HARRY POTTER REVISITED: POA, HBP AND DH

Hello, my dear friends. The Revisited Franchise sees the continuation of the same work and premise as all of my other entries; which is to produce a strict, engaging and tonally consistant film entry with a lot of focus on musical franchise continuity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8rknO7qWpA
You can see the added color in this clip, as well as some subtle old and welcome musical scores.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwPo-Vxfbso&feature=youtu.be
The first part in the forest, for some reason, has rendered out wrong. Too dark. The rest is as intended. Here you can watch the original color grade.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAGQL9ubeAE&feature=youtu.be
A musical preview from DH Revisited. Also showcases a tad of more color added to the picture.

When I started out with my Harry Potter Revisited franchise it was all about acknowledging that Harry Potter 1 & 2 were respectively out of date and non-consistent with the rest of the series. When Alfonso Quaron took over the helmet in the Prisoner of Azkaban he gave the series what they so desperately needed: a gritty, realistic atmosphere in an elsewhere magical fantasyworld. He grounded the series, much like the Lord of the Rings Trilogy grounded Tolkien’s fantasy books for the big screen; in what could have been an ancient, forgotten world. I took Alfonson’s approach to Philosopher’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets, as well as touching upon the two movies with new sfx, music, effects and colors, and alteration of the two movie’s pacing. Then, after a break, I started to commence work on a much more dreaded task - editing the Goblet of Fire (which I undoubtedbly think is the weakest link in the entire franchise) - and put Prisoner of Azkaban on hold (finding it to be a less complicated task at the time, therefore awaiting that project for another time).
Now, having finished Sorcerer’s Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix, I think it is time to complete the franchise once and for all. Work has commenced on Prisoner of Azkaban, Half-Blood Prince and Hallows - all siminoutanesly.

Prisoner of Azkaban Revisited, Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows are my last entries in this longstanding series of edits, and so I hope and wish for you guys to participate in what is to be the three final outings in said project.

The thread will be updated with more, including preview clips, so bare with me. What I want from you guys is to tell me whatever you think can improve any of the three entries to the better and any other ideas in general.

GENERAL PROGRESS

PRISONER OF AZKABAN REVISITED

has more color added to it during its first 20 minutes (everything up til train sequence) to better resemble the warmth and comfort of every HP opening thus far. Faces are no longer silvery blue and have a warm glow instead. The rest of the movie (from Dementor attack and onwards) has its original color grade true to the original.

Prisoner of Azkaban Revisited has undone the ill-favored move of erasing all previous Harry Potter scores (from SS/PS and CoS) and put some in where they fit and should belong. This includes “Feels Like Home”, Hogwarts Theme (“Entering the Castle”), iterations of Hedwig’s Theme, Voldemort’s Theme and others, including two upcoming GoF scores (for continuity with the next and upcoming entry).

I have also included two short flashbacks (as brief as half a second) and erased all fade outs and fade ins to keep continuity with the previous and upcoming saga entries, in where fades are hardly ever used.

I also removed 10 seconds from the Snowball Fight; removing Harry dragging Malfoy by his boots. This seems implausible as Harry and his hands are all underneath the Invisibility Cloak.

HALF-BLOOD PRINCE REVISITED

has completely removed and altered the cloudy and desaturated color grade of the original film, and almost all - if not all - scenes have been manually and personally touched upon due to the insane saturation and gamma differences between all the different scenes and angles. What a nightmare I tell you, and certainly one that isn’t completely finished as of yet.

Half-Blood Prince Revisited also sees the removal of some of the very obnoxious romance subplot, as well as two re-arrangements of scenes (Quidditch Trials occur after the Great Hall speech/Dumbledore’s Speech to lighten the mood and make the movie feel more Harry Potter-y before it all becomes dark and somber, and a re-arrangement of Tom Riddle flashbacks and when it occurs).

HBP Revisited keeps the continuing continuity (say that six times fast) of the Harry Potter OST, almost now more than ever. HBP has a very silent and dark and - dare I say - non-magical soundtrack, and although many of the new scores for HBP are extremely good or brilliant, they have more of a dark thriller-y feel than anything Harry Potter. Therefore, whenever fitting to the story or the emotions of the scene or the character(s) - with the exception of the good HBP scores that certainly do fit (and there are quite a few), a lot has been replaced to keep the HP flame, feel and tone going and flowing.

DEATHLY HALLOWS REVISITED

has been completed for almost four months, and has a final running time of about 3 hours and 18 minutes (before credits). I’ve showed it to my entire family three days ago for our third Harry Potter night and I feel confident it is what I always wanted DH to be. Part I and II are of course interegrated into one single piece, and one single final. I can’t wait to show some clips.

Well done on creating the thread on OriginalTrilogy.com! I surely anticipate your forthcoming edits to inspire my own take on streamlining Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! 😄

CamSMurph said:

Well done on creating the thread on OriginalTrilogy.com! I surely anticipate your forthcoming edits to inspire my own take on streamlining Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! 😄

Haha, cheers, brother!

A SHOWCASE OF SUBTLE SCORING

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0q1Ab9XcNM&feature=youtu.be

stickydixon said:

Oooo… Can’t wait, you Godsend!

Haha, thank you, brother!

DEATHLY HALLOWS REVISITED OPENING:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA8iZUcXLYo&feature=youtu.be

stickydixon said:

Anjohan said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA8iZUcXLYo&feature=youtu.be

At first I was unsure of the inclusion of Richard Harris, whom I’ve become unsure of due to my preference towards Michael Gambon and how much of a continuity issue the recast is, but, your editing abilities alongside Lily’s theme rid me of any doubt.
Good stuff, and I’m truly glad you’ve used the theme in your edits.

Thank you, brother! I feel the same as you about Gambon and the recast, and although they were left with no choice it still reminds you that what you’re watching is a movie with a continuity issue.

However, including him in the ending arc of the franchise helps in completeing the full circle of the series and properly setup the last stand against Lord Voldemort and what has been lost since the beginning and what is left to salvage.

stickydixon said:

Understood. I assume your final cut’ll make it easy for me to ignore it.
As one of my friends has said, it would be quite a sight to have seen Harris in Goblet of Fire, i.e. the post naming of the champions scene.

Oh man, absolutely. As much as Gambon’s Dumbledore is brilliant, serious, confident and caring, Harris’s warmth and comfortable presence would have been a sight to behold going forward. I have a hard time imagine Harris agreeing to Dumbledore’s yelling and maddening demeanor.

Anakin Starkiller said:

And here I thought you’d leave them untouched, since they already have the dark lighting and dull color palette.

Haha, please care to elaborate!

Anakin Starkiller said:

You keep comparing your take to LotR, but I don’t recall any scene in those films looking like sepiatone the way your second clip here does. Look at the color of the Shire! And even in the darkest time, on Mount Doom, there’s still a thousand times color than in anything Yates ever directed.

I’ve never compared my edits to LOTR or their color grade with the sole exception of how those films feel grounded in reality. But that is taking many things into account; such as musical continuity and tone and pace. That is a red thread that goes all the way from Fellowship of the Ring and til the end of Return of the King. They feel like one and a whole, rather than single pieces in a puzzle. That is what I’m going for with the musical continuity, tone and to an extent the color grading.

This is what I wrote:

When Alfonso Quaron took over the helmet in the Prisoner of Azkaban he gave the series what they so desperately needed: a gritty, realistic atmosphere in an elsewhere magical fantasyworld. He grounded the series, much like the Lord of the Rings Trilogy grounded Tolkien’s fantasy books for the big screen; in what could have been an ancient, forgotten world.

I only compared Cuaron’s work, not his color grade (?), to what Peter Jackson did for the Lord of the Rings. PJ made the Lord of the Rings feel real, and so did Alfonso Cuaron for Harry Potter. Harry Potter 1 & 2 were brilliant in their own right, but they felt more like childish adventure stories (which the first two books were) sprinkled with some menacing cherries on top. But as additions to the movie franchise they felt completely misplaced due to the massive changes in both tone, cinematography, themes and even - unfortunately - actor replacements. Therefore, when you also take into account how much color there is to Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets compared to, say, Fellowship of the Ring - since you thought I compared them - Harry Potter 1 & 2 still feel and look like a disney fairytale compared to LOTR, PoA and the HP entries onward.

Therefore, the best way to make the franchise fit as a whole - which is and has always been my goal with these edits - I made the musical continuity, tonal approach, themes and pacing the sole focus of every one of the eight film entries to make them feel and flow like one, complete whole.

And also, for the sake of this debate:

What is the second clip you refer to? The Half-Blood Prince Great Hall sequence?

BlackburnHP said:

Are you including the deleted choir scene in the Half-Blood Prince edit? Always loved that one

I indeed am!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the opening for Deathly Hallows. OMG 😄

[UPDATE]

Half-Blood Prince has been a pain in my buttocks. The color grading has been difficult beyond belief, but I am now pretty satisfied with it. It’s taken a long time, but we’re getting there. Also, the editing process in itself has been a little hurdle because of all the different and incoherent emotions the movie is playing with. We jump all over the place with teen drama, to sinister death drama, to Voldemort backstory, and then comedy antics with Slughorn and Ron’s girlfriend; speaking of which, the all-sudden introduction of completely new and irrelevant characters (Ron’s girlfriend and Hermione’s stalker), Malfoy’s sudden introduction as a main character again after being invisible for the last three movies, and more. The movie is just everywhere.

To be honest, the original film - after having now spent a lot of time with it - is the worst out of all of them. So incoherent. And one thing I can never forgive in a film/TV franchise is when they are introducting characters to further the plot and the plot only. This film does exactly that. And I am including Ginny on this list, because we haven’t ever gotten to know her or side with her before this movie.

• Ron and Hermione’s relationship will be tested. So we introduce two characters we’ve never seen or heard of before, and give them about 20-30 minutes of runtime alongside the main cast to:
    * Give Hermione a reason to become jealous, and grow closer to Harry (just as friends, for some reason)
    * Give Ron a taste of love, but later realize that Hermione is the one he really want
    * Create drama and tension between the three main characters
    * Create comedy in what is a pretty dark movie

We also need Harry to find a love partner, so we - without barely any hints or chemistry:

• Introduce Ginny as a sort of main character.
• Make her do weird, sexual stuff like tieing Harry’s shoelaces on all fours before trying to make out with him
• Make her make choices for Harry, which somewhat means that he suddenly trusts her judgement after spending five years treating her like a child and a sister.

The film fails, miserably. And it cost us about 30-40 minutes of runtime, in the very last chapter before the end. So unforgiveable. I mean, after having spent five films with these guys - and at this one six - starting to introduce unimportant characters to serve a sideplot is the last thing I would want. I want to know more about Voldemort. I want to see Harry, Ron and Hermione starting to grow into their more adult selfs. I want to see them come to gripes with fear and insecurities. I want to see them stand up for one another. I want to see them try to make the world better. To talk with the other students we’ve come to know and love, and hear what they are feeling - and fearing - and loving - and protecting. Not spending forty minutes with sideplots, followed by comedic Liquid Luck sequences and a random dead spider encounter (Aragogg) and then some DARK, dark drama out of the very blue that kills the main freakin’ good guy, Albus Dumbledore himself. I mean, we simply went from a drama film - to a teen drama comedy - to a damn horror movie, in the span of two hours.

Either way, I’m done ranting. At least now you can guess what I’ve (tried) to change!

CHANGELIST, ONLY MAJOR PARTS:

• Film is color graded to look like a film. Gone is the diarrhea-colored filter. Every single scene has been personally touched upon.

• The opening bridge attack has been tied together with the reveal of Snape as a bad guy and his scenes with Bellatrix and her sister. This flows better in my opinion as we now start with the bad guys and then move on to Harry, rather than jump in-between; twice.

• Removed random new character with the purpose of flirting with Harry, in the Train Staton opening. Also did a lot of thematic changes (with the help of the beautiful John Williams OST) to this opening, to make it feel more like a Harry Potter movie. Dumbledore/Hogwart’s soundtrack, Harry’s Theme/Hedwig’s Theme etc.

• Shortened the scene where Dumbledore and Harry are looking for Slughorn. Removed the stupid, non-sensical “Dragion’s blood” sequence.

• Removed some silly faces and expressions from Slughorn as he first sees Harry.

• Removed Dumbledore’s mention of Dragon’s blood, and his “Ah, yes, but first, introductions!” - and get us to the point.

• Changed the atmosphere of Diagon Alley, soundtrack and color grading. Also some happy SFX.

• Removed Harry’s broken nose and Luna fixing it. It’s a cute scene, but it completely stops the movie at (another) hault.

• The Great Hall sequence, that in the original is presented with a green/brown diarrhea palette and washed out lights, now actually looks like a Great Hall sequence. This required layer upon layer with different sorts of color grading, including a bunch of masking. I should’ve been paid doing this, hahaha.

• Re-shuffled a lot of scenes. Make it feel more Harry Potter’y. We start with some Quidditch, then move onto potions class, from there to Malfoy’s mission and thereafter Dumbledore’s office, and then Malfoy again. Things flow better this way, as we start out cute and innocent and then slowly move a little bit into the darker aspects of the film.

• and a bunch more, but I won’t bother to write nor reveal anything else. I think your viewing experience will be better off of it!

VIDEO PREVIEW #1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1ob7G8Xg_g

Color grading. A little tease of the re-edited opening (although without the middle and end of it).

VIDEO PREVIEW #2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak4G_KkRKnA

New Great Hall color grading. Includes before/after near the end.

EXPECTO FINITO

Half-Blood Prince Revisited is done. You can request over PM. You have to own the original film.

This is a 7GB 1080p file. An 11 GB 1080p file will also be added as soon as it has finished rendering.