HP4GU Contest #8 results

[joym999 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 22471

Here are the results of Contest #8, in which you were asked to 
nitpick the trailer.  All the entrants did a GREAT job at finding 
little annoying things that the moviemakers got wrong; next time I am 
sure Hollywood will be sending us email begging us to do proofread 
the screenplay, check the sets, the costumes, etc.  Meanwhile I am 
granting everyone who entered lifetime membership in the League of 
Obsessed Nitpickers.  You are truly a bunch of LOONS!!!

The results (starting with my entry):

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As I have previously complained about rather profusely, it really 
bothers me that the moviemakers have gone for the "stereotypical 
British boarding school" look for the Hogwarts students, rather than 
the "little pointy hatted witch" look that books describe.

In particular, take the Charms class scene in the first trailer (the 
one where Hermione makes the feather levitate).  Here are three 
excerpts from the Charms class episode in PS/SS, Chapter 10:

	Professor Flitwick put the class into pairs to practice.  
Harry's partner was Seamus Finnegan (which was a relief, because 
Neville had been trying to catch his eye).  Ron, however, was to be 
working with Hermione Granger....

	Harry and Seamus swished and flicked, but the feather they 
were supposed to be sending skyward just lay on the desktop.  Seamus 
got so impatient that he prodded it with his wand and set fire to it 
– Harry Had to put it out with his hat... <----NOTICE the word *HAT*

	Hermione rolled up the sleeves of her gown, flicked her wand, 
and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

So why isn't anyone wearing their hat during this scene in the first 
trailer??????

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My nitpicks are all about clothes.

I see that Harry starts off by wearing a shirt that is too big for 
him (when he is in Ollivander's shop and on the train).  This doesn't 
seem to last though.  When he is at school, and when not in uniform, 
he is in a red jumper, which fits him perfectly, and chinos.  Where 
did he get these clothes from?  Has he shrunk some of Dudley's.  I 
did perhaps think that the jumper came from Mrs Weasley, in which 
case I have another nitpick, because it should be green, not red.

The school uniform - since when did they wear ties?  And I also 
thought that they always wore hats (day wear).

Finally, Harry's glasses.  They look new - not beaten up and mended 
with sellotape.  I also always thought that they would look like 
National Health glasses, as I couldn't see the Dursleys paying for 
them.

That's all for now, but I agree with many which have already been 
posted...

catherine at cator-manor.demon.co.uk (Catherine Coleman)

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Well, this is a tiny nitpick that I really don't mind at all, but 
just noticed. In both trailers, there is the scene where the new 
first years are entering the Great Hall. Now in the book it says:

"Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to lead, Harry got into 
line behind a boy with sandy hair, with Ron behind him, and they 
walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair 
of double doors into the Great Hall." (SS, 116)

However, what I can discern from the trailer (and others may 
disagree), Harry is not behind a boy with sandy hair. And Ron is 
walking *beside* Harry, not behind him. And from the part of the 
sentence that says "Harry got into LINE", I assumed that meant that 
everyone was in a single-file line. In the trailer, the first years 
walk into the Great Hall in a big lump. Of course the last bit is up 
to interpretation.

Let me just say that I know this does not affect the plot at all. I 
quite frankly don't know why I noticed it. But it *is* an extremely 
tiny nitpick so I thought I'd send it. I'm not going to criticize it
because it's too inconsequential to criticize.

reanna20 at yahoo.com (Amber)

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OK, as I'm feeling really nitpicky today, here's my favourite: The 
chandeliers in the Great Hall! If anybody has ever watched the Vienna 
Philharmonic's New Year's concert, he/she will have realized that 
there are exactly the same ones in the concert hall (which has been 
built around 1860!). As canon has it, in the Great Hall there are 
pnly candles floating in mid-air, no fin-de-siècle-glorious kitsch.

Susanna (who thinks that *some* Americans just have the wrong idea of 
Old Europe) pigwidgeon37 at yahoo.it

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Ok, in SS, on page 147 it says: "But Neville, nervous and jumpy and 
frightened of being left on the ground, pushed off hard before the 
whistle had touched Madam Hooch's lips."

If Neville's pushing off so hard, then why, in the trailer, does it 
appear that his broom is merely drifting, almost lazily, off the 
ground at first?  You can see Neville's feet slowly leave the ground 
and there is absolutely no evidence of any pushing going on.

ender_w at msn.com

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1.  Hogwarts students do NOT wear blazers & ties!  They wear robes.

2.  They don't sit on benches when they eat, either.  [NBH, but 
doesn't Ron pull out a chair trying to get VK to join the Gryffindor 
table?]

3.  Snape's classroom is a dungeon.  Dungeons do NOT have windows!

klhurt at yahoo.com (Kelly the Yarn Junkie)

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Movie Nitpick: When Fluffy is growling at them, Harry, Ron, and 
Hermione stand absolutely still for a couple of seconds. I suppose 
they're preparing their "Home Alone" style screams, but it's really 
annoying how long they take to react!

hfakhro at nyc.rr.com (Hella Fakhro)

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MEMO (sent via very ticked-off-looking eagle owl)

From:  Supreme Consultant (by Command of God Herself and the WB CEO), 
aka Head Honcha of All Things Potter, Amy Z
To:  Chris Columbus
July 10, 2001, 5:27 p.m. Eastern Time

-I don't see any ghosts sitting at the tables when the first-years 
walk in.  They'd better be there before Harry gets Sorted or 
someone's going to have to answer to me.

-The Invisibility Cloak, or what looks like it's going to be the 
Invisibility Cloak, is very disappointing.  I demand molten silver 
that puddles on the floor.

-Three words:  WHERE IS NEVILLE?  Please reread "The Midnight Duel" 
and reshoot.

-While you're at it, Fluffy is cheesy in the extreme.  What is this, 
Godzilla?  Fire computer animators and reshoot.

-Magical staircases move silently.  Everyone knows that.

-The Hogwarts Express looks like it stops in Hackensack.  FYI, this 
is a steam train.  For proper interior furnishings, see "Murder on 
the Orient Express," or risk Murder on the 101 Freeway.

-Madam Hooch's hair should be 1 1/2 inches shorter.  Says me.

-Mr. Ollivander's eyes are not moonlike, unless you count crescent 
moons.  However, to demonstrate that Your Consultant is a merciful 
Consultant, and in deference to the incomparable John Hurt, I will 
allow this to pass.

-Oliver Wood is insufficiently burly.  He must bulk up and reshoot.

-Troll smells fine.  This is unacceptable.  Install Scent-O-Rama 
immediately.

Please institute these corrections STAT or the next owl will be 
delivering a pocket Dementor just for you.  Thank you.

                                - - - 

MEMO (delivered in person with much bowing and scraping)

From: Chris Columbus
To: Your Highness, Holiness, Honchaness, etc.
July 10, 2001, 6:02 p.m. Eastern Time

Done!

aiz24 at hotmail.com (Amy Z)

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well, I can't stand it that Ron asks harry to show him the scar, and 
Harry happily does it and Ron says "wicked" this is not canon..

Harry does NOT like it that everyone's eyes do the familiar flick to 
his scar, and Molly has taught her boys courtesy.

The trailer makes it sound as if Hermione chickened out and left 
during the infiltration past Fluffy which is total bullshit..if that 
is in the movie,  I will picket!

Schlobin at aol.com (Susan)

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My 17 year old daughter is bothered by the fact that they couldn't 
get the color of Petunia's hair right. She became disturbed the 
second she saw the first photo of her with black hair on the 
internet.  Actresses change their hair color all of the time.  Is 
that too much to ask?

The first page of the SS says:

"Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual 
amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her 
time craning over garden fences spying on the neighbors."

ProfessorPhlash (crabtree at ktc.com)