The magic for Harry Potter is beginning, even before the filming! HBO is providing us with an in-depth look at what goes into bringing this franchise back to life with its new behind-the-scenes documentary, Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic.Focusing specifically on how the upcoming series is being developed, the documentary leaves out the spells, the plot twists, the revelations, and instead centers its focus on the sheer effort involved in bringing the show to life. It’s a behind-the-scenes journey into not just Harry Potter, but what goes into Harry Potter itself.From the initial overwhelming casting calls to the design of the creatures and sets, the scale of the series has been made abundantly clear through these verified insights into the beginning of development. Unlike most promotions, this one is focused on the documentation, not on hyping up the content. It takes a step-by-step approach to each aspect of the creation of this television series.Harry Potter's casting: Over 40,000 auditioned before even more were turned awayThis one detail is probably the clearest part of the entire documentary. In reality, casting agents sifted through more than 40,000 auditions and couldn't even tell when that number had changed any further!Due to this massive search, the series' trio-Dominic McLaughlin as Harry, Alastair Stout as Ron, and Arabella Stanton as Hermione was chosen after an extensive multi-step evaluation process including auditions, call backs, and screen testing.However, this isn't framed as a radical re-imagining of the show but merely a necessity in an attempt to cast all 7 books that will eventually span across the course of the television show. As the Harry Potter franchise is so expansive, castings now need to accommodate for seasons upon seasons of growth and development.A season-a-book format for Harry PotterIn addition to the size of the cast, another very clearly defined factor that Harry Potter is operating with is that of the season-a-book format. Since HBO announced that they'd be adapting the franchise to a television series, it's been stated on more than one occasion that each season will be adapted into one specific Harry Potter book.This gives the entire storyline much more time to develop and allows for many finer details of the plot lines to unfold naturally with enough screen time to adequately express them, something many people often feel was rushed during the movies.Instead of being forced to cram the book's details into an hour and a half movie, each novel is given its own distinct television season, which will help give even more time to each step of the story.Creature designs: Making it practical to maintain the original aestheticMany critics of the Harry Potter film franchise state that they missed the practical, handmade creatures that existed prior to the digital world taking over a large amount of set designs, as well as prop and costume creation. It has been confirmed by this documentary that it will also use animatronics in its design process, to give certain creatures the very realistic, yet clearly practical feel that many loved.While it isn't clear yet if all of the creatures will be practical throughout Harry Potter, the bits of filming we were shown and behind-the-scenes footage of set designs confirmed that many were being meticulously crafted as well as animated.Bringing the Harry Potter world back to lifeWe are aware that one of the best aspects of Harry Potter is its iconic settings, such as the Great Hall or even the Houses within Hogwarts school, such as Gryffindor and Slytherin. Each house is designed specifically to fit a different personality type. It has been documented that these settings are being built to look almost exactly like they did in the original movie, down to even the design of the banners in the Great Hall.They also confirmed that it is likely we will be seeing much of the same house design, such as the Gryffindor banner hanging in the Great Hall, as an indicator of the location and setting. Regarding how these houses are being decorated, there have been many things confirmed. The design of all houses within the castle is going to look like their designated animal, so Gryffindor, for example, will be designed for a lion.HBO's part in the seriesThe way in which the adaptation process works with HBO and with other networks like it is to create and execute projects with well-defined production structures and teams for specific tasks. While this may not sound like the most interesting aspect of the development of Harry Potter, for an adaptation this size, it's really the nuts and bolts that make all the magic possible.HBO is able to make sure all of the people on staff for the creation of Harry Potter understand their respective roles and are working together towards a unified production goal. This way, the massive undertaking that is bringing this television series to life will move as smoothly as possible without as many unnecessary pitfalls as possible.Narrated by Nick FrostFinding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic has officially revealed Nick Frost as its narrator. While many expected this role, the confirmation has finally been made. In the documentary, Nick Frost simply plays the role of narrator; no acting is involved here.He guides viewers through every step of production, from conception of character designs to how each element of the story is being developed into a series. Throughout the documentary, Frost introduces clips from the show that involve discussions with actual actors and crew who are a part of the production.Although they briefly address casting dilemmas during the production, their focus remains on how it is being done.So far, storyline finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic doesn't appear to be more than a behind-the-scenes peek into what goes into making Harry Potter into a series, and that seems to be what many of the fans want. It's a documentation of the practicalities and the necessities of bringing a well-loved story to life, rather than more attempts at a cinematic twist or surprise that some people think the franchise now lacks.It’s more about the hard work that’s gone into it, not just what we’re about to watch, and it has provided concrete facts about the series without giving too much of its storyline away.Also read: Harry Potter TV series is giving an all-inclusive look at the magical world of Hogwarts with a new documentary release very soon