Harry Potter and the Magical Touch of Editing (Released)

I’ve always loved the Harry Potter books, but the movies have been pretty hit or miss for me. I watched Anjohan’s Revisited edits and found the tighter pacing so much more immersive, but they weren’t exactly what I was hoping for. I want to emphasize how fantastic his edits are!

The Revisited edits are excellent for what they are trying to be - more consistent darker tone for each movie, using music from the whole series throughout, adding more emotion through the music, keeping locations consistent, and tightening the pacing. But I wanted to make a new set of edits for a few reasons. I think a lot of the music doesn’t blend too well between movies, and I personally like how the earlier movies are a lot brighter and then darken as the years go on. Another issue I had was removing world-building magic to tighten the pacing. This kept the movie times shorter but I think it lost some of the fun.

So with all of that out of the way, I used Anjohan’s edits as heavy inspiration (often taking exact edits, especially with GoF), took some deleted scenes straight from JJPotters Extended Editions, and made a new series of edits.

My main goals:

• Create light edits that don’t try to reimagine or create anything new, but rather just enhance the original movies
• Remove small annoyances and some poor performances (Harry shushing Ron, Barty Crouch Jr tongue flicks, dumbing down Hagrid, etc)
• Retain as much world building as possible (Clock in the Weasley’s home, monster roar at housekeeping in PoA, etc)
• Keep the original music to their own movies, except for a few rare occasions
• Tighten up action wherever I could
• One last callout to Anjohan(Andreas), and JJPotter. I took a lot from their edits to make my own

If you are interested in watching, PM me.

Full list of edits:

Sorcerer’s Stone:

Original - 2:24 (2:32 with credits)
Edit - 2:20 (2:27 with credits)

• Used the extended edition as a base
• Trimmed Dumbledore turning out the streetlights so many times
• Trimmed Dudley jumping down the stairs on top of Harry’s room
• Trimmed some of the mail arriving section so it’s not so long
• Trimmed Hagrid breaking down the door
• Cut Hagrid thinking Dudley was Harry
• Kept Hagrid and Harry’s train ride but trimmed a bit of the end
• Trimmed Harry meeting Quirrell
• Cut Hagrid fumbling for Harry’s key to the vault
• Added some music to Harry asking about Voldemort and also cut Hagrid not being able to write it
• Cut Hagrid saying that Voldemort is still out there instead of dead
• Added Apparate sound effect when Hagrid leaves Harry at the station
• Cut Malfoy trying to extend a hand to Harry. He just bullies them a bit and it’s over
• Kept Snape’s alternate potions class but trimmed the end
• Trimmed the first flying lesson a bit for the bad CGI and unnecessarily long scenes
• Added a tiny bit of music when the trio meet Fluffy and escape. Also trim it so they don’t push the door closed with the dog pushing against them
• Harry doesn’t say “I like this ball”
• Cut Harry saying they need another feather
• Cut Hermione telling Ron how to swish and flick when he saves Harry from the troll
• Cut Quirrell freaking out about the Troll roaring after being knocked out
• Cut Snape telling Harry good luck in Quidditch
• Cut most of Harry doing nothing during the first half of the Quidditch match. He just sits in the air most watching the others most of the time…
• Cut Hagrid saying Harry’s gonna be sick after he catches the snitch
• Trimmed Hagrid talking about Nicolas Flammel so he doesn’t sound so dumb all the time
• Cut Ron going to see the mirror completely
• Kept Neville’s leg lock curse but trimmed the end
• Cut Harry shushing Ron while Hermione tells them about Flammel
• Cut Hagrid talking like an idiot again just before the dragon hatches
• Cut Voldemort walking through the forest before the group splits up
• Heavily trimmed up Voldemort trying to attack Harry in the forest. Much better now
• Cut half of Firenze’s talk about Voldemort
• Completely cut the trio going to see Hagrid to ask him about the dragon seller and Hagrid being an idiot again telling them how to get past Fluffy
• Cut Snape talking to them just after seeing McGonagal
• Added a bit of music to when Neville confronts the trio, and cut Ron saying it’s for his own good
• Trimmed them getting past Fluffy so he doesn’t wait so long to bite them, and doesn’t bite the door
• Trimmed up the next few rooms just slightly for pacing
• Ending is untouched
• Other minor trims throughout

Chamber of Secrets:

Original - 2:32 (2:41 with credits)
Edit - 2:25 (2:35 with credits)

• Used the extended edition as a base
• Cut the Dursleys rehearsing their plan for the evening
• Added music to Dobby’s arrival with slight trims
• Dobby doesn’t show Harry the letters. Harry just chases him downstairs
• Added a very slight music cue to Ginny seeing Harry arrive, and trimmed it to fit nicer
• Cut the questioning of a rubber duck
• Cut the Malfoy’s in Knockturn Alley
• Cut Harry almost falling out of the car while flying from the train
• Heavily trimmed them running into the Whomping Willow
• Trimmed the pixie fight
• Harry doesn’t say “Spooky”
• Trimmed the Quidditch match a lot for pacing
• Snape attacks Lockhart immediately instead of waiting forever after the countdown
• No quips between Malfoy and Harry before their duel
• Cut Harry looking over the lake asking who he is
• Trimmed Harry being stared at in the study room
• Cut Harry seeing Hagrid right after the study room
• Cut Harry talking to the hat before he sees Dumbledore
• Trimmed up the polyjuice gathering scenes
• Trimmed up the whole scene of Harry writing in the book and saying everything he writes as slowly as possible
• Cut Hagrid talking to the trio right before Neville comes to get them
• Cut Ron and Harry pulling the cloak out. They just go straight to Hagrids
• Harry doesn’t shush Ron in the forest
• Small trims for pacing in the spider attack
• Cut them knowing that Ginny is in the chamber
• Cut Ron slamming a rock into Lockhart’s head
• Trimmed some of the Baselisk attack, especially where Harry is flailing a sword like an idiot and not hitting anything
• Cut them flying out of the Chamber of secrets with Fawkes
• Cut Harry picking up the sword in Dumbeldore’s office. I cringe when he grabs the blade
• Cut Harry saying he’ll always be around to save the day
• Cut Mr Malfoy trying to use Avada Kedavra
• Trimmed Dobby and Harry’s final scene with a bit of music added over it
• Trimmed some of Hagrid coming back and making a big scene in the hall
• Lots of other minor trims throughout

Prisoner of Azkaban:

Original - 2:10 (2:22 with credits)
Edit - 2:08 (2:20 with credits)

• Cut one of the two button attacks on Dudley
• Cut the old lady crossing the street during the Knight Bus along with the first of Harry slamming into the window
• Cut Neville getting knocked down by the monster book and saying “I’m okay”
• Slight trims to Harry’s Patronus lesson
• Cut most of the ridiculous Whomping Willow attack with Hermione and Harry flying around
• Trimmed a bit of Harry’s first encounter with Sirius
• Trimmed Ron’s bit about needing to remove his leg while Harry and Sirius talk
• Cut Sirius gasping at the Dementors and then the next scene being knocked out again. Weird jump cut.
• Cut Harry and Hermione seeing Snape walk into the Whomping Willow right after Lupin when he should’ve arrived a short while later
• Trimmed a bit of when Harry and Hermione see the bats fly by
• Cut Harry’s nonchalant line when the Werewolf starts running at them.
• Straight to black right before credits instead of the freeze frame

Goblet of Fire:

Original - 2:34 (2:37 with credits)
Edit - 2:07 (2:21 with credits)

• Used the regular movie as a base but took a lot of edits straight from Anjohan’s Revisited version
• Intro Title now pops out right after the old man dies, along with the Harry Potter theme behind it
• Cut Hermione angrily waking the two up
• Cut the weird effects of the portkey
• Cut the Malfoys talking to them before the game
• Tightened up some of the Death Eater attack
• Cut all instances of Barty Crouch Jr doing the weird tongue thing
• Cut the aurors shooting at the trio
• Removed Filch awkwardly running into the hall and added some music behind Dumbeldore talking about the new guests and tournament
• Cut Karkaroff doing shady stuff to the goblet of fire
• Cut the entire Ron not talking to Harry plot. I used most of the rearranging from Anjohan
• Cut Dumbledore shouting at Harry
• Trimmed Harry’s interview
• Cut the owl biting Harry
• Cut the mini dragon reveals just before they fight the dragons
• Tightened up the dragon fight
• Trimmed McGonagal talking about the Yule Ball
• Cut the pop music section during the ball
• Trimmed underwater egg scene with Moaning Myrtle
• Trimmed some awkward dialog and performance just after Harry saves Cedric from the vines
• Cut moaning Voldemort when he touches Harry’s scar
• Cut awkward dialog between the trio at the very end
• Lots of other minor trims throughout

Order of the Phoenix:

Original - 2:08 (2:18 with credits)
Edit - 2:10 (2:20 with credits)

• Used some of JJPotters Extended Edition as a base
• Tightened up the Dementor attack
• Added HP Theme where Moody opens up the Headquarters building
• Tightened up a bit of the hearing
• Cut out a bit of the Filch ridiculousness while he tries to get into the room of requirement
• Cut the “I’m okay” bit when the kid gets dropped
• Cut Sirius toasting “Harry!” That line always bothered me for some reason
• Cut some of Harry talking to Sirius about being the snake in his dreams
• Added Neville music when he is talking about how his parents died
• Cut the bit right after Dumbledore teleports away with Fawkes
• Trimmed Grawp’s intro and cut some unnecessary stuff
• Color corrected the extended scene in the forest with Umbridge
• Color corrected the extended scene at the end with Ron asking Harry to go eat with them
• A few other minor trims throughout

Half Blood Prince:

Original - 2:24 (2:33 with credits)
Edit - 2:25 (2:34 with credits)

• Used some of JJPotters Extended Edition as a base
• All extended scenes in except the ending one with Harry asking Hermione and Ron to keep the snogging to a minimum
• Brought Snape’s unbreakable vow to the intro
• Cut Dumbledore asking if Harry is into Hermione
• Cut weird interaction with Hermione’s butterbeer mustache
• Added a bit of music behind Ron and Harry talking about Ginny
• Added a bit of music behind Harry and Ginny before Ron sits in between them
• Color corrected Harry talking to Mr Weasley
• Cut just a bit back on Lavender’s “Won Wons”. Only one spot
• Fade out on Ginny and Harry’s kiss. Feels a lot less awkward now
• Cut Slughorn taking the spider venom
• Trimmed a bit of Harry convincing Slughorn to give him the memory
• Cut Dumbledore noticing Harry needs a shave when his face is as smooth as can be
• Cut Harry using Sectum sempra on the water zombies. He now only uses it on Malfoy and tries to on Snape. I think it gives just slight more impact to his final moment with Snape in this movie
• Trimmed the ending a bit

Deathly Hallows Part 1:

Original - 2:15 (2:26 with credits)
Edit - 2:17 (2:29 with credits)

• Used the regular movie as a base and took three scenes from JJPotters Extended Edition
• Kept the intro deleted scenes for Petunia talking to Harry, and Mr. Weasley making the radio from JJPotters version, but left out the Dudley scene as I felt it wasn’t complete enough to fit.
• Cut the scene in the tunnel where Harry runs across the top of the bus while Hagrid spins them around the tunnel. It was a really goofy scene in the middle of the battle
• Kept the “Zip me up” scene with Ginny, but changed the music to be more intimate for them and less somber
• Kept the deleted scene for Ron telling them that Voldemort’s name is taboo
• Removed all other the deleted scenes including the rabbit hunt and skipping stones
• The rest of the movie is the same

Deathly Hallows Part 2:

Original - 1:58 (2:10 with credits)
Edit - 2:01 (2:13 with credits)

• Used the regular movie as a base and took a few scenes from JJPotters Extended Edition
• Added the cottage scene with Bill talking about the goblin, and the scene right after with Luna talking to Harry at Dobby’s grave. Color corrected the beach.
• Added music behind when Ginny first sees Harry return to Hogwarts. Used the same track I added to the previous movie with her scene with Harry.
• Added in the deleted scene with Harry holding Ginny’s hand as they walk to Snape
• Added in the deleted scene with Tonks and Lupin before the battle
• This is basically JJPotters Extended Edition except without the extra deleted scene with Filch towards the end, and with the added music over Ginny meeting Harry again

Why did you choose not to reinsert certain deleted scenes?

I wasn’t aiming to just make extended editions. JJPotter already made great, fully extended copies. I only added the ones that I thought enhanced the movies. If I thought the deleted scene detracted from the tone or pacing, or just didn’t fit in very well then I didn’t add it.

almightycutie said:

I wasn’t aiming to just make extended editions. JJPotter already made great, fully extended copies. I only added the ones that I thought enhanced the movies. If I thought the deleted scene detracted from the tone or pacing, or just didn’t fit in very well then I didn’t add it.

Right. How come you haven’t removed anything from DH P2? I personally would have removed McGonagall sending Slytherin House to the dungeons. :v

I think that particular scene does break some of the serious tension happening, but with how it plays out and leads into McGonagall talking to Harry I don’t know how I’d remove it. I guess I don’t really mind that scene though.

The only thing I really wanted to change, and I might go back and try again, was the Harry flying through the air with Voldemort during their fight, and blending into each other. I liked most everything else about the movie though.

almightycutie said:

I think that particular scene does break some of the serious tension happening, but with how it plays out and leads into McGonagall talking to Harry I don’t know how I’d remove it. I guess I don’t really mind that scene though.

The only thing I really wanted to change, and I might go back and try again, was the Harry flying through the air with Voldemort during their fight, and blending into each other. I liked most everything else about the movie though.

I think it’s easy to remove the following exchange:
Filch: Exactly where is it I’ll be leading them to, ma’am?
McGonagall: The dungeons would do.

Ah I thought you meant removing the whole sequence, not just the lines about where they are going. I guess the lines don’t bother me enough to change it. I’m sure some other edits have made that change though, especially all the ones that have combined the final two movies.

almightycutie said:

Ah I thought you meant removing the whole sequence, not just the lines about where they are going. I guess the lines don’t bother me enough to change it. I’m sure some other edits have made that change though, especially all the ones that have combined the final two movies.

So you’re basically leaving the scene as is?

Yeah, leaving it as is. Like I said, it doesn’t really bother me so I’m leaving it in. If you wanted to use the small amount of work I did on this movie and make that change feel free to use my edits

FWIW, I changed that, as well as Snape’s awkwardly slow delivery.

Not a bad effort, Anakin, but I’ve made a conscious effort to make the colour grading look as natural as possible for my own edit of Deathly Hallows.

What do you mean by that? Cuz I was going for the same thing, it’s just that the film is so incredibly drained of color that there’s not much to bring out. You’d basically have to colorize it like a black and white film. That said, with this particular scene, I made the decision to leave the original color grading up until McGonagall lights the torches to make the transition more noticeable and emphasize how much more welcoming Hogwarts is with Snape ousted. Most other scenes I regraded. Like I said, though, there’s so little color to begin with that there’s not much I can do.

Anakin Starkiller said:

What do you mean by that? Cuz I was going for the same thing, it’s just that the film is so incredibly drained of color that there’s not much to bring out. You’d basically have to colorize it like a black and white film. That said, with this particular scene, I made the decision to leave the original color grading up until McGonagall lights the torches to make the transition more noticeable and emphasize how much more welcoming Hogwarts is with Snape ousted. Most other scenes I regraded. Like I said, though, there’s so little color to begin with that there’s not much I can do.

Here’s an example of one of my recent efforts:

You…made it greener? I really can’t tell without a proper slider or both versions in their entirety.

Anakin Starkiller said:

You…made it greener? I really can’t tell without a proper slider or both versions in their entirety.

On the left is the original, on the right is Exodus.

Yes, I can see that, it’s just hard to discern the difference.