OOTP

[Richard]

At 21:18 30/11/2005 , Jen replied:

>Richard,

I'm beginning to feel a bit anxious about all these messages addressed 
specifically to me - I am, of course, always happy to answer, being the 
naturally loquacious (!) :-)  type I am, but that doesn't mean that nobody 
else can chip in. I'm getting the feeling that I'm having a personal 
conversion with Jen here (and with Steve in the other thread) with an 
audience. Does nobody else have anything to say? :-)

This one might elicit some responses, though...

<snip>

>Maybe there are only 3 main threads that have to be worked in to make this 
>a reasonable story. Umbridge/Harry, Harry's dreams/legilmens with Snape to 
>stop LV and then the build-up to the showdown at the MOM, resulting in 
>Sirius' death. Does that sound workable?

My latest reply to Steve in the parallel thread presents my views on some 
aspects of what you're asking about: there is certainly a self-contained 
story to be told.

However, as you said, much of the book is devoted to the underlying plot of 
the series as a whole and filling in lots of gaps in the back-story, while 
paving the way for future events.  One of the reasons why I disliked OotP 
as a book is because many of those details seemed to be a bit forced. This 
is even more pronounced in HBP, which is primarily about Tom Riddle's 
youth: everything else in the story acts as a scaffold on which to hang 
that back-story: HBP will therefore be even more difficult to make into a 
self-contained film *about Harry*. But we won't worry about HBP for a 
while. Let's get back to OotP.

Here are some of my thoughts about OotP's contents  (in no particular order):

Pieces of information not directly related to the immediate plot (political 
intrigue), which could potentially wait until the movie in which they're 
resolved:

- Petunia knows more about the magical world than she's letting on
- MWPP & Co as teenagers
- Luna and her mysterious ways (which MUST have a payoff in Book Seven!)
- details about Regulus (assuming he's "R.A.B.")
- Potential fireworks in the Weasley-Prewitt background

Things which don't specifically take the plot forward, but deserve mention:
- Harry-Seamus tensions (and Neville's support)
- Quiddich try-outs
- F&G testing products
- Phineas Nigellus

Things which can easily be left out:
- All but one DADA class
- Quidditch (it's what happens *after* matches, rather than during them, 
that's important, and even then, not to the main plot as such)
- SPEW
- Careers advice
- Most of Capslock!Harry (Please!)
- Hogwarts Express
- Potions lessons
- Teacher inspections
- Letter from Percy (?)

Stuff that can be re-written:
- COMC classes become just one, about Thestrals
- Two stays at 12GP at beginning become one (not sure about Xmas visit) - 
main purpose is to see the tapestry and discuss its contents
- Umbridge arrives at Hogwarts as High Inquisitor from the outset
- Room of Requirement (not sure it's needed; no Dobby anyway)
- Get rid of Kreacher; his main role in the plot is to mislead Harry at the 
end: this can be Mrs Black's portrait
- Cho limited to one intimate conversation (apart from DA)
- Dept. of Mysteries could be limited to JUST the prophecy and veil rooms 
(no universe, time-turner, etc rooms)

Stuff which must stay, and why (if not obvious):

- Dementor attack (explained elsewhere)
- visiting MoM & hearing (mirror of visit to Diagon Alley in PS/SS)
- 12GP (setting up Harry and Sirius & explaining his background)
- detention (could be just one) (Umbridge's cruelty)
- Harry & F&G disqualified from Quidditch (leads to their Grand Departure)
- Sirius in fireplace at least once (mirror of GoF, sets up the climax)
- at least two DA meetings (plus setup)
- Hagrid's tale & Grawp (much as I dislike the idea, but we know it's included)
- attack on Arthur, St Mungo's, (mainly to get Neville's family background)
- Occlumency plus pensieve (perhaps just one scene)
- meeting in Dumbledore's office & his "disappearance" (he has to leave)
- F&G's Big Departure (with or without swamp) :-)
- flying Thestrals to London
- prophecy room
- veil room :-(
- Harry-Bellatrix (crucio attempt)
- fight in the Atrium
- Dumbledore's debriefing (pensieve prophecy & explanation of Neville's 
connection to it, Voldemort's mind connection, not sure about confirming 
Snape's loyalty - it seems we're meant to know as little about him as 
possible for now; *definitely* no recap of the last five years!)

Last shot: freeze frame of Daily Prophet announcement admitting that 
Voldemort's back, fading to end credits

Plus
misc. scenes of Dumbledore's pointed ignoring of Harry during the year
misc. visions of the black door and round room
It seems that Firenze's important...
OWLs (short montage of taking exams)

Have I missed anything? I really can see all of that fitting into the 
target 2.5 hour running time.

<snip>

>If you can't get Jo to tell you what matters most (just what shouldn't 
>happen) you have no compass and you have to fly blind.

Quite. All they can do is write a first draft, on which presumably JKR 
gives her comments (which I can imagine are along the lines of "You can't 
do THAT!", "What's happened to Scene X? It's important!"), so then they go 
off and write a second draft and try to find out just WHY Scene X is 
important ("it has an impact on book seven" - "so we'll put it into film 
seven" - "no!") and so on, and so forth.

As for Capslock!Harry, I suspect that he'll largely fall by the wayside, 
and the moments when he loses his cool will be largely understandable. I'd 
like Angry!Harry to be there for the the debriefing scene, though.

Anyway, it's taken forever to write all of that, so I shall shut up now. 
Can someone please make a note of this message number, and quote it back to 
me when OotP comes out, so that everyone here can have a hearty laugh at my 
expense, about just HOW wrong I got the production team's view of OotP? I 
probably won't remember by that stage (I'm sure I did something similar 
about GoF when it went into production, but there's no way I'm going to 
battle with Yahoo! to try to find it...)

--
Richard, off to bed