1. David Yates
By Laura Mayall

2. Early Life – A Passion for Film
David Yates was born in Lancashire,
England on 30 November 1963. He was
inspired to pursue a career in filmmaking
after watching Steven Spielberg’s 1975
movie Jaws. Before her death, Yates'
mother bought him a Super 8mm camera
to assist in his passion for film.
He used this to shoot short films and
videos in which he got his family and
friends to feature in. One of his videos,
named The Ghost Ship, was shot on
board the vessel where his uncle
worked as a cook.

3. Career - Background Information
David Yates came into the public eye from 1988 onwards when he directed
a number of short films, such as; When I was a girl, Good looks and
Oranges and Lemons.
In more recent years he has directed more popular and well known films,
such as Harry Potter – his greatest project to date.
In 1994 and 1995 he directed 5 episodes of well known TV drama, The Bill.
The six-part thriller State of Play in 2003, was Yates’ biggest achievement
until the Harry Potter films. It was recognised by various award
ceremonies and Hollywood film bosses.

4. Directorial Style
Yates is said to be a perfectionist and shoots numerous takes to get the best performances from his
cast. Emma Watson, one of the leading three actors in all of the Harry Potter films, said that Yates
insists on pushing the cast and crew to physical and emotional extremes.
His style of work includes political themes, realism, thought provoking dramas, character-driven
narratives and social themes.
Yates studied sociology, politics and literature in college which is what sparked his interest in these
subjects and the reason he portrayed some of these views and ideas in his work.

5. Scenes from the last 4 Harry Potter films, showing
the deeper storylines that Yate’s has directed.

6. Harry Potter 2006-2011
David Yates directed the last 4 Harry Potter films from the
years 2006-2011. He has been the longest standing director
in the film series.
Yates’ films all became consecutively the highest grossing entries
in the series. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the first
film on the series that Yates’ directed, became the highest
grossing Harry Potter film since the first instalment (Harry Potter
and the Philosophers Stone). This has made Yates’ the most
commercially successful British director in recent years.
The first scene Yates shot featured a giant interacting with the
young actors. This scene was Yates’ very first high-scale visual
effects piece.

7. Inspiration
Yates’ main inspiration from an early age, was Steven Spielberg. He was inspired and
fascinated with the work of Spielberg – in particular Jaws (1975).
From an early age Yates’ tried to understand the production and story elements
of motion pictures, he focused on the observation of characters, timing and the
reaction of the audience. He began casting short films at a young age for fun,
using the camera his mother had bought him.
Yates has also been influenced over the years, by well known and respected
directors such as Martin Scorsese, David Lean and Ken Loach.

8. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
In 2005 he was chosen by Warner Bros. Pictures to direct the fifth Harry Potter film. Harry
Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the fifth film in the series, continuing on the
storyline from the films before.
Harry Potter is a book series written by JK Rowling in the mid to late 1990’s, about an 11
year old orphaned boy who learns he is a wizard and begins a new life in a school for
witches and wizards, where he encounters many life changing events. It is the highest
grossing film series of all time.
Yates believed that he was approached because the studio saw him fit to handle an "edgy
and emotional" film with a "political back-story", which he said he demonstrated in his
earlier work State of Play, Sex Traffic and The Girl in the Café.
Producer David Heyman agreed with Yates’ political views on the film and stated that "This
is a political film, not with a capital P, but it's about teen rebellion and the abuse of power.
David has made previous films in the U.K. about politics without being heavy handed”.
Before they started filming, Yates visited Leavesden Studios (where parts of Harry Potter
are filmed) and observed filming of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Yates spoke
personally to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire director Mike Newell about his first hand
experiences and taking on the role as director.

9. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
•After Warner Bros. were impressed by Yates
work on the Order of the Phoenix, Yates was
brought back to work on the 6th film, Harry Potter
and the Half Blood Prince. During production of
the Half Blood Prince, Warner Bros. announced
the Yates once again would direct the next films,
which were the final two. In an interview, Yates
commented on the producers' decision to
appoint him as director for the final films, saying
that "they wanted to do a Harry Potter that felt
realer, and more grown up.
•It was said that bringing Yates into the direction of Harry Potter was an ambition to try
and keep the franchise fresh.
•The sixth film adaptation became the second highest grossing film of 2009.
Yates worked alongside cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel and digital film colourist Peter
Doyle on colour grading the picture and developing the "choice of angles, the extreme
close-ups, and the pacing of the scenes." Yates described the style and look of the film as
"very layered" and "incredibly rich."

10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
The filming of the two part final, was filmed over
two years from 2009 to 2011. Yates stated that
he filmed the two parts of the final motion
picture differently, with Part 1 in a "road movie"
style, while Part 2 was "much more operatic,
colourful and fantasy orientated”.
Yates’ work was complimented by critics that said his “fluid, fast-paced direction sends up the
crackling tension of a thriller”. Another review claimed that Yates had shown a knack for
capturing and demonstrating thorough sympathy of the characters, in particular the central
three characters; Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter himself.
Famous film magazine Total Film wrote that Yates combines "spectacle and emotion into a
thrilling final chapter.” Yates was also praised for the "sharply directed" film and was
acknowledged for his "genuine visual sense", with author J. K. Rowling remarking that
"everyone who watches Deathly Hallows – Part 2 is going to see that he's steered us home
magnificently. It's incredible."
Half of the Harry Potter franchise has been directed by Yates, who has helmed four out of the
eight entries since 2006. Daniel Radcliffe commented that Yates brought his own sense of
realism to the film which wasn’t there before.

11. Luna Lovegood
Character Profile
Luna Lovegood, was a character from the final four Harry
Potter films. She was introduced in the 5th film, The Order
of the Phoenix, which happened to be the first film in
which Yates’ directed.
Luna had very set beliefs and was different to everyone
around her, she also had very specific political views
which suited Yates directorial style.
Luna’s entrance to the
Harry Potter films,
coincided with Yates’
which is thought to be
significant as Yates had
strong ideas about
politics and wanted to
bring a political side
into the film series, and
Luna ‘s personality and
character fitted this.

12. The film poster Through The Times The film poster for
for Philosophers the Deathly
stone (the first Hallows (the last
film, directed by film, directed by
Chris Columbus) David Yates) uses
uses fairly bright very dark colours,
targeting the
colours in
growing audience.
comparison to
the later films, to The darker colours
represent the
target a younger
more challenging
audience. and deeper
storylines.
In the final four films the storylines got darker, David Yates was thought to have been picked to direct
the final films was because of his ‘edgy and emotional’ approach to directing. This suited the final films
as the characters took on deeper storylines involving relationships and death.
Originally, the film was targeted at a young audience – 8-12 and the bright colours in the first poster
target them, as they will appreciate it more. Where as the final film was 10 years on and the original
audience will have grown up with the characters. So the producers are targeting the original audience,
staying loyal to the original fans and their needs, but still attracting a new 12+ audience (the film is rated
a 12A).

13. The colours in this film Film Posters The clothing worn by the
poster are very dark, which characters is different to in
represents a deeper the other films, as they are
themed Harry Potter no longer in school uniform,
apposed to the earlier this represents the
films which were more characters growing up and
child based. changes the scenery from
the first six films which were
The red sparks on the poster set in Hogwarts School.
is the only bit of bright
colour. The sparks represent
the use of wands, and the
colour red is generally used The Harry Potter title, is
to represent danger, this links the same style in each film
in with the gradual darker poster, however on the
storylines as the film series later posters it goes from
comes to an end. yellow to grey and black,
this represents the darker
nature of the later films.
A film poster from the final Harry Potter films. ‘No where is safe’ Is written on the poster
and suggests a darker storyline, but also links up the previous two films (both of which
Yates directed) as they have all touched upon the future of the characters and Hogwarts
the wizard school.

14. Film Posters
The film posters of the films that David Yates directed have a similar theme, the blue
tones in the sky of the posters are all the same shades, and a frequent use of clouds
coming over the characters, represents darkness and mystery. The colours in these
posters are darker and so is there clothing. However you can tell in the last two posters
here, that the characters are not wearing their uniform, representing maturity, and in
turn the more mature storylines.

15. Magazine Cover analysis
This front cover story is The background of the
based on the first part of cover is blue, which links to
the final Harry Potter film. the blue colours used on
The actors on the front the film poster and DVD
cover are the main cover.
characters of the film.
The leading character – The title of the magazine is
Harry Potter, is the main in red which corresponds to
model on the page, shown the red scar that Harry has
through being a central on his forehead in all of the
and bigger image. The films.
two other main characters
who have also been The broken glass which is
alongside Harry in all of what the faces of the other
the Harry Potter films, are main characters are layered
on the cover, but slightly over, represents the danger
smaller, along with the that the characters are in, in
villain character who is the upcoming film, and the
also a vital character to deeper darker storylines to
the films. come.

16. DVD covers
The Harry Potter DVD covers are all very similar, in terms of the colours and mise en scene
used. They all consist of the same three characters, including the one main character
(Harry Potter) at the front. The other two main characters are featured on all of these
covers however they are layered slightly behind Harry as he is the most important in all
films.
On the top of all the covers, is a ‘two disc’ special edition, this promotes the films and
encourages a two disc edition buy, these have only been available in the more recent
years, due to the advance in technology and the growing profit and budget of the Harry
Potter films.

17. DVD covers and posters
There are a variety of different film posters for each film, however the main
poster – used mostly in cinemas and on billboards, is usually very similar to the
DVD cover, in order to keep its identity.
The characters are wearing
the same clothing in both the
DVD cover and the poster.
This links both of the media
formats together, and for
example in the Order of the
Phoenix poster the
representations are kept the
same as they are all wearing
there school uniform, which
gives them their identity.

18. Film Trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
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