Can we make a Harry Potter music video without actually using any footage from the Harry Potter movies? Let's find out!

This one started life as an editing challenge to see whether it'd be possible to convincingly depict a relationship between two characters who never actually meet on-screen (or even in the same movie, come to that). Watching back What If (2013) and The Circle (2017), I noticed that both leads spent a considerable amount of time on their phones... and I was already in love with movies like Searching (2018), which delight in demonstrating exactly how much information can be quietly conveyed via screens. It was a short step from that to hearing Taylor's 'I Almost Do' one night, and thinking 'damnnn I have to do this project!'

There are about 16 VFX shots in here (I think), running the gamut from full roto-and-screen-replacements to invisible slowdowns, character paintouts and screen animations. None of the phone screens were actually recorded on a device; they were all put together in After Effects and animated by hand to best fit the song.

If you actually bought into the illusion for a few minutes, that's awesome - all I wanted to do was see how far you could push the Kuleshov effect, with a bit of help from some strategically-replaced screens. Let me know in the comments if you enjoyed it!

Oh, last thing - What If (2014) is literally one of my favourite movies ever; probably my favourite romantic comedy, period. (It's so good.) If you've not seen it, you're doing yourself a disservice - and c'mon, where else can you see Kylo Ren and Harry Potter discussing relationships over a freshly cooked tray of nachos?

|| LIST OF REFERENCES: ||

What If – Elan Mastai & Michael Dowse, 2013
The Circle - Dave Eggers & James Ponsoldt, 2017

I Almost Do – Taylor Swift, Red, 2012

Special thanks to horrocruxmachine on Tumblr for posting the adorable hug photo, and inspiring the thumbnail!