The Cinematography of Harry Potter : Half Blood Prince

Here is a compilation of some of the best cinematography from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Leave a comment telling me what your favourite shot was.
Cinematographer - Bruno Delbonnel
Song - Harry & Hermione (Half Blood Prince Soundtrack)
I do not own the rights to any of these clips or songs. All rights go to Warner Bros.

[@gellertvarga6571]

There isn't even a moment in this movie, when the sun's shining.

[@theofarrant703]

The lighting reflects the mood really especially with the death of Dumbledore

[@mdnblues]

As the story progresses, the movies in terms of lighting become darker and more sinister-looking, matching the story itsself. Also, each movie has specific colours which match the movie's book's cover. For example, The Order Of The Phoenix's cover is a mix of dark and light blue, and the colours in the movie are blue-ish. Same goes with the other books. These little details that people normaly wouldn't notice are one example of the things which I love about the movies.

[@ender7278]

It does shine in the ending to show there's still hope.

[@ruly8153]

@@theofarrant703 Hey you just spoilt the movie on me

[@secretblue0290]

Maybe it's supposed to represent doom and gloom cause dumbledore is dying (the movies didn't properly explain that dumbledore tried to use the ring with the resurrection stone to see his family one last time, and it cursed him, and he's gonna die in one year)

[@jnation29]

Probably my favorite HP movie in terms of cinematography

[@feddie.4166]

This movie is honestly just so beautifully shot. The color grade and frame blocking just all work so well and really set a tone and feel that none of the other harry potter movies capture

[@theofarrant703]

The symmetry at 0:48 is incredible!

[@feddie.4166]

really random fact: that tapestry is an actual tapestry in the cloister museum in NYC

[@theofarrant703]

Never knew that haha

[@michaelhawkins7389]

@Om Patel is that a joke on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban?

[@ayushgupta549]

Ofcourse, because of cinematography Bruno Delbonnel.

[@cavaguynh7791]

though there're not many light and warm scenes in this movie but idk why every Harry Potter movie gives me a cozy feeling like i'm in my right place doing my fav thing with a calm and familiar unexplain feeling.

[@starlightstarbright26]

I know what you mean HP manages to be so soothing while being very dark and sad a lot of the time.

[@tahafeemahmed]

the book and the movie both are quite soothing in terms of reading and watching. No other book could/can never give the feel like HP. It feels home.

[@afterbusters134]

HBP has the best tone of all HP movies 🔥

[@TTF1996]

Nah

[@ruly8153]

@@TTF1996 It’s probably Prisojer of Azkaban But this is good too

[@TTF1996]

@@ruly8153 it is prisoner of Azkaban

[@emilieford3604]

@@TTF1996 yea it’s HBP for sure .

[@udaydixit933]

Should've won academy award for cinematography

[@xoismat8350]

It has

[@EamonKelly]

@@xoismat8350 nominated yes, but not won

[@PauIdenino]

You mean Oscars?

[@mariannestrgzr9374]

I love all these shots of Draco, always either lost in the size of the decor around him, or seen through the bars of a window or a cage. And always without him saying a single word, it's just brilliant cinematography

[@MaisieIsAwesome]

This and POA are both beautifully shot

[@theofarrant703]

Made another video on the POA cinematography!

[@karannair823]

This movie is the perfect “calm before the storm” especially with the soundtrack…it’s peaceful but always has underlying tones of unrest which is basically how I would describe the half blood Prince as a whole

[@Zombiesnyder13]

Bruno Delbonel deserves an Oscar

[@Zombiesnyder13]

@Diego Pisfil Avatar was groundbreaking in terms of virtual cinematography

[@Roman_ark]

Underated take, half blood prince is one of if not the best Harry potter movies

[@ruly8153]

The music of the Harry Potter movies makes me nostalgic no matter what song it It

[@FilmandTVFan]

I’ve never seen a movie that’s shot with such darkness and beauty intertwined in a way as good as this film. Bruno Delbonnel’s cinematography is gorgeously lit to capture the eerie and foreboding nature of the film. The opening scene with the thunder and dark clouds is one of the most haunting sequences I’ve ever seen in anything. My heart genuinely sunk when I saw it on several viewings. There’s not a feeling I’ve had with any other film, and that’s so powerful to portray such dread visually for the entire runtime of the film. The cinematography combined with Nicolas Hooper’s score is unparalleled in my opinion. If there’s any film that’s visually striking in a haunting and beautiful way that gives me shivers up my spine, then it’s ‘Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince.’ The later films in the series may have been dark in quality and mood, but they never really surpassed the frighteningly haunting mood that Half Blood Prince establishes. One of the great cinematographic achievements in history in my opinion.

[@Ranger1812]

The other films weren't supposed to have this feel. Whether they should or shouldn't is a different question, but they, including David Yates' other Wizarding World films, aimed for a different feel, and they were beautiful theirselves. Order of the Phoenix feels very much like a battle between citizens and the state, and deathly Hallows has a very dark, mature, battle-but-not-action oriented atmosphere. They're perfect.

[@stephenblack5425]

The most beautiful Harry Potter movie ever.

[@penguinan2456]

Theis is my favourite movie of all time. It just gives me a sense of loneliness and depression ....and yet satisfaction at the same time. Idk im weird.🙂

[@emilieford3604]

I agree. The astopheme in this movie conveys a sense of impending dread, as well as being hauntingly beautiful at the same time. This is also my favorite movie .

[@penguinan2456]

@@emilieford3604 Hey nice..i can tell u have great taste in movies then too😁. Many people are like "are you serious? A harry potter movie is your favourite of all time?🤨" And im like :"Yes..leave me alone. Im bizzare.😂"

[@alessandrowidmer8820]

Mine aswell

[@WhoIsLOK]

Everything from the music to the dialogue was just perfect, my personal favorite HP film.

[@hunmiliengtipi9218]

I was really lukewarm towards HBP but a recent re-watch compelled me to retrospectively change my opinion and now it's one of my favorite installment in the series. The cinematography is just *chef's kiss *.

[@sandippaul468]

I'll never understand why people hate it and don't see the excellent parts of this movie. Yeah I also agree it partly turned out to be a rom-com for a while, but it never fails to grow darker by the minute. Along with that the breathtaking camera work perfect score and some absolutely poetic shots. C'mon guys!! It is as Harry himself would've said, "Brilliant".

[@goldinvideos4676]

The lighting details in this movie are beautifully natural, if you notice, the first two films had warm filters of lighting and so does the Half Blood Prince. Even though it may be dim at times, the lighting is almost always in warm tones and always coming from a natural source like a window, the snow etc.

[@sisternikeisha]

Dead bird was haunting and beautiful. Also, great job with editing this vid.

[@uttisiseppe769]

This and prisoner of azkaban by Alfonso cuaron

[@DonCS]

I keep on coming back to this video. It's so well made. And thanks for including the official soundtrack.

[@theofarrant703]

Thanks so much! I'm gonna be making more soon so stay subscribed!

[@DonCS]

@@theofarrant703 I will:)

[@Great_Mr.A]

Thanks for this wonderful video! When I was a child I’ve loved this movie! ❤

[@dlnmns]

I just rewatched every movie and this movie have by far the best cinematography. It aged much better than the others, even Deathly Hallows. Such a beautiful movie.

[@ZiroWatt]

This is the kind of movie I wish I could just live in, the light is so perfectly smooth and moody I love it

[@ab-tt2su]

thats my favourite part

[@pwolf517]

Wow this edit is amazing, thank you for the time it must have taken!

[@drinksomewaterfirst9704]

I prefer this color grading and style over anything else … it gave the HP series originality and strange feeling .. i love how the darkness embraces the greens of the grass and trees it almost feels and looks like it had been raining or it just rained.

[@usmanmajid7837]

The colour grading & lighting in this movie is absolutely gorgeous!

[@nizararman2106]

I love each second of this movie

[@DonCS]

Great video! Keep em coming. This is my favourite Harry potter film because of the perfect music and cinematography and the resulting atmosphere.

[@Technique1995]

This the darkest Harry Potter thematically even darker than the last two in my opinion.

[@cherie9692]

this and deathly hallows part one are masterpieces of cinematography.

[@Sandra-hc4vo]

it's really helpful to see movies distilled into these shots with beautiful music as you did here. i hope you post more videos. this one you did a phenomenal job on!

[@HUNTERRRR]

Beautiful

[@Chubs.]

I don't see why Bruno didn't do the photography for the last film

[@theofarrant703]

According to himself he was afraid to repeat himself. As fantastic as Bruno is do you not think Eduardo Delbonnel did a good job of Deathly Hallows?

[@Chubs.]

RandomCanary I thought it was good, just not as impressive as the job bruno did

[@theofarrant703]

Yeah, I agree with you actually

[@masterpenguin8472]

@@theofarrant703 Eduardo Serra actually.

[@i-deni-i5138]

@@theofarrant703 Eduardo Serra*

[@Blunderman-rl1hc]

I feel you missed the shot from Dumbledore's funeral where everyone holds up their wands in honor of him. Then you have that magical overhead shot, showing all the lights surrounding Dumbledore.

[@subroy7123]

Delbonnel is GOAT

[@sergeanttentacles1359]

Underrated

[@tahafeemahmed]

Though this movie had the worst book adaptation, the colour grading, visual adjustments, shots and aesthetics were amazing.

[@DonCS]

I keep coming back to this one. Such a great video! Hope to see more of you!

[@027d.harish8]

I didn't like the brown palette throughout the film, and the film was conveying loneliness through it's shots which made it an uneasy watch but yes the cinematography and vfx( color of the sky) of the final scene where Snape reveals he is the half blood prince is a masterpiece

[@rafaelc.c.]

This film is so beautiful! There are a lot of excellent shots. There are some that you didn't put (no offense) like the Inferi and the Fire Storm with the red fire all around. Great job!

[@theofarrant703]

Ah yes, I agree the shots in that scene are wonderful

[@027d.harish8]

Blue palette in the room of requirement in order of the Phoenix is my favourite

[@nizararman2106]

Surprising how room of requirement becomes dark from movie 5 to movie 6.

[@FallenAziraphale]

I know a lot of people hated the color grading of The Half-Blood Prince, but I honestly thought that it was the best of all the films. It captured the unease and ominous feeling of the story. I’ve been trying to find the LUTs for the film so I can get that same aesthetic in a video of mine that has the same feel, but I can’t find them, which is odd because they are available for the other movies…

[@dannyyspencerr]

this video was lovely.

[@theofarrant703]

Thank you sir

[@jaikumarjadhav6575]

Just the fact that they didn't make it dark with the plot, ruins all of the amazing cinematography. What this movie could've been with those memories of Tom Riddle + music + camera work + young actors finally giving their best!

[@meganhobson785]

I like the scene when the minnelium bridge in London gets destroyed,mainly due to the fact actually saw it being filmed.

[@fastertrackcreative]

Notable how in these shots at least the camera moves very slowly if at all, shots are drawn out as if someone sadly walking around. Contrast with something like James Bond where the shots are so fast it's hard to keep up often, due to the action format.

[@widejeff8993]

This movie is the calm before the storm. You can see that it wasn’t the greatest year for Harry and Hermione in the film.

[@MrCetyque]

Amazing work man! Maybe you should consider doing one of these for both parts of Deathly Hallows, the cinematography of Eduardo Serra in those movies really nailed it, they are GORGEOUS!

[@theofarrant703]

João Medina hey man, I’ve done part 1 so far, so check that one out. Thanks for the comment

[@slavic_bog_warlock]

People give this movie so much shit, but it’s really a masterpiece of cinematography

[@ive3737]

Maybe, but it doesn't fit with the rest. It's a disaster.

[@mfflscotty2095]

@@ive3737 why is it a disaster

[@ive3737]

@@mfflscotty2095 For the same reason as making the entire movie red would be a disaster.

[@mfflscotty2095]

@@ive3737 This movie has some amazing cinematography

[@eddiea8468]

This is a wonderfully made video.

[@theofarrant703]

Thank you so much, I'm made more soon so stay subscribed!

[@dialyonstudio]

It´s so beautiful

[@TwelvetreeZ]

Tbh the lighting for this film drives me up the wall. Even in the cinema I could barely see what was going on. Was there a solar eclipse for the whole school year?

[@nicko2864]

thats really unfortunate. This movie is truly beautiful in its dreary, unsaturated, and shadowy aesthetic. Really some of the most remarkable cinematography in the series, really worth giving it another viewing with the right frame of mind, you might come to appreciate the dark visuals.

[@C0H87]

I don’t know why they went away from this cinematography style and color palate in Deathly Hallows

[@buckeyeguy458]

Still don’t know how this movie is rated PG

[@crappymcdick]

Because you think it's too mature?

[@buckeyeguy458]

@@crappymcdick no because the later ones are all PG 13 and this is the darkest one

[@crappymcdick]

@@buckeyeguy458 Wait it's PG? I thought you meant PG 13, that's insane. And you're right this is by far the most mature and depressing film in the series. Wow that's wild.

[@joanachung3517]

Love this!

[@theofarrant703]

Thank you! Feel free to suggest a video for me to make :)

[@auzza5394]

It's so weird that this film has the same director and musical composer as Order of the Phoenix because stylistically I feel like they're almost opposites. In fact, this feels vastly different to all the other Yates Harry Potter/Fantastic Beast films. Maybe changing the cinematographer had that much of an effect but this movie has such a different atmosphere to the rest of the series. Even the sound editing and mixing has a very desolate and echo-y sound that is not only unique to HP but most movies in general.

[@hungkien05]

You left out the mosr beautiful scene (to me). The final scence when the trio are at the tower

[@SuperJanitorguy]

Wish I could see the cinematography

[@Greek1999]

The story of this movie is mostly bad but great cinematography and fotography but including scene of funeral’s of dumblodore this is movies make gold I’m sorry my English jeje

[@imnottheblitz665]

You made a video about appreciating the cinematography and yet you cropped the footage from its original aspect ratio...

[@theofarrant703]

My mistake! I'll stick to the original ratios next time :)

[@jeebs621]

This and deathly gallows part 1 had the best camera work

[@theofarrant703]

Don't forget prisoner of azkaban :)

[@JMVisuals-borncreative]

Awesome video and channel just subscribed lets connect!

[@MyGhettoLife2k]

its like it it was shot in log and no bothered to color grade it. Prisoner of Azkaban had the best visuals imo

[@faraazkhan5078]

Ootp looks the best

[@thecyborgrhino]

I love how they're shot but why do they have to use Yellow and orange for this film. I don't know, it's just weird.

[@theuniverselovesme1529]

I never liked the tone of this movie as a kid. I thought it was too depressing

[@aishimou522]

Wait which coloring is this exactly?

[@LautFErrotabere]

sepia?

[@user-cp4df3bh3n]

Rembrandt coloring style. See his paintings

[@collider12]

This montage is cool but the movie is hard to watch with the dark filter/colors and hope there’s a color correction remastered version released in 20 years

[@paoloiavarone]

The problem in this movie is just the script, really it could be one of the best films if not the best in the saga.

[@mattwhelan13]

taken to it's extreme IMO, Dumbledore dies at the end therefore the whole movie must be dark and washed out and depressing. In reality this is a pretty happy year for Harry, Umbridge is gone, everyone now believes Voldemort is back, Dumbledore is talking to him again, he is quidditch captain, he ends up in a relationship that isn't toxic. Frankly compared to OotP, HBP is incredibly cheerful. The movie would have been so much better if it had started of a bit dark, then birghtened up when Harry gets to the Burrow and doesn't get dark again until Dumbledore dies, that contrast would have made it much more impactful rather than overusing the effect, making everything look washed out and making it impossible to see what on earth is going on in half the scenes

[@RicardoGarcia-xz1rz]

It looks awful! Watched the movie at the cinema and they have destroyed the full movie with a lot of awful color correction in the blu-rays/DVD transfers!

[@afaydilek]

This whole movie feelks like it was shot by an instagram filter. Despite all the praising comments here, i've hated since the first minute into the film. Not even mentioning the incapability of david yates as a director.

[@sajinjs]

ok.. good cinematography.. but why the damn grey and brown shade is there??.. as well as the shitty blur/glow..

[@andreprawardana6362]

Don't you read the book? In sixth year Hogwarts and all the people inside it are transported to the Matrix world hence the grayish and greenish color palette.

[@MasterPNUT2]

Sachu Sajin JS They were conveying a feeling of somberness by emphasizing and brightening the darkest colors in the shot

[@andreprawardana6362]

Prune Daddy, yes I know. It just the constant change of director and cinematographer caused Harry Potter to feel disjointed and don't belong to the same world. One movie feels fresh and bright while the next movie, just one year later, feels like Hogwarts had been transported into the Matrix with it's greenish and cloudy atmosphere. Although they are still beautiful regarding the cinematography. If only they have the same production strategies like in Marvel's CInematic Universe where while the cinematographer and director can put their creativity into their films, the films still have the feels that they belong to the same world.

[@danielplainview2584]

@@andreprawardana6362 Yeah I'll take the direction of the HP films over Marvel, thanks.

[@027d.harish8]

According to me, this was the worst harry potter film without a proper story, and the worst part was hunting down the horcrux and to reveal that it was a fake one.

[@denisvinicius8418]

I think this is the ugliest hp movie, digital cameras ruined it! It's not real film.

[@kangaroo3708]

That’s nonsense Digital isn’t necessarily worse than film It all depends on who’s behind the camera and what’s in front of it