‘Harry Potter’ According to Filmgate

Cedarville’s student film org, Filmgate, is in the post-production stages of a shot-by-shot remake of one of the beginning scenes of “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.”

Filmgate was formed to give film students the opportunity to work in an actual creative setting of the filmmaking process. The organization was supposed to be created long before it was, but did not have the energy or committed members to begin.

“Josh (Sommers) gave it the energy to get it started,” said Jeff Kee, one of the org’s co-founders.

Since then, some of Filmgate’s projects have been promoting March Madness and about half of the other promotional films from last semester, said Josh Sommers, the other co-founder of the org.

Kee said Filmgate is about teamwork and helping those who want to learn about film get some real experience in the filmmaking industry.

“It’s a team mentality,” he said.

Cedarville’s Filmgate org is working to release a remake of a scene from “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.” The org does it all — from acting to editing the piece together. (Photo: David Li)

Filmgate operates on a professional level so that every side of film-making can be explored. From editing and sound to the acting itself, Filmgate does it all.

The idea to recreate a scene from “Harry Potter” came about when Sommers and Kee wanted to try and move the org to the next level.

“We wanted to mimic a scene in a Hollywood blockbuster film,” Sommers said. “One of our biggest challenges was trying to get Hollywood-style shots with what was available to us.”

And the remake was, as expected, difficult though also educational said Noah Taylor, a member of the org.

“It’s a learning experience,” he said. “It was a fun time for me.”

Sommers said the org members work well together as a team.

“It was a great team building experience,” Sommers said. “We worked as one unit.”

The remake of the Harry Potter scene is tentatively scheduled to be released in the next two months.

After the release of the “Harry Potter” remake, the org will then produce a 12-15 minute short film based on the “Pirates of Neverland.” The short film will be written, created, filmed and edited by Filmgate.

Joe Russell is a freshman English major and an arts and entertainment writer for Cedars. He enjoys playing guitar, writing poems and music, and has an obsessive love for red pandas.