YATES STYLE.....DIRECTING BY NUMBERS!!!

Onset23 · July 2011

OK

Dont get me wrong, I love david yates direction, hes gotten the strongest performances out of everyone! Specifically the trio and specifically Emma!

BUT

I still cant help feel thats hes directing by numbers.

Theres never any build up with his work, everything just sort of happens!

Its like hes got the ok/script. Directed several amazing key scenes and stitched them together with no thought for how they flow

This is the problem with his work!

I dnt know wether its a problem with his editing style, i know for sure hes left out massive chunks of stuff that hes filmed and every HP hes directed has suffered from the same problem!

The scenes he has directed are BEAUTIFULLY shot, the moments amazingly realised from the book but hes forgotten that these moments need build up more than any other! The point of splitting the films was to allow for this!

MASSIVE moments from the book that should have been awe inspiring just sort of 'happen' and then theyre over!

as it stands its just a montage of fabulous 'short films' stitched together poorly!

I love his choice of shots and his ability to get such strong performances but this for me was his biggest downfall!

Onset23 · July 2011

wow noone?

decarus · July 2011

I agree completely. There is no connectivity between scenes in the film. Everything just happens.

Onset23 · July 2011

Its all there, its all beautifully shot and acted, its just very very badly put together!

Slantee · July 2011

You know, I kind of agree with you. That sorta happened to me while watching Dumbeldore's death, and it happened today, while watching Deathly Hallows Part 2. The scenes, in themselves, are emotional and sad but when you watch the whole film they kind of lose significance. I mean, as much as I like his direction, it sometimes feels like his movies are a number of amazing short stories put together, rather than one big whole film. But its the editor's fault mainly, I think.

Onset23 · July 2011

bump

Cyber-Logic · July 2011

I kind of agree, but I also think that's more because of just.. the editor?

[Deleted User] · July 2011

Guys. It's not Yates fault. At least for me. Adapting a book it's so hard because of the multiplotting. It's so hard to build a nonlinear narrative in a movie, specially when you have so many characters too focus, so many explanations and not much time for everything.

For me, Deathly Hallows Part 2 editing was the best in the whole saga. The movie indeed feels like is splitted in chapters but everything flows really well. I enjoyed it

Pumpkinjuice · July 2011

Guys. It's not Yates fault. At least for me. Adapting a book it's so hard because of the multiplotting. It's so hard to build a nonlinear narrative in a movie, specially when you have so many characters too focus, so many explanations and not much time for everything.

That actually is the director's responsibility because a director chooses camera angles, the atmosphere of the scene, and instructs the actors. Therefore, a director should also see the whole picture and provide good transitions into the next scene and not instantly change the tone from sad to happy, unless of course that's the intent. Great directors manage to adapt long and deep books into coherent films. Concerning Yates, I think he succeeded with that in DH2 and mostly in OotP. I thought DH1 flowed well on my first viewing, but later I realized it was far too episodic and had no coherence in the forest parts. Yates tried to hide that by using fade to black transitions. HBP basically felt like a rollercoaster because Yates couldn't decide what the main plot was and didn't contrast the multiple subplots up well enough.

[Deleted User] · July 2011

Guys. It's not Yates fault. At least for me. Adapting a book it's so hard because of the multiplotting. It's so hard to build a nonlinear narrative in a movie, specially when you have so many characters too focus, so many explanations and not much time for everything.
That actually is the director's responsibility because a director chooses camera angles, the atmosphere of the scene, and instructs the actors. Therefore, a director should also see the whole picture and provide good transitions into the next scene and not instantly change the tone from sad to happy, unless of course that's the intent. Great directors manage to adapt a book into a coherent film. Concerning Yates, I think he succeeded with that in DH2 and mostly in OotP. DH1 flowed good, but was far too episodic. HBP was haphazardly put together and basically felt like a rollercoaster because Yates couldn't decide what the main plot was and didn't contrast the multiple subplots well enough.

I disagree. First of all, the main responsibility comes from the screenwriter, not the director. He's responsible for putting the story together. But.. Remember. This is not just an "adaptation". This is a movie that they have to please both fans and nonreaders. They need to make it appealing for everyone.

It's not that simple. Of course great directors make coherent movies, but, over here, people are complaining not about it's coherency, but about the nonlinear and episodic. Well, most people over here read the books and, of course, a book is organized in chapters. I believe that explains why, sometimes, we feel that the movies are episodic. We already have the whole plot line splitted in our heads, so we all can see what's coming.

And, once again, if a movie feels really episodic, the fault is from the scriptwriter, who wasn't good enough to make connections between the dramatic moments and scenes. But, I didn't feel that in DH Part 2.

Pumpkinjuice · July 2011

Guys. It's not Yates fault. At least for me. Adapting a book it's so hard because of the multiplotting. It's so hard to build a nonlinear narrative in a movie, specially when you have so many characters too focus, so many explanations and not much time for everything.
That actually is the director's responsibility because a director chooses camera angles, the atmosphere of the scene, and instructs the actors. Therefore, a director should also see the whole picture and provide good transitions into the next scene and not instantly change the tone from sad to happy, unless of course that's the intent. Great directors manage to adapt a book into a coherent film. Concerning Yates, I think he succeeded with that in DH2 and mostly in OotP. DH1 flowed good, but was far too episodic. HBP was haphazardly put together and basically felt like a rollercoaster because Yates couldn't decide what the main plot was and didn't contrast the multiple subplots well enough.
I disagree. First of all, the main responsibility comes from the screenwriter, not the director. He's responsible for putting the story together. But.. Remember. This is not just an "adaptation". This is a movie that they have to please both fans and nonreaders. They need to make it appealing for everyone.

It's not that simple. Of course great directors make coherent movies, but, over here, people are complaining not about it's coherency, but about the nonlinear and episodic. Well, most people over here read the books and, of course, a book is organized in chapters. I believe that explains why, sometimes, we feel that the movies are episodic. We already have the whole plot line splitted in our heads, so we all can see what's coming.

And, once again, if a movie feels really episodic, the fault is from the scriptwriter, who wasn't good enough to make connections between the dramatic moments and scenes. But, I didn't feel that in DH Part 2.

You are underestimating the role the director has on the film. The director can change anything he wants in a script, well perhaps not everything on such a big-budget film as Harry Potter, but Yates did tell Kloves to cut many of the the memories scenes, and Kloves did. He has also removed many lines from the scripts. The director and screenwriter talk together throughout the writing process to make sure it pleases the director's vision. As for DH1, I blame both Yates and Kloves.

[Deleted User] · July 2011

We are talking about industry, not about Film Authors. The final word always comes from the producers of the movie. Remember that the director and the screenwriter are hired by a production company. Of course they are responsible for the vision of the movie, but everything needs to be approved by Heyman, and that's why he was so important for the saga. It's not only the director and screenwriter that talk together. You can be sure that the producer is the responsible for the main choices.

Of course the director needs to approve the screenplay. But, remember that he's not the screenwriter. If he was, he could be an author by directing and writing his movies (like Sofia Coppola and Paul Thomas Anderson, for example). In a big budget movie, you can be sure that if there's something wrong with the narrative's linearity, the main responsibles are the screenwriter and the source from where the material came from. You can't do magic with a bad script.

YATES STYLE.....DIRECTING BY NUMBERS!!!

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