fudgeflies:

apriki:

MARAUDERS, NO QUESTIONS ASKED. But since you did ask, let’s jump on that….

MARAUDERS: THE SERIES

Okay so - five seasons, BBC produced OR HBO in Game of Thrones style, keeping it British (JKR would insist, as she should). 12-14 episodes a season, potential Christmas special at the end of season 4. The first three seasons are MWPP’s fifth, sixth and seventh years, starting about midway through their 5th. 

The pilot uses Harry as a framing device - it’s needed to establish the world and time period etc etc - maybe in third year, when Snape is digging in to Papa Potter? Harry then walks along the Hogwarts corridors, thinking about his father, and everything Dumbledore and Lupin have said about him, until he finds himself in the trophy room looking at one of James’ Quidditch medals. Harry says “my dad didn’t strut”, and we close in on the medal…

….only to pan out on James, strutting along the same corridor. Remus, Sirius and Peter fall in, and we watch them as they head in to class. James is your typical asshole of a 15yo, eating an apple and accidentally bumping into people, only to grin and give them fingerguns instead of apologising as he keeps on walking. Remus has his nose in a book, Sirius is poking at his ear with a quill, and Peter’s trying get Sugar Quill residue off his fingers. They walk into Transfiguration, their usual boisterous selves, not noticing a red headed girl rolling her eyes and turning away from them to talk to her friends, or a skulking boy in a group of Slytherins behind her, glaring at them.

AND SO WE BEGIN.

Each of the first four seasons would use one of the Marauders as a viewpoint into the main plot:

• Season 1 - Peter, as he feels like he belongs less than the others, and his practical hero-worshipping of his friends means that he views them outside of his relationship with them, and is thus a good starting point for the viewer. Season one also introduces us to the Marauders era Slytherins, and we follow their story in a parallel to MWPP. Lily and Snape’s friendship, their subsequent fall out, and Snape’s further immersion into the Dark Arts are the season’s main subplot. Snape’s Worst Memory happens in about episode 9.
• Season 2 - Remus. Season 2 covers MWPP’s sixth year, as they grow older and the war outside of Hogwarts begins to impact more on their isolated world. Lily and James begin to become friends - well, she dislikes him less - and this impacts on Snape, who begins to write in the margins of his potions textbook. Sirius starts to feel more pressure from his family and moves out; this makes him wilder than ever, culminating in the Snape prank (about episode 11). This is filmed to be a cruel trick, and we see the full blow out afterwards between Sirius and Remus. Snape approaches Lily in the aftermath and attempts to tell her about Remus, villifying James in the process; she tells him that she knows about Remus, and that Snape cannot reveal the secret. The season ends with Remus and Sirius still at odds, although partially reconciled, and James saying he just assumed that Sirius would be moving in with him.
• Season 3 - This year focuses more on James, beginning when he and Sirius decide to crash a pureblood party at the Malfoy’s. They make their getaway, running past three girls, on Sirius’ new bike, which still has some…. kinks to be smoothed out - they almost fall out of the sky more than once. They return home to the news that James has been made Head Boy; Sirius thinks it’s the most hilarious news he’s ever heard, but James is determined to use the opportunity to get closer to Lily (“I am TELLING you she’s Head Girl, Padfoot!”) The gang head back to Hogwarts - crossing paths with Narcissa Black - who had seen them run out at the Malfoy’s - on the train station. She becomes our focus Slytherin character for the season. Lily and James’ romance takes a front position in this season, with the mending of the Sirius/Remus relationship as a subplot. The season also has flashbacks to the group’s younger years, focusing on the Animagus process.
• Season 4: TIME JUMP. We go forward two years into the middle of the war. I see the final two seasons as one whole arc, with the season 4 establishing the various dangers of the war and MWPP’s role in it - focusing on Sirius, as suspicion starts to take hold of the group and their lives get more and more perilous. Through Sirius we get the Regulus subplot and our view into the Death Eaters, following Snape, the Blacks and the Malfoys. Two of Lily and James’ “thrice defied” events happen throughout the season. Remus is sent undercover into the werewolf community and drifts apart from the Order, causing the others to confide in him less and less. Peter sees this and, in the season finale, meets up with a Death Eater.
• Season 5: We begin with the announcement of Lily’s pregnancy. The fighting gets worse - there are battles and disappearances every day, both sides begin to lose friends and mentors. Narcissa’s pregnancy is played out as a parallel to Lily; she and Lucius grow closer and begin to resent the influence of Voldemort on their lives. They strengthen as a family unit and at the end of the season decide to break away from their Death Eater friends (and family). The prophecy is told, Harry is born, Lily and James go into hiding. Sirius continues to fight in the war, becoming friends with the Prewett brothers and eventually witnessing their deaths, Snape becomes worried for Lily, makes the deal with Dumbledore, and begins sabotaging Death Eater missions he thinks may harm her, Karkaroff flees England, the Longbottoms announce that they’re expecting, Peter begins passing information on to Voldemort himself, Remus is thrown out of a werewolf meetup when they discover he’s a spy. 
• The season finale is two hours long. It begins with Harry’s first birthday - Bathilda Bagshot is present, and speaks of Grindlewald. The scene changes, and Sirius is sitting with Kingsley and a few other Order members - they’ve just heard the news of the McKinnons. Moody comes in with blood everywhere; he’s lost an eye. Sirius can’t stand to look at the blood and begins to walk out - then catches sight of Remus in the hall. He confronts Remus, asking where he’s been - Remus can’t say, under Dumbledore’s orders. They end up in a fist fight, beating each other senseless until they’re separated. They don’t speak again for fourteen years. It’s a cold day, and windy - Lily goes outide and pulls the clothes off the line before they can blow away. She and James decorate their cottage with jack o’ lanterns and streamers, and dress Harry up as a little Merlin in a purple gown. They eat Halloween dinner together, the three of them, and James jokes about how “it’s nothing on a Hogwarts feast - just you wait and see, Harry!” Lily goes to put Harry to bed - we watch as she changed him into his pyjamas, lays him in the crib and sings to him - until she’s cut off mid song by a blast downstairs. She’s at the door when she hears James scream, and then there’s a green flash of light, bright and cold, and she runs back to the crib, too choked with fear to even cry for her dead husband. A hooded man steps in the doorway, blocking out all the light. The screen is still black when we hear the revving of a motorcycle as it touches down on the ground. Sirius stands in front of the ruined house, and there are no words for the look on his face. He makes a sound - more animal than human - and before even knowing why, he starts forward, searching among the rubble. He hears a sound, and digs underneath the debris, forgetting his wand entirely, until he finds Harry, crying, the scar still bleeding. Sirius doesn’t know how long he stands there, holding the baby, until suddenly Hagrid is behind him, saying something about Dumbledore, and argues for a while but hands Harry over anyway, saying Hagrid can take the bike. It’s only then that Sirius thinks of Peter. Hagrid says something else, but Sirius doesn’t hear him, doesn’t hear anything - he Apparates, and he’s not even landed before he’s running, up and into Peter’s apartment, banging through the door and making things explode like he did when he was young and couldn’t control his magic. We follow Sirius through the confrontation with Peter and his arrest. Sirius is dragged away, laughing and crying manicallay, cut in a montage to parties and celebrations, random wizards and the Order, a thousand people cheering and smiling and all whispering “For him! The Boy who Lived! Harry Potter!” And, finally, a baby and a letter, lying side by side in front of a Surrey door.

I would write this, if someone was needed to write it out in proper format/etc. Just saying. I fucking would.

(via muircheartaigh)

People really do not give Steve Kloves enough credit. Harry Potter fans are notoriouslyhard to pacify, and writing adaptations = hard as fuck. You will never make anyone happy. EVER. They’ll still have better, perfect mental images that you can never compete with.

So yes. Steve Kloves, I tip my hat to you, sir.

(Source: imsirius, via relatedworlds)

themovieinmymind213:

bluefactories:

themovieinmymind213:

i understand that film adaptations can’t take everything from a novel. but seriously, there is no excuse for this. it’s like doing a movie about Jesus and missing out the Crucifixion. you understand so much about Dumbledore’s motives and why Aberforth dislikes him so much and… o

Okay, so, assuming that Steve Kloves could not, under any circumstances whatsoever, add minutes onto a 130-page screenplay, what could have been cut from HP7 Part 2?

In keeping with basic screenwriting principles, such as set-up and payoff, you can’t exactly elbow Dumbledore’s history into Part 1, since it doesn’t particularly add anything to that film (we don’t meet Aberforth until Part 2 and Part 1 must build up to Part 2 whilst standing on its own as an installment), and it slows it down. So: what can be taken out of Part 2 whilst conveying everything that they need to convey?

And keep in mind that the pacing needs to be consistently building up to the final battle for the second half of the film, so the exposition about Dumbledore’s childhood would probably have to be earlier on, so it doesn’t drag down the action and make the audience squirm in their seats.

you’re really very passionate about this aren’t you? to be so bothered someone who has an opinion on this to comment on anyone who agrees and also comment yourself on the confession.

seriously, i don’t think anything should be cut out in its place, it should be included regardless and if there are people who don’t like it and would be “squirming in their seats” as you say then they clearly don’t understand the principles of story telling and are not very good fans and shouldn’t even be watching it, because this is a scene that requires and deserves patience, time and understanding. i actually had to watch the last film twice before i realised how good it was. the first time i was just so angry about how much had been cut out that i didn’t notice how the rest of it was really very good. and I’m pretty sure that many people who read the book felt the same way, and they WANTED to give that time and effort to that scene.

As somebody who is studying/practising screenwriting and hoping to get into a Masters programme for it, yeah, I do find adaptation particularly interesting. Sorry if I’m too ‘passionate’?

I’m seriously not trying to be derisive here, I just wanted to know what you thought might be cut out in its stead. There are so many elements that make up a decent film, and yes, if there was a LOTR-esque cut, then it absolutely could have and should have been included. But it wasn’t.

Here’s what I’m trying to say. Story-telling in film and story-telling in novels = entirely different beasts. You can’t say that certain people shouldn’t be watching the film if they don’t appreciate a slow, character development scene that is crowbarred into a very fast paced, frantic film. Non-hardcore fans make up a significant proportion of movie-goers, and you can’t ignore them. Plus, there’s already a character-development past scene - with Snape and Lily’s childhood. Having one can keep the pace - having two would not. The transitions would be jarring and the non-familiar audience would be antsy and anxious to see what happens to the heroes next, so they probably wouldn’t pay as much attention as they could.

I know that it sucks to see your favourite scenes cut out - I hate it too, but adaptation is one of the least-appreciated cinematic forms that makes it to mainstream theatres. You cannot, absolutely CANNOT alienate your audience by slowing down the film unnecessarily and nodding and winking to the true fans. Books can play with pacing. Films cannot.

Steve Kloves, as a writer, has genuinely struggled with including as much as he could - and if you look at his writing for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, you can see how hard he tried to be as faithful as possible. It didn’t really work out as well as it could have, as a film.

But you can’t be overly faithful with adaptation. That isn’t how the industry works, and the later films are far better written than the first film. Kloves probably wanted to include Dumbledore’s past in the film, but it was likely cut to deal with time constraints (which he and the director do not control - that’s generally up to the producers / executives, as I understand it) or budgetary constraints or both.

(Source: harrypotterconfessions)

themovieinmymind213:

i understand that film adaptations can’t take everything from a novel. but seriously, there is no excuse for this. it’s like doing a movie about Jesus and missing out the Crucifixion. you understand so much about Dumbledore’s motives and why Aberforth dislikes him so much and… o

Okay, so, assuming that Steve Kloves could not, under any circumstances whatsoever, add minutes onto a 130-page screenplay, what could have been cut from HP7 Part 2?

In keeping with basic screenwriting principles, such as set-up and payoff, you can’t exactly elbow Dumbledore’s history into Part 1, since it doesn’t particularly add anything to that film (we don’t meet Aberforth until Part 2 and Part 1 must build up to Part 2 whilst standing on its own as an installment), and it slows it down. So: what can be taken out of Part 2 whilst conveying everything that they need to convey?

And keep in mind that the pacing needs to be consistently building up to the final battle for the second half of the film, so the exposition about Dumbledore’s childhood would probably have to be earlier on, so it doesn’t drag down the action and make the audience squirm in their seats.

(Source: harrypotterconfessions)

Okay. this is one of the things that really annoys me about HP fans and everybody’s general lack of understanding about adaptation.

Not everything can fit into a film. They’ve already split the book into two movies to try and pack as much as they could in, but film is different from literature. You can’t suddenly slow the pace down like crazy to go over some back story and then rev back up in the next scene. And, in the greater scheme of things, what would they have cut to force that in? Films have a finite amount of space for events to take place within, and Deathly Hallows is a nightmare of a book in which nearly everything that happens is relevant.

You can’t pull extra time directly out of your arse when you already have a 130-odd page screenplay in which everything needs to be there.

Basically?:

Books cannot be completely translated into film. It is honestly impossible to completely and perfectly translate a novel into a film without fucking up the pacing or the time line or something. If they had put in Dumbledore’s history, due to budgetary and time restraints, they would have had to cut something else out to make up for it.

Plus, they know the hardcore HP audience, and they know that most of the people watching the films will read or have read the books. Adaptation needs to be accessible to every member of the audience, and giving a few nods to the fans by cutting vital scenes for something that the film could do without is not the way to make a successful film.

And, before I get this: “we wouldn’t mind if it was 10 minutes longer!” is not a valid argument. YOU wouldn’t mind, but your parents, your little brothers and sisters, your family members, your non-HP-fan friends, your significant other and the rest of the audience who aren’t incredibly keen fans would be squirming in their seats. The worst thing anybody can say about an epic film series like this is that the final installment dragged. They have to keep you glued to your seat for two hours and ten minutes, so they have to make every minute count. Yes, adding time would have made a difference.

(Source: harrypotterconfessions)

sevnilock:

Slytherin - Moran & Moriarty & Irene
Gryffindor - John
Ravenclaw - Sherlock
Hufflepuff - Lestrade & Molly

Continue..

… I would read the fuck out of this AU.

Even if I think that Lestrade is closer to a Gryffindor than a Hufflepuff.

karasnape:

anon-kieranriddly:

anderpson:

#you see this owl right there? 
#that’s hedwig fucking potter 
#she is only the biggest bamf in the entire world 
#i mean even in this gif
#that thing is moving beneath her and you know i would fall off that shit but not hedwig 
#she’s all pip pip cheerio i’m a bamf and moves with that fucker 
#and she’s been through fucking everything 
#she’s gotten beat up by a tree within a car
#she’s flown all over the country to deliver letters for her angsty teenage owner
#and then she died saving said angsty teenage owner 
#she was a fucking legend and i will never forget the story of hedwig the owl

“Angsty Teenage Owner”

#she’s all pip pip cheerio i’m a bamf

(via maleficarum)

What do your lines say?

(via robinhook)

“The mind is not a book, to be opened at will and examined at leisure. Thoughts are not etched on the inside of skulls, to be perused by an invader. The mind is a complex and many-layered thing.”