell’, in which I stood in a freezing marquee for two hours presenting my ideas. They were really helpful in adapting them for the show,” he says.
“So, for example, I showed them an illusion of making a note fold by itself and they used this at the end of the film when the map folds itself up. We spent days doing that shot.

“They were keen to use magic as well as special effects as it gave the film a whole new layer so Iwas involved in about five or six scenes.

“For one part I had to teach all the children in the film how to do tricks. This bit was actually cut but it has made it to the deleted scenes in the DVD, which I was very pleased about. But DanielRadcliffe, who plays Harry,was not in that scene and he came up to me afterwards and said ‘I can’t believe everyone around here now knows magic tricks except me’.

“So we did some one-to-one sessions whenever he had some time off. He practised very hard and got very good.”

Paul says Harry Potter was hard work but great fun and he was even given a cameo role – look out for him in the pub.

It is just one of a number of projects he has been working on, which have also seen him become a wizard on a website, and a consultant to the Guinness Book of Records.

“I am lucky because there is always something new to do,” he says. “I always said I wanted no two days to be the same and that is very true.”

Paul was a youngster when he performed his first magic trick.

“As a child I was totally obsessed with a trick called the zig-zag girl and I wanted my parents to buy it for me,” he says. “Instead, my mum said I should buy some wood and make it – and I did. I then performed it at school. I got my real lucky break because I did a pop video with Sade. At the time she wasn’t very well known but it was that song ‘Your Love is King’ which really caught on for her. She was so supportive. She would mention me on Saturday morning television and she would always ring and tell me first. I was only 16.”

And it was Paul’s work on the video which gained him a slot in a London theatre and brought him to the attention of the producers of the musical The Invisible Man. And 37-year-old Paul has not looked back since.

He retains a real enthusiasm for his role. “I was never interested in that TV show patter which is followed by a trick,” he says. “I always loved the idea of creating illusions in front of an audience. Creating that real magical moment is what it is all about.”

The post Casting a spell on the cast! appeared first on Paul Kieve.