The Pottermore Insider revealed a new preview from the second batch of chapters to be released for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. This image (black and white as a preview, though will be in colour on the site itself), is from chapter 14, Snape's Grudge, of the third installment of the series, where the Potions Master comes face to face with a few old friends.
In the new view of this office, we see Professor Snape summoning Professor Lupin after he is insulted by Harry’s ‘spare bit of parchment’, whilst Harry looks on, bewildered. You can see the fireplace from where Lupin will materialise via Floo powder.
The Moment is still a work in progress, but we hope that this provides an exciting teaser until you are able to explore the finished Moment – Zonko’s bag and all – in the next instalment of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Pottermore has released some information on how they select moments:
J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore is built around “Moments” in which you can click and discover new things to collect, read, or simply play with. On the Pottermore Insider today, the creators offered details on how they create one of these experiences.
In this write up they use the Magical Menageria Moment they’re developing for Prisoner of Azkaban as an example. They began by explaining how scenes are chosen. “In order to provide a faithful companion to the reading experience without replicating each and every passage from the books, we select key or interesting scenes from the stories to depict on Pottermore.com.”
Continues The Insider, “Each potential scene is weighed against various criteria, from its relative importance in the narrative to how it might look when visualised and whether it lends itself to the inclusion of interactive features and content. We also like to highlight scenes that were omitted from the films, or those where the film depiction differs from the books.”
“With its cage-lined walls and the ‘squeaking, squawking, jabbering or hissing’ of their inhabitants, the Magical Menagerie Moment was selected because it is described so vividly in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. It provided an opportunity to introduce a new location and a narrative moment that was not shown in the film. It is also our first introduction to Crookshanks.”
We like that they give moments not seen in the films a chance, because it allows these scenes that Rowling wrote up to finally see visual daylight.
In an exclusive interview with Pottermore News, Pottermore CEO Charlie Redmayne offers fans an insight into the future of Pottermore and more.
Charlie has been CEO of Pottermore since November 2011 and has been responsible for the transition of Pottermore from beta to launch. Redmayne oversaw the launch of Pottermore.com in April 2012, and the launch of the groundbreaking Pottermore Shop in March 2012.
Pottermore News (PN): In the future, how will you be using television and other platforms to promote the site and its products?
Charlie Redmayne (CR): We will be using television in the future, absolutely. When I came into Pottermore in November of 2011, there were some significant challenges for us in terms of the platform and getting it out of beta and actually being able to launch. I think that what we wanted to do was to invest time, money, resources in building something that worked, that the platform could support it, and to have enough great content on it to really mean that television advertising was worthwhile. This year we’re going to be focusing much more on adding more to the site. The site’s up and running, it works, it’s great, but we’ll be adding a load more to it. I think as we add more content to it and also more functionalities to it, then the marketing of it will start immerse. But I didn’t want to invest lots of money marketing something that wasn’t quite ready.
PN: How do you plan to increase the site’s re-value? In other words, How do you plan to keep fans coming back to the site?
CR: I think that’s a really good point, and I think it is a very valid criticism. The site currently resonates very well amongst really hardcore Harry Potter fans. Also, I think that the thing that really attracts them is the new content. When we put new content live, we see large numbers of people coming back, consuming that content. Then quite a lot of people don’t spend enough time, sort of coming back to the site until we have a new content release. So, I think the best way of answering that question is that we are aware of that, and you will see change.
We will continue to evolve the site by adding new content to it for people to enjoy, new content from J.K. Rowling, and to have new stuff for the fans. There will also be other changes that we will start to make, to invite new Harry Potter fans to discover more about the world; people who may have only read a couple of the books or seen a couple of the movies. Pottermore needs to work for that audience too.
I think that you will see some changes in not the immediate future, but in the quite near future, whereby there is more content, there is more interactive content, there is more freedom in terms of community, and there is more flexibility in how you get to content. At the moment, you have to go on a very rigid journey [to get to content]. I think that, for it to work really well, we need to kind of free up that and have some flexibility in that. I don’t want to say what we’re doing, but you’ll definitely see things changing, not immediately, but there are plans and we’re working on them. And I hope that by later in the year you will see the changes we have made will keep people coming back and we will also bring new fans to Harry Potter onto the site.
PN: How do you plan to increase user interactivity? Do you think that changing the restrictions on the site will fix some of the problems?
CR: We are going to continue to develop the site and we’re starting to use the community. I think that we get some pretty valuable feedback both directly on the site, through social media and stuff that’s sent to us. We are certainly aware of issues that come up and we try to respond to them.
New developments for the community side of what we do will be coming. You would’ve seen some of these being implemented in recent months, enabling a level of communication. I think as we step forward we must be absolutely focused on safety, specifically child safety, because some of the people who use Pottermore are quite young, but at the same time we need to create a community and connect with the community and we are very aware of that.
We also want to continue to improve the experience for all Harry Potter fans to enjoy and to participate and engage in. And we also want to curb the occurrences of cheating that do sometimes take place, and that’s something we’re very focused on. But, you will see more interactivity coming on the site. There are lots of valid reasons, which aren’t particularly interesting to your fans as to why we haven’t got a lot of interactivity on the site at the moment, but we certainly see that as something we will be changing and we will be adding to it because I think it is critical. It ultimately needs to be an interactive experience.
PN: Will the J.K. Rowling Exclusive Content on Pottermore stay solely on Pottermore, or will we be seeing it in book form?
CR: Pottermore will evolve into a range of different digital platforms for people to spend time in, and J.K. Rowling’s Exclusive Content will appear in all of that.
So if you look at, for instance, the Book of Spells, which is the new Sony product on Playstation3, it has new content from J.K. Rowling in it. But, as opposed to being published as a book or an e-book, it is being published as an augmented reality experience on Playstation.
So I think you will see Pottermore on many different platforms, not just browser-based experiences, and what we will do is we will show that content using the functionalities of different devices that are available to make it the best possible experience.
PN: How closely involved is J.K. Rowling with Pottermore? What role does she play?
CR: J.K. Rowling is involved, obviously, with the site. It was her brainchild, her idea. She wanted to give something back to her fans. She is immensely grateful and respectful amongst her fans and she wanted to give something back and that’s why Pottermore was created. She oversaw the creation and she has written all the exclusive content. On a day-to-day basis, she’s obviously a writer, and wants to focus on that. But she’s certainly involved in any key decisions that are taken with Pottermore and she influences the direction the site goes in and things that we do.
PN: Does she look over the artwork?
CR: She certainly will see the artwork. The look and feel of the site and the artwork that is created for Pottermore is something that is critical to make sure that we get right. She is involved. She doesn’t have a day-to-day role in it, that’s the Pottermore team running it. But, certainly the important stuff she is very involved in because she is very passionate about it.
PN: Do you think we will see more sites like Pottermore in the future?
CR: I think that we will see more businesses like Pottermore in the future and I think sites will be part of it. I mean Pottermore at the moment is obviously pottermore.com, which is the experience as we call it. It a free proposition – there’s no revenue generation from it, there’s no advertising on it – it’s just something that Jo wanted to give back to her fans.
Then’s there a Shop, which sells e-books and digital audio and now other products. There is Playstation3 Wonderbook: Book of Spells and I think over this year you will see more Pottermore products and experiences emerging on different platforms.
I think that model is the model for digital publishing in the future, and I think that those people in publishing and in film companies and right holders see what we have done, and that they will follow. I think that there are a lot of brands that can do some things we have done, and some things differently. But I think that you will certainly see this as the digital publishing model of the future.
Look out for part two of our exclusive interview with Pottermore CEO Charlie Redmayne next week. In part two, he will discuss his accomplishments as CEO of Pottermore and the future, address critics of Pottermore, and much more.
This site has the potential for being as powerful as the books and movies, but it´s just not happening!! it´s going to be "a little too late" if they don´t do something with that site!!
Over the next ten days, at 17:00 (GMT) each day, we will be releasing audio and visual Teaser Questions of upcoming Moments from the next instalment. Some will challenge your attention to detail, some will require knowledge of the book, and some need only imagination and wild guesswork. It all begins tomorrow, and remember – things are not what they seem... Visit the Pottermore Insider for more details.
Pottermore announced that the next set of chapters to be released from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban will be from chapter 8, Flight of the Fat Lady, to chapter 15,
It was as cool as always! Stephen Fry is the best thing that happened to Pottermore imo, it really adds something to the art work. It's as if it's living.
You’ve walked the cobbled streets of Diagon Alley, herded hundreds of books and started your collection of Pottermore Trading Cards. You’ve boarded the Hogwarts Express, duelled your friends and tested yourself with a Pottermore quiz. The question is, what’s next..?
Welcome to Hogwarts!
wpid-8867358724_8a851c0b1c_b.jpg“There’s nothing hidden in your head [t]he Sorting Hat can’t see….”
If you’re daring and brave at heart, perhaps Gryffindor is your house; or your loyalty and hard-working nature might mean that you belong in Hufflepuff; those of ready mind may be sorted into Ravenclaw; and if you’ll use any means to achieve your ends, maybe Slytherin is for you? Link to Pottermore.com to find out which house you truly belong to, then visit the Great Hall in Pottermore at PlayStation Home to view your Sorting Ceremony beneath the enchanted ceiling and floating candles.
Once you’ve been sorted into a Hogwarts house, you’ll have access to your house common room. Meet fellow Slytherins in the long, low room beneath the murky lake. Mingle with like-minded Ravenclaws in the airy surrounds of Ravenclaw Tower. Relax with friends by the fireplace in the inviting Gryffindor Tower. Or chat with fellow Hufflepuffs in the subterranean common room.
wpid-8867357666_43e3902225_b.jpgTest your skills in our exciting new Charms game! Levitate a feather and guide it through maze after maze of enchanted obstacles. Beat the clock to receive maximum marks and earn Pottermore Trading Cards as a reward for playing.
End another magical day in Pottermore at PlayStation Home in the peace and quiet of your very own house in Hogsmeade. Select from our wide range of furniture items and decorate your very own wizarding abode in the style of your choosing
Pottermore planning major site revamp to appeal to wider range of fans
In a new interview, Pottermore CEO Charlie Redmayne has revealed that a complete overhaul of the website is in development to expand their audience.
Redmayne told The Bookseller that various changes are in the works that will appeal to more casual fans of the Harry Potter series. For example, the new Pottermore will allow you to cast spells, take part in wizard duels, and get sorted into your Hogwarts house before even registering for the website.
Another big change: No longer will you have to go through the chapters in sequential order. You will now be able to browse any chapter you want if it’s available for the public.
In a clear attempt to appeal to even the most basic reader, the site will boast new, basic information like, “Who is Harry Potter?”
“As it stands, if you don’t know the books you won’t get much out of it,” Redmayne told The Bookseller. “What we want to do is open it out for those people who haven’t read the books, or who haven’t seen the films, but perhaps come to it via the Lego, or the Harry Potter computer games.”
Other new features include the ability to “interact with their houses, or visit specific areas such as Diagon Alley without becoming engaged with the story,” but at this time we’re not sure what that particularly means and how it’s an improvement over the current website.
Elsewhere in the interview Redmayne rattled off a few interesting numbers about Pottermore’s usage: The site has hosted 45 million unique users and users have cast/brewed 180 million spells/potions.
Pottermore is currently in the midst of unveiling the Prisoner of Azkaban chapters. The remaining batch of chapters in the third Harry Potter book will open sometime in the next couple months.
J.K. Rowling conceived Pottermore as a thank you to fans of the series. The website’s best feature is the new writing about the Harry Potter series from the author herself.
Pottermore CEO Charlie Redmayne is leaving the company after roughly two years of employment to head back to a new job at his previous employer HarperCollins.
Probably cause there isn't much happening with it at the moment. I think the next helping of chapters should come in the next couple of weeks or so though, at the very least in the next month.
Comments
In the new view of this office, we see Professor Snape summoning Professor Lupin after he is insulted by Harry’s ‘spare bit of parchment’, whilst Harry looks on, bewildered. You can see the fireplace from where Lupin will materialise via Floo powder.
The Moment is still a work in progress, but we hope that this provides an exciting teaser until you are able to explore the finished Moment – Zonko’s bag and all – in the next instalment of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore is built around “Moments” in which you can click and discover new things to collect, read, or simply play with. On the Pottermore Insider today, the creators offered details on how they create one of these experiences.
In this write up they use the Magical Menageria Moment they’re developing for Prisoner of Azkaban as an example. They began by explaining how scenes are chosen. “In order to provide a faithful companion to the reading experience without replicating each and every passage from the books, we select key or interesting scenes from the stories to depict on Pottermore.com.”
Continues The Insider, “Each potential scene is weighed against various criteria, from its relative importance in the narrative to how it might look when visualised and whether it lends itself to the inclusion of interactive features and content. We also like to highlight scenes that were omitted from the films, or those where the film depiction differs from the books.”
“With its cage-lined walls and the ‘squeaking, squawking, jabbering or hissing’ of their inhabitants, the Magical Menagerie Moment was selected because it is described so vividly in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. It provided an opportunity to introduce a new location and a narrative moment that was not shown in the film. It is also our first introduction to Crookshanks.”
We like that they give moments not seen in the films a chance, because it allows these scenes that Rowling wrote up to finally see visual daylight.
Charlie has been CEO of Pottermore since November 2011 and has been responsible for the transition of Pottermore from beta to launch. Redmayne oversaw the launch of Pottermore.com in April 2012, and the launch of the groundbreaking Pottermore Shop in March 2012.
Pottermore News (PN): In the future, how will you be using television and other platforms to promote the site and its products?
Charlie Redmayne (CR): We will be using television in the future, absolutely. When I came into Pottermore in November of 2011, there were some significant challenges for us in terms of the platform and getting it out of beta and actually being able to launch. I think that what we wanted to do was to invest time, money, resources in building something that worked, that the platform could support it, and to have enough great content on it to really mean that television advertising was worthwhile. This year we’re going to be focusing much more on adding more to the site. The site’s up and running, it works, it’s great, but we’ll be adding a load more to it. I think as we add more content to it and also more functionalities to it, then the marketing of it will start immerse. But I didn’t want to invest lots of money marketing something that wasn’t quite ready.
PN: How do you plan to increase the site’s re-value? In other words, How do you plan to keep fans coming back to the site?
CR: I think that’s a really good point, and I think it is a very valid criticism. The site currently resonates very well amongst really hardcore Harry Potter fans. Also, I think that the thing that really attracts them is the new content. When we put new content live, we see large numbers of people coming back, consuming that content. Then quite a lot of people don’t spend enough time, sort of coming back to the site until we have a new content release. So, I think the best way of answering that question is that we are aware of that, and you will see change.
We will continue to evolve the site by adding new content to it for people to enjoy, new content from J.K. Rowling, and to have new stuff for the fans. There will also be other changes that we will start to make, to invite new Harry Potter fans to discover more about the world; people who may have only read a couple of the books or seen a couple of the movies. Pottermore needs to work for that audience too.
I think that you will see some changes in not the immediate future, but in the quite near future, whereby there is more content, there is more interactive content, there is more freedom in terms of community, and there is more flexibility in how you get to content. At the moment, you have to go on a very rigid journey [to get to content]. I think that, for it to work really well, we need to kind of free up that and have some flexibility in that. I don’t want to say what we’re doing, but you’ll definitely see things changing, not immediately, but there are plans and we’re working on them. And I hope that by later in the year you will see the changes we have made will keep people coming back and we will also bring new fans to Harry Potter onto the site.
PN: How do you plan to increase user interactivity? Do you think that changing the restrictions on the site will fix some of the problems?
CR: We are going to continue to develop the site and we’re starting to use the community. I think that we get some pretty valuable feedback both directly on the site, through social media and stuff that’s sent to us. We are certainly aware of issues that come up and we try to respond to them.
New developments for the community side of what we do will be coming. You would’ve seen some of these being implemented in recent months, enabling a level of communication. I think as we step forward we must be absolutely focused on safety, specifically child safety, because some of the people who use Pottermore are quite young, but at the same time we need to create a community and connect with the community and we are very aware of that.
We also want to continue to improve the experience for all Harry Potter fans to enjoy and to participate and engage in. And we also want to curb the occurrences of cheating that do sometimes take place, and that’s something we’re very focused on. But, you will see more interactivity coming on the site. There are lots of valid reasons, which aren’t particularly interesting to your fans as to why we haven’t got a lot of interactivity on the site at the moment, but we certainly see that as something we will be changing and we will be adding to it because I think it is critical. It ultimately needs to be an interactive experience.
PN: Will the J.K. Rowling Exclusive Content on Pottermore stay solely on Pottermore, or will we be seeing it in book form?
CR: Pottermore will evolve into a range of different digital platforms for people to spend time in, and J.K. Rowling’s Exclusive Content will appear in all of that.
So if you look at, for instance, the Book of Spells, which is the new Sony product on Playstation3, it has new content from J.K. Rowling in it. But, as opposed to being published as a book or an e-book, it is being published as an augmented reality experience on Playstation.
So I think you will see Pottermore on many different platforms, not just browser-based experiences, and what we will do is we will show that content using the functionalities of different devices that are available to make it the best possible experience.
PN: How closely involved is J.K. Rowling with Pottermore? What role does she play?
CR: J.K. Rowling is involved, obviously, with the site. It was her brainchild, her idea. She wanted to give something back to her fans. She is immensely grateful and respectful amongst her fans and she wanted to give something back and that’s why Pottermore was created. She oversaw the creation and she has written all the exclusive content. On a day-to-day basis, she’s obviously a writer, and wants to focus on that. But she’s certainly involved in any key decisions that are taken with Pottermore and she influences the direction the site goes in and things that we do.
PN: Does she look over the artwork?
CR: She certainly will see the artwork. The look and feel of the site and the artwork that is created for Pottermore is something that is critical to make sure that we get right. She is involved. She doesn’t have a day-to-day role in it, that’s the Pottermore team running it. But, certainly the important stuff she is very involved in because she is very passionate about it.
PN: Do you think we will see more sites like Pottermore in the future?
CR: I think that we will see more businesses like Pottermore in the future and I think sites will be part of it. I mean Pottermore at the moment is obviously pottermore.com, which is the experience as we call it. It a free proposition – there’s no revenue generation from it, there’s no advertising on it – it’s just something that Jo wanted to give back to her fans.
Then’s there a Shop, which sells e-books and digital audio and now other products. There is Playstation3 Wonderbook: Book of Spells and I think over this year you will see more Pottermore products and experiences emerging on different platforms.
I think that model is the model for digital publishing in the future, and I think that those people in publishing and in film companies and right holders see what we have done, and that they will follow. I think that there are a lot of brands that can do some things we have done, and some things differently. But I think that you will certainly see this as the digital publishing model of the future.
Look out for part two of our exclusive interview with Pottermore CEO Charlie Redmayne next week. In part two, he will discuss his accomplishments as CEO of Pottermore and the future, address critics of Pottermore, and much more.
Over the next ten days, at 17:00 (GMT) each day, we will be releasing audio and visual Teaser Questions of upcoming Moments from the next instalment. Some will challenge your attention to detail, some will require knowledge of the book, and some need only imagination and wild guesswork.
It all begins tomorrow, and remember – things are not what they seem...
Visit the Pottermore Insider for more details.
http://bit.ly/PoA_Teasers
The house points are really close right now... maybe 1000 points separating last and first.
When you will have made 100comments you will be promoted to a student and can do thread/topics. Now youre a First year.
If you have others question you can ask in New Members Report for Duty (UPDATED)
http://harrypotterforum.com/discussion/3717/new-members-report-for-duty-updated#latest
This one is for Pottemore :P
But I will be glad to make you a thread if you want one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=T_5N1c5beeo
http://alphazone4.com/2013/05/29/eu-heads-up-new-pottermore-content-out-today/
more view of the common room
In a new interview, Pottermore CEO Charlie Redmayne has revealed that a complete overhaul of the website is in development to expand their audience.
Redmayne told The Bookseller that various changes are in the works that will appeal to more casual fans of the Harry Potter series. For example, the new Pottermore will allow you to cast spells, take part in wizard duels, and get sorted into your Hogwarts house before even registering for the website.
Another big change: No longer will you have to go through the chapters in sequential order. You will now be able to browse any chapter you want if it’s available for the public.
In a clear attempt to appeal to even the most basic reader, the site will boast new, basic information like, “Who is Harry Potter?”
“As it stands, if you don’t know the books you won’t get much out of it,” Redmayne told The Bookseller. “What we want to do is open it out for those people who haven’t read the books, or who haven’t seen the films, but perhaps come to it via the Lego, or the Harry Potter computer games.”
Other new features include the ability to “interact with their houses, or visit specific areas such as Diagon Alley without becoming engaged with the story,” but at this time we’re not sure what that particularly means and how it’s an improvement over the current website.
Elsewhere in the interview Redmayne rattled off a few interesting numbers about Pottermore’s usage: The site has hosted 45 million unique users and users have cast/brewed 180 million spells/potions.
Pottermore is currently in the midst of unveiling the Prisoner of Azkaban chapters. The remaining batch of chapters in the third Harry Potter book will open sometime in the next couple months.
J.K. Rowling conceived Pottermore as a thank you to fans of the series. The website’s best feature is the new writing about the Harry Potter series from the author herself.
http://www.hypable.com/2013/06/14/pottermore-redesign-plan-announced/