A Cameraman is Accidentally in This ‘Harry Potter’ Scene

Fans have spotted a cameraman accidentally appearing in an iconic scene in Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets — and the blunder may be down to the changing aspect ratios in cinema.

The Harry Potter film franchise is the fourth-highest-grossing movie series of all time, with $7.7 billion in worldwide receipts.

However, despite its enormous budget and box office success, viewers have discovered that a cameraman accidentally appears in a famed scene in the second movie Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

The 2002 film follows Harry Potter’s second year in at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger when a message on the wall announces that the legendary Chamber of Secrets has been opened.

In the scene, Harry’s magic duel with Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) turns into a more heated exchange.

After the initial spells are cast, Harry is knocked to the ground by Draco’s shot before he returns with his own magical attack.

Draco is sent flying across the room by Harry’s attack and falls to the ground. Professor Severus Snape picks up Draco and as he does so, a cameraman can be clearly seen in the background next to some of the other child actors.

In the movie Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) a cameraman can been seen to the left during the dueling scene between Harry and Mallfoy.
byu/Corndogeveryday inMovieMistakes

In the popular r/MovieMistakes subreddit, a Reddit user shared a screenshot of a scene from the second movie that showed the exact moment that the crew member can be seen operating his camera in a huge blunder on screen.

How Did The Cameraman End Up in The Final Cut?

According to ScreenRant, there has been much debate over how there was an oversight like this in a big-budget movie like Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Film fans have questioned how the camera operator could have ever made it into the final cut of the movie.

ScreenRant reports that some speculation suggests that this blunder was the result of the crew and director Chris Columbus needing to cut corners to film this sequence because child actors can only film for so long each day.

There have also been suggestions that the camera operator wasn’t in the original theatrical cut and that the error has only been discovered as Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ aspect ratio has widened due to bigger screens since the movie first came out in 2002.

The aspect ratio is the proportion of the height and width of the image that a person sees on the screen and the frame size filmmakers shoot their films on. Aspect ratios have changed over time, depending on what people use to view media. As screens got bigger, the aspect ratio was also adjusted.

However, it still remains unconfirmed as to whether aspect ratio is the reason behind the mistake in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Earlier this year, PetaPixel reported on why Saltburn director Emerald Fennell chose the highly unusual 4:3 aspect ratio for the hit film.

 
Image credits: All photos via Warner Bros/Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets.