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?