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HBP film questions
Why doesn't the pictures on the daily prophet in the cafe at the beginning move?What was the point of "dragons blood" in Slughorns home?Why do they cover Olivanders face?In the burrow attack scene,why didn't Tonks or Lupin turn into white smoke to fight?Do you think they'll explain why Snape is the HBP in DH?Why did they change the name of the Weasley store?Why did Gaunts ring move when Harry touched it?Oh and why was Dumbledores death handled so poorly,I mean not even Mgonagall was crying as much as she needed,she knew him along time!So if you could answer any of these I would appreciate it.
Comments
2. Slughorn wasn't going to get his own blood to place on the ceiling was he ? What are the chances of someone coming in and tasting the blood to test to see if it was human or not ? Dragon's Blood is a nice detail the filmmakers kept from the book anyway.
3. They covered Ollivander's face so as to not hire back John Hurt for about two seconds of screentime.
4. There was no need to. And it wouldn't look good cinematically with white smoke flying amongst a wide range of reeds. Less effective.
5. I doubt it, but it's possible.
6. They didn't.
7. It moved probably because it 'connected' with the piece of soul in Harry. Also, this may link in with 7 Part 1 and 2, to help Harry find the remaining Horcruxes. When he touches a Horcrux, he sees flashes of images of other Horcruxes and their locations. The latter is just a theory.
8. I think Dumbledore's death was handled brilliantly.
Nah Dumbledore's death was handled horrible. There was no emotion from the characters, Sure Hermione shed a tear, Harry did some very unconvincing whimpering and Ginny hugged him awkwardly, but nobody seemed at all shocked. Hagrid should have been absolutely BESIDE HIMSELF. Everyone should have been incredibly shocked. But nobody looked even more than very mildly surprised. McGonagall should have been crying. I mean this was DUMBLEDORE, the greatest and most powerful wizard next to Voldemort. Where was the OMG DUMBLEDORE CAAAAN'T BE DEAD!!! Emotion. Nowhere to be found.
And don't get me started on how the made his death seem insignificant by showing him being blasted off the tower with a series of VERY QUICK shots, with that really random shot from Harry's POV. And then there was barely any swell in the soundtrack at that moment to indicate anything shocking had just happened, it just went on quite passively. And Harry didn't look very shocked. There was a reason he wasn't under the Invisibility Cloak and that was so we could see his emotions, his shock, his fear, his betrayal and anger. His refusal to believe Dumbledore could POSSIBLY be dead. In the end we saw none of this. Just that stupid mildy surprised look everyone seemed to have when they realised the only person Voldemort ever feared had been killed by the man he had sworn was trustworthy. They might as well have had him under the Invisibilty Cloak for all the reaction he showed.
I do think the actual scene where Dumbledore was blasted off the tower was well done. There was this great moment when Snape arrives and shushes Harry and then he goes to the top of the tower and looks down, knowing that Harry is down there, knowing that Harry is not going to understand what is about to happen. Then he just avadas Dumbledore off the tower. I think they should have shown a wide shot of Dumbledore's body falling though.
I do agree that the aftermath when everyone was gathered around his body didn't really work for me. Daniel Radcliffe is really bad at crying and the hug with Ginny was awkward. I think the best part of that scene was when Harry took the locket and pushed the hair off of Dumbledore's face. I think the wand lighting was an interesting idea, but i think in the end it didn't work for some reason. Everyone was just looking around awkwardly and it was too quiet. Maybe Harry needed to say something, i don't know.
Everyone's confused as more and more people gather around the foot of the Astronomy Tower having just heard rumours about Dumbledore and some Death Eaters.
"Why is Prof. Dumbledore lying on the ground ? What's he doing ? He's dead ! Dead - what !? No he's not, he's just collapsed. No he's dead ! Mcgonagall just broke down in tears - look ! Guys, rumours are going around that Dumbledore has....oh my god, it's true! He's dead!"
After much flustering, gasping and whimpering, a professor uses Sonorous to project his voice across the crowd. ''Silence please ! Hogwarts has just fallen victim to an attack by Death Eaters. Aurors are in the castle and out on the grounds conducting a search. As a result of this horrific event, Professor Dumbledore has passed away."
Students and teachers begin to whisper and cry again, until Professor McGonagall uses a spell to 'pull herself together' while Harry and Hagrid are seen making their way through the crowd, towards the body of Dumbledore. McGonagall leads the students in lifting their wands to devour the Dark Mark above.
That's what I think happened in the amount of time between Dumbledore's death and Harry vs Snape on the grounds. We know there was a huge amount of time because, in the original HBP script, Hagrid comes out of the woods as soon as Snape disappears and asks Harry what's happened. Obviously this scene was cut, but it doesn't stop it from taking place offscreen.
So what I'm trying to say, is that everybody had time to calm down a bit, even though the shock was still there in the time that Hagrid and Harry arrived at the Astronomy Tower. Just my opinion.
Although, I must agree that Cedric's death was more devastating to watch, with Amos bellowing ''My Boy!''.
And I don't think it helped that Dumbledore looked so peaceful. He had after all just plummeted hundreds of feet to the ground. Thinking back once again to GOF, Cedric, just looking at him, was clearly dead, which I think added to that sense of shock. Dumbledore on the other hand, was too peaceful looking. His eyes were open in that shot of him falling, yet his eyes were closed at the foot of the tower. I think to have his eyes open and staring would have given the scene more effect, just something as simple as that. Of course they should also have had his body at an awkward angle and perhaps a little blood on his face. I'm not asking for true realism, if that were the case he would have been completely smashed up, there'd be practically nothing left of his head, there'd be brains everywhere, and of course you could never have that in a film like this. It would cut out too much of the audience. All I ask for is a little more realism. Make it look a bit more like he's fell a hundred feet. He died more violently than Cedric after all, and as I said before Cedric looked more dead than Dumbledore.
Ah well, here's hoping the deaths in DH are an improvement. There's really not such a BIG character death again in DH, so it should be better handled hopefully.
Yates gave dumbledore's body a sense of peace, while he was there in the ground! With blood or a smashed head the scene would lose that touch of peace, serenity and sadness.
I don't think blood all over the place was necessary. I think i had more problem with the seemingly lack of reaction of the crowd. I understand what people are saying, in that, some time had gone by, but still everyone was just too together at that moment.
And you said it should not be realistic because it is a spell. I think you'll find one of the things Yates claims to be trying to do is infuse the films with realism. Realism also helps people better relate to "fantasy films". Realism helped LOTR. That was a fantasy series, yet they still managed for portray the violence there with a relatively high level of realism. Then again they weren't aiming the films almost exclusively at children. In fact the LOTR trilogy was aimed almost exclusively at teens/adults, which should be the same for HP.
Let's hope WB doesn't try to tone down DH. They got away with it for HBP because there is much less action and violence than in DH. Unfortunately many of the deaths in DH are not because of Avada Kedavra. Many are much more violent. Which means they will really have to accept the series isn't just child-friendly fare anymore.
The scene worked for me and didn't for you.
As far a LOTR goes . . . Look at the swords, very few times is there blood on the blades even though they hack their way through hordes of Orcs. But I get what you're saying about the realism mixed with fantasy/unrealistic elements. Still, I don't think HBP was targeted just to children . . . it seemed much more geared towards all age groups. Just because a movie doesn't have as much violence or action doesn't mean it still can't be for teens/adults. But I do agree that LOTR was not for children and I also agree with you that I'd really like to see DH go more LOTR style (just because I think it would fit the story).
BTW - I'd also like to see a flash of Dumbledore's funeral towards the beginning of DH but I'm not counting on it.
I am also not convinced that there would be blood all over the place. Especially since he was already dead when he started falling. His heart would have stopped beating already. He would have broken bones, but it isn't necessary that there be blood all over the place.
It is just something they have to consider. In the States all they have to worry about it keeping the film under R rating which i am sure they will have no problem doing.
Everyone; 10 years; 12 years; 14 years; 16 years; 18 years;
In the HP franchise the ratings were like this:
PS: Everyone
CoS: Everyone
PoA: Everyone
GoF: 10 years
OotP: Everyone
HBP: 12 years
Here in Brazil, HBP hade the biggest rate.
But one question about Wormtail: can his death be accurately explained in DH if the whole debt thing with Harry WASN'T explained in the PoA movie? I mean will it really make sense to people that didn't really read the books if Wormtail just strangles himself for no reason?
All that will need to be done, imo, is to have Harry say what was in the book..."You're going to kill me? After I saved your life? You owe me, Wormtail!"
Pottermore user name: SilverQuest212
"It is simply impossible to incorporate every one of my storylines into a film that has to be kept under four hours long. Obviously films have restrictions - novels do not have constraints of time and budget; I can create dazzling effects relying on nothing but the interaction of my own and my readers' imaginations."
Clearly, this is something many people still need to get to grips with and understand.
Yes, the filmmakers DO need Jo Rowling's approval before they can include certain aspects in the film. She likes OOTP and HBP because, obviously, she thinks they are great films and good adaptations. Why is that strange to you ?
For instance Yates and Heyman have used excuses for things like why the hell did he have a silly battle at the Burrow, why he left out the battle of the 6th book and why he left out Dumbledores funeral. Heres a few of of the excuses they made:
They felt that with the burrow battle they needed it to showcase that the darkness is no longer just in ministry and hogwarts soil when in actual fact all it did is make no sense, took the pacing completely out of the film and also took some source material out of the film as well.
They felt that the battle of the 6th book would make it to similar to the 7th book well they never did that with LOTR i remember that having many more than one battle... this change showed that the death eaters can get into the castle and get out with no person to oppose them other than one kid (Harry)
And we dont even know why they took out Dumbledores funeral, i await there excuse again so that when i see a tomb being broken into by Voldemort it will make no sense yet again!
Lord Stafford.