Page 20 - Imagination Comes To Life

others greet him as if he were famous wherever he goes.
Harry will experience many life-threatening situations during his first year. These
situations will arise as he comes to learn more about Voldemort and those that follow him.
Every experience Harry, Hermione, and Ron find themselves in will bring Harry closer to
the one that must not be named, Voldemort.

The success of the books and films has allowed the Harry Potter franchise to expand with
numerous derivative works: a travelling exhibition that premiered in Chicago in 2009, a
studio tour in London that opened in 2012, a digital platform on which J.K. Rowling
updates the series with new information and insights, and a pentalogy of spin-off films
premiering in November 2016 with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, among
many other developments. Most recently, themed attractions collectively known as The

Wizarding World of Harry Potter have been built at several Universal Parks &
Resorts amusement parks around the world.

Theme from Game of Thrones………………………………..………….Djawadi/Moore

“Game of Thrones is one of the few examples of what we might call blockbuster televi-
sion, where, following the logic of the film industry, spending a lot of money on spectacle
and effects yields a hit,” says Jason Mittell, author of Complex TV: The Poetics of
Contemporary Television Storytelling and professor of film and media studies at
Middlebury College in Vermont.

“There were spectacular, star-studded miniseries or TV movies, but the idea of a weekly
series that runs for multiple years that is really spectacle-driven and focused on creating
the ‘did-you-see-that’ moment that a lot of Hollywood tent-poles [a program or film that
supports the financial performance of a film studio or television network] try to do was
one innovation Game of Thrones did,” Mittell adds.

At a budget of $15 million per episode in locations across multiple continents, the series
set a new standard on television in terms of budget and narrative scope, and the next wave
of shows have no fear of sticker shock.
Even in a golden era of television production, Game of Thrones stands out. HBO spends
lavishly on the series – beyond what most other networks can afford – and the result is a
visually breathtaking product.

Its fantasy setting takes place in a world that isn’t geographically or culturally distinctive
to the U.S., which also broadens audience appeal. Television shows that aren’t country-
specific – miniseries such as The Odyssey and Gulliver’s Travels – tend to be among the
most successful in international trade. There was also a built-in global fan base from