movie on dvd, and what to expect.

[GulPlum]

--- In HPFGU-Movie at y..., Jarrod Jicha <jamminjerry at m...> wrote:
>I am sure the first disk can be put into a dvd player, just push 
> play, and you get the movie.  What happenes with the second disk?  
also, 
> what can I look forward too on the second disk.  I am a visually 
impaired 
> person, and would just like to know what to expect.
> thanks in advance.

Here's a full rundown of the entire content of the second disk which 
I prepared for another forum. Except for the last section listed 
below, the disk is designed to play fine in all standard DVD players.
Most of the material is visual, though, so I'm not sure what value 
it'll be to you. 

This rundown includes "spoilers" about how to get at some of the 
would-be-hidden elements, which I know a couple of people have 
already asked about, and doubtless others will too. :-)

Let's take the content in the most likely/default order:

The main menu has the following items: "Diagon Alley", "Hogwarts 
Tour", "Classrooms", "Sorting Hat", "Library", "Hogwarts 
Grounds", "Interviews", "Extra Credit".

Diagon Alley: get in through the brick wall (it doesn't matter if you 
select the wrong bricks; after 3 goes you're allowed through anyway):

pick up your key (on the Gringotts board) and then get your cash from 
Gringotts (or go to the Bertie Botts box on the desk and listen to 
Dim Dale express delight or repugnance at a couple of flavours);

get your wand from Ollivanders (it doesn't matter which ones you 
choose, you'll always get two "wrong" ones with concommitant 
explosions, and on your third try, you'll get the "Beech wood and 
Dragon Heart-string, 9 inches", followed by an orange-red glow);

look at the owls in Eeylops (NB you have to go "up" before you can go 
across to slect each of the three owls in turn, to hear Jim Dale 
express wonder at the species, nothing more).

The tour of Hogwarts (ie, in order, Gryffindor common room and 
Harry's bedroom, and the Great Hall at Christmas) is, frankly, 
boring. They're not completely photo-realistic (and don't look quite 
like they did in the movie), and Jim Dale's commentary REALLY got on 
my tits (not to mention his rather bizarre pronunciation 
of "Gryffindor", which is unlike anyone else's, and - minor quibble - 
the Americanised script he reads, which jarred with me). The 
phrase "self-guided" on the cover isn't entirely right, either, as 
the options are extremely limited.

Classrooms (you can't get in unless you got your wand from Diagon 
Alley):

DADA: choices: get a few clips of Quirrell from the movie, and a clue 
that the yellow round bottle is the one later in the "challenge" (see 
later);

Charms: choices: clips of Flitwick, more Bertie Botts, and the option 
to watch a clip from the movie (HRH and Hagrid in the grounds after 
the Quidditch match) dubbed into six different languages (*YAWN*).

Potions: choices: clips of Snape or a Potions quiz. 

The quiz is one of two routes (the other in a moment) to the deleted 
scenes. The quiz consists of three questions, the answers to which 
are obvious to anyone who's read the first book: (1) Asphodel and 
Wormwood; (2) Monkshood and Wolfsbane; (3) Snake Fangs and Porcupine 
Quills. Get any of those three wrong, and you go to the infirmary 
before returning for another go. Details of what happens next in a 
moment.

Transfiguration: choices: clips of McGonagall or clips of Dumbledore.

The fifth choice on the Classrooms screen is the much talked-about 
main route to the deleted scenes. Go "down" from Transfigurations, 
select the owls, and then press enter/play again, to highlight 
the "H" and get through to Fluffy. Select the flute, and you're 
though.

This is where that route and the Potions route come together: You're 
in the Keys chamber. Find the key with the broken wing (smack in the 
centre of the door). Then you have to select the right bottle - as 
hinted in the Charms room, it's the round yellow one in the middle of 
the table. Get that right, and you get to the Mirror of Erised with 
the Stone in the middle. Select the Stone and you're through to the 
deleted scenes (presented as moving wizard photos on the wall). 

Details of which scenes are included have been talked about all over 
the place, so I won't bore anyone here with repeating all that.

Next default selection on the main screen is the Sorting Hat - VERY 
disappointing - hear Jim Dale tell you one sentence about each of the 
four houses.

Next default area is the Library: you get to see what's inside five 
books:
The first from the left is the most (only?) interesting one, as it 
shows some of the concept drawings for the Quidditch balls and 
uniforms.
The second is just a clue that you need to use the flute on the 
Fluffy screen to get at the deleted scenes
The third book contains clips of/about some of the main characters 
(Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, Wood, Seamus, Neville, Percy, Hooch and 
Filch).
The fourth is clips of the main Hogwarts ghosts and a Jim Dale 
commentary.
The fifth is just the "screaming book" from the movie.

Next up: "Hogwarts Grounds":
"Catch a Snitch" game: waste of time - my reaction was "so what?";
The other quidditch balls lead to a compilation of clips from the 
movie about the rules of the game (*YAWN*);
Fang leads to a tour of Hagrid's hut, just like the Hogwarts one I 
talked about above;
Bertie Botts box: more flavours read out by Jim Dale (*YAWN*).

Next is the "Interviews" item, a 15 minute film of intercut 
interviews with Columbus (in the Great Hall), Kloves (Libary), Heyman 
(Gryff. common room) and Stuart Craig (same) talking about making the 
film, intercut with clips from the film and a few "behind the scenes" 
shots (but not too many). IMO the Heyman contributions are the most 
interesting. He also gets more time than the others.

OK, that's all you get for standalone DVD players. The remaining 
option on the main menu is "Extra Credit" which prompts you for a 
computer DVD drive. It asks to install the InterActive player (the 
three standard DVD software packages I've tried don't give access to 
the special features). Install that, and it asks if you have a mike 
to be used with the much-vaunted voice-activation elements, and goes 
straight to setting it up, which is extremely straightfoward. Read 
one short paragraph and a few numbers into the mike to get voice 
levels, etc, and you're off (no more than a couple of minutes).

The mike doesn't work on all the Disc 2 content listed above. But go 
into the "Extra Credit" section - the InterActive player puts a tidy 
shortcut on its own interface - and you can indeed navigate the 
options via voice commands. However, again, I wasn't impressed with 
any of the content. This was, IMO, EXTREMELY limited:

Get sorted (Ravenclaw in my case), 
several screensavers, 
a memo program called "Remembrall" (which I didn't install, so I 
can't comment), 
demo of the HP&PS game (I didn't bother installing as I've seen it 
before)
demo of the Lego HP game (ditto),
HP Trading Card Game demo (in Flash),
something called "Name Your Owl" (which seems to have something to do 
with email), but I got a screen saying it wasn't fully implemented 
yet, 
links to various HP-related web sites run by Warners.

Hope that helps. :-)