OOTP Movie

[Dondee Gorski]

--- In HPFGU-Movie at yahoogroups.com, can can <turn2pg394 at ...> wrote:
<snip>
>   >Oryomai:
> >I have to agree!? I was...underwhelmed. ? The acting was much 
better IMO, but the script >was....lacking. ? To me, it felt like a 
half-hearted attempt at a movie.? Everything was so >quick.
>
> Candace:
<snip> I thought it flew by so quickly, the scenes just did not 
seemed developed to me completely it made me fell like I was walking 
into the middle of conversations at random in a lot of scenes. 
<snip>
But the movie was just badly edited or something.  I mean the whole 
attempt of flooing from Umbridges office was VERY badly edited.  
They get caught, there was no set up about the look outs, but then 
suddenly Neville's being dragged in sayng he was trying to help 
Ginny....?  from the book only, a movie goer would be like HUH?
 
Dondee:
 
The director, David Yates, used an editing technique called 'jump 
cutting', which can be jarring and difficult to follow if you are 
not familiar with it. This type of cutting is a more rapid way of 
getting from the main point of one scene to the main point of the 
next scene and gives the viewer a sense of urgency. A scene 
literally jumps to the next scene with no transition and it is 
assumed that the audience recognizes that time has passed and things 
have happened that we have not been privy to but that have led the 
characters to what is taking place in the new scene. Think of it as 
a stone skipping across the water - the whole story (lake) is there, 
but the audience (stone) only hits on the key points.
 
I have never seen so many jump cuts in one movie before. I think 
Yates used this technique throughout because he assumes that the 
majority of the audience watching will have read the book and are 
familiar with the series of the events that lead up to the battle at 
the Ministry. I also think that he trusts the audience to be 
intelligent enough to recognize that we are missing stuff, but what 
we are missing is not as important to the core of what the story is 
telling us. Also, if he had not used jump cuts, he would not have 
been able to show us as many scenes because the time would have been 
used up with transitional scenes, which would have made things 
smoother but would not really have furthered the plot.
 
Three things that stood out at the beginning of the movie that I did 
not like...
 
1) The dementors looked fake and were not scary at all. In PoA in 
the train, when that dementor's hand appeared, that completely 
creeped me out - I couldn't get that image out of my head for days 
afterwards. The fluid, underwatery way their robes moved made them 
beautifully sinister and otherworldly - why mess with that? I did 
like it when Harry was suddenly thrust up against the wall, that 
gave me a start.

2) The Dursleys were just off. Yates is one for underplaying emotion 
and usually the effects of this technique are good in his movies but 
in this scene, IMO, he dropped the ball. Vernon seemed feeble, 
Petunia was not hysterical at all and Dudley... I think they were 
trying to make his nausea be funny but it just didn't work.

3) Mrs. Figg's image was WRONG. Completely miscast and entirely the 
wrong kind of costume for her too. IMO, of course.
 
I liked the locations and sets through out the movie; they seemed to 
me to tap into the emotions Harry was experiencing at the time. The 
big field with little Harry on the swing was isolating and desolate. 
Harry's tiny bedroom made it feel like the walls were closing in on 
him. The claustrophobic #12 contrasted brilliantly with the 
agoraphobic Ministry lobby. The Hall of Prophecies reminded me of 
the maze in GoF. The Veil Room was such a stark and barren 
landscape - like something out of Macbeth. And, though I was not 
happy with the dialogue between Harry and DD after Sirius' death, 
the cramped space they sat in lent to the feelings of intimacy and 
uncomfortable ness between them.
 
Something that has been mentioned in the threads that I would like 
to comment on...
 
Re: Sirius appearing to be AK'd before falling through the veil - I 
have to watch it again to make sure, but I think that they added 
Bella's voice saying AK in editing after the shoot. I think that 
after watching a rough cut of that scene the editor and director 
wanted to make it clearer that Sirius died so they added the AK in 
post-production. 
 
Let's see, what else...
 
I thought the thestrals were very well designed and darkly 
beautiful. The Grawp scene
 eh. I wasn't crazy about Grawp in the 
book either.
 
The scene between Harry and Sirius in the family tree room made me 
want to lay my head on the floor and howl – It was so achingly well 
played and it was so terrible to watch because I knew what was 
coming for Sirius.

I actually flinched and tears came to my eyes when Harry told Ron 
for the second time that he was `fine,' after Ron had just stood up 
for him in front of Seamus and the entire common room – and he just 
took it – he didn't snap back at Harry or anything.
 
As for the actors and their characters... 
 
I thought Rickman stole every scene Snape was in, ditto for Luna in 
a lot of her scenes - her bunny patronus!! Yates really captured 
Trelawney's disintegration in a short amount of time and Umbridge 
was deliciously twisted. McGonagall was not given enough notice, 
IMO. I really wanted to see her butt heads with Dolores and we only 
got a taste of it. I'm so glad that they are shining some spotlight 
on Nevil and that they showed how powerful Ginny is becoming 
(perhaps more than canon alludes to).
 
As for our Trio... WOW!
 
Dan continues to outdo himself with each new movie. He really 
conveyed the inner turmoil that Harry struggles with through out the 
movie.

I thought this was Emma's best performance by far so far – there 
were times when the camera focused on her and you could just see the 
wheels turning in Hermione's head.

Rupert was excellent at showing off Ron's subtle strength, humor, 
humility and the loving concern and protectiveness he feels for his 
family and his 'mates'. Ron is such a genuine and solid character 
and Rupert made that clear to us without any fanfare or artifice.
 
<snip>
(BTW, go rent or buy Driving Lessons everyone, it was released July 
3rd on DVD!) <snip>
 
I already have my copy and I think it is an excellent coming of age 
movie. The 'poo' line nearly killed me, and then the moment 
following that, when Ben just takes a moment to look up at the stars 
and that song is playing... ::sigh:: I highly recommend it.
 
Cheers, Dondee