How To Write A ScreenplayI saw the Harry Potter movie last night, and, as usual with a Harry Potter movie, I came away puzzled. It looked great, it was intriguingly dark in places, it made all the right moves, yet, once again by half way through I was looking at my watch and wondering why the cinema seats were so uncomfortable. I decided I’d try to analyse why I’m so bored by Harry Potter, while Frodo keeps me entertained for hours.
First things first.
- Bad Acting.
Let’s be honest here. The leads (ie the children) aren’t very good at the acting thing. Even surrounding them with first rate actors like Gary Oldman, Richard Griffiths, David Thewlis doesn’t hide the fact they don’t have the emotional range, the technique, the power or the subtlety they need.But that isn’t a problem. Lord of the Rings brims, almost overflows, with acting of the fine old mahogany variety. - It’s adapted from a book and it shows.
The story meanders, has silly little detours, elements and characters that just don’t go anywhere. Hmm. Maybe. You can get away with a story that isn’t taut, but you’d better make it funny while you do so.And, thinking about it, Lord of the Rings did have most of its diversions pruned out (to the intense chagrin of Tom Bombadil fans everywhere.) - Deus ex machina ending.
Definitely. I was bored stiff by the end, so I’m not sure this is right, but as far as I remember Voldemort was slugging it out with Dumbledore (why not Harry I don’t know) when the day was saved by the sudden, unmotivated, and and highly convenient arrival of a load of people from the Ministry. Voldemort takes one look, gets scared, and for some reason does a runner. (Hardly the behaviour of the big bad arch demon he has been set up to be.)But then we never actually get Frodo face to face with Sauron anyway either in Lord of the Rings, and that works.
OK. So you know what I think the real problem is?
It’s to do with integrity.
The world of Harry Potter feels like it has been thrown together from elements stolen from every children’s book ever written, all jumbled together like a bag of Botts Beans because each element feels good. The overall effect is thematic confusion. After five or so movies I still don’t think Harry Potter land feels like a real place.
Whereas Middle Earth feels utterly real.
To my mind that comes from Tolkien’s deep understanding of Old English literature, and his obsessive need to work out every inch of the land and every year of millenia of imagined history.
Just a simple example: The names in Middle Earth all feel real. Each race in the story has its own vividly imagined culture, and the way the names grow round different themes and phonetic clusters is just the most obvious sign of that.
The names in Harry Potter feel like a fistful of weak jokes thrown at a wall.
When the dragon flies out over the town of Dale, Tolkien’s references to Beowulf, in both the vocabulary he uses and the actual story events, feel earned, and valid, and organic. I feel like I am witnessing another step in an ancient storytelling tradition that began with oral poets round a fire in a great mead hall.
When JK Rowling gives us giants in this story all I feel is: ‘Oh, another thing she’s stolen and thrown away.’
I could go on, but life is short.
(OK, one last question – can you think of anything in Harry Potter that doesn’t feel like it has been stolen from somewhere else?)
The big question is: Does It Matter? They’re both silly fantasies aren’t they?
Well, they’re both fantasies. But only one of them is silly.
The Lord of the Rings feels like it grows naturally out of a deep understanding and love for a real, powerful history. It feels like a worthy next step in a mythology that sustained an ancient people for centuries.
The Harry Potter books feel like they were cobbled together out of a pile of moments stolen from half remembered children’s books on a two hour train journey in the rain. (Oh. You mean that’s just exactly what happened?) (Sorry, JK, but that story persists…)
As a writer JK Rowling has a ton of personal magic, so she’s worked absolute wonders with her source material – but it’s based on sand and it won’t sustain.
That’s just my opinion, of course.
[...] Original post by Frankk [...]
They’re both for kids aren’t they? WHat are you getting so worked up about?
Nice buddy. I like it so much. Come on keep it up
Nice job Philip. Thanks for cutting through the facade with some technically sound observations about the artistic merits of the Potter movies.
As for the comments about them being children’s works I have never thought that children should be regarded as less deserving of exposure to great art. To me the Potter thing is a fad that will grow increasingly tasteless with time as all fads (such as pet rocks and mood rings) eventually do.
Fiji
Hi,
Firstly, thanks to Frank for extending this
curtesy. Yes. I actually walked out on the
first Harry Potter and havn’t been back since.
But, Rawlings can write, and very good. I felt
I was starting to see Star Wars again when I saw Harry Potter.
Her extroadinary talent is within her writing.
Last note different movie. I went to see
Michael Clayton last night with George Clooney
and observed the writer violated some basic
principals. However, the acting was good but
anyone could see where the writing messed up.
IE, George Clooney is being chased by murderers
who have planted a bomb in his car. –He just
happens to stop the car by a field, gets out of the car, sees several horses and gazes at them, and then the car blows up. HELLO?????
(He just happen to get out of the car to gaze at the horses and the car blows up?) The writer
quit doing his job at that moment.
Very dissappointing because I went to learn
from the film. I really make a lousy movie critic but I had to mention this. That was one
of about seven other writing violations.
Mickey Josephson
Haven’t seen it yet, but that does sound like a big writing crime. Was initially surprised because Clooney is a very smart director – but he didn’t direct…
According to IMDB the car was clearly a hardnosed old pro of a method car/actor…
“The Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan that is blown up in this film was first used in filming of The Devil Wears Prada (2006). For the earlier film it was cut in two for use in process shots featuring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway. It was then welded back together and repainted in order to be blown up in ‘Michael Clayton’. The car’s preparation was featured on an episode of “Shooting Cars” (2006).”
I totally agree with every single line of what you wrote. Just can’t add anymore.
JK Rowling is a good writer that writes good books. And that’s all. But when it comes to the movies I think the main problem is the first one: Bad acting.
Lord of the Rings was also adapted from a book, a very good one too. Though, it works much better than Harry Potter because the actors know how to express the emotions that, not only the original writter of the book (Tolkin) but also the adapted script, made clear they wanted to be in the movie as a part of it.
That’s probably the reason why when we watch Lord of the Rings we enter in the movie and it’s like we’re there with all the characters.
While watching Harry Potter we don’t feel as conected with the characters nor with the story.
I’m also wondering whether the writers of the Harry Potter screenplays had to stay closer to the novels. I’ve never really done the analysis, but I’d imagine the HP screenplays are lacking fairly straightforward screnplay structural basics. Don’t know, and I don’t fancy going back to see any of them for a more detailed look!
1) I think the fact that Harry Potter is jumping from one director to another doesn’t help its losing battle to begin with. All of them have a different feeling so it’s hard to settle in on it.
2) You’re right, the acting in Harry Potter can’t even be saved by Gary Oldman and Alan Rickman and such because they aren’t the main characters. Would they give more screen time to them, you may get the terrible taste of the child actors out of your mouth but sadly, I don’t think they will do that for the remaining to movies.
3) Like you said, Middle Earth feels more real than Hogwarts ever will.
There’s more but like you said, life is short.
[...] rest of Philip Gladwin’s blog here [...]
To Whom It May Concern:
Just because you guys don’t know how to read a book like Harry Potter that does not give you the right to chastise or bad mouth it. I have watched both movies and read them both as books and they are different in ways but if you are gonna do that, get real movie critics to do that for you, ok?
1) The changing of the directors has nothing to do with the movies. The directors change because they might not want to do the movies anymore or they only signed up for 1 or 2 movies. So get over it.
2) The people who play Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and the other main characters are beginning actors and actress, remember that.
3) Either both Middle Earth and the Wizarding world are real or neither one of them are real. If you can’t get into Harry Potter as much Lord Of the Rings, then don’t watch or read it. It is as simple as that!
Sincerely,
Freak for Fantasy
if you don’t like the movies don’t watch them
Interesting comments FFF. You do seem to get emotional about these discussions.
I was personally unaware that someones “right” to complain about a movie was governed either by their credentials or by your opinion about what they say. Probably they were not aware of that either.
What baffles me is how personally you seem to take the idea of someone else voicing their opinion. Does it matter at all (on an emotional level) if you don’t agree with them? Do they need a telling off from you because they don’t like something?
Seems like you could use a little fresh air and sunshine. Fantasy does not appear to be helping you.
I get plenty of fresh air and sunshine. I’m a California girl who enjoys all that fantasy has to give. Aren’t you doing the same thing to me that you told me not to do? There is a difference between getting emotional about something and being passionate about it,get that straight.It does NOT matter to me what people think,but guess what, I am SOOOOOO tired of people saying CRAP about something I like. Everybody has opinions, but I DO NOT have to agree with them and I am entitled to my opinon whether it be passionate or emotional. For all I care, they can say whatever they want, but they shouldn’t say it where a whole lot of Harry Potter fans will try and fight for the movies/books unless they want a fight. If you have a problem with me stating my opinion, then say it out loud and try not to beat around the bush.I have some better advice for you, if you don’t like my opinions, don’t read ‘em!
Oh and what baffles me is why you care what I think!
Hmmmm. I don’t actually see where I told you to do or not do anything. I did ask some questions but I don’t see how that indicates anything but inquisitiveness.
As for caring what you think I’m not sure where you extrapolated that from. I believe what I did was engage you in some dialog. So you could say I was interested in dialog. I did that because emotional (your word passionate) people are almost guaranteed to respond. You did respond and in a rather predictable fashion I might add.
If the fact that I enjoy dialog seems like I care what you think I guess you are entitled to that interpretation. In a way I suppose showing even a mild interest in what someone else thinks is somewhat similar to caring what they think — but it really doesn’t matter to me how, or even if, you respond. Your response, whatever you say, moves the dialog forward.
As for your opinions I don’t see where I have done anything other than discuss them with you. I didn’t say I either liked or didn’t like them. To me they are something posted here to observe and dialog with if I get the urge.
I’m not sure I’ll ever get your idea of passion and emotion — what you call “straight” — since I tend to direct my passion towards producing results and tend to conduct my discussions in a more relaxed way.
I made the observation that your somewhat dramatic approach to telling people who don’t like the things you do — seemed as though you needed more fresh air and sunshine. I was clearly wrong about that in the literal sense but in a metaphorical sense I wonder if it doesn’t apply.
Nonetheless my observations are not based on any significant sampling of your behavior — only on this brief discussion.
Another question if I may? How could you be soooo tired of people saying “crap” about what you like — if you didn’t care what they thought? When we say “she doesn’t have a care in the world” we don’t normally use that expression to refer to someone who is sooooo tired because of anything that people are saying.
FT
I am soooo tired of people saying CRAP about Harry Potter because I have heard to much of it.But apparently you do not understand.I will elaborate.If I care about something or someone,and someone is going to bad mouth what or who I like, I am going to defend it, and NOT care about what they say about said who/what.Is that plain and simple enough for you?This will be the end of my part of the, as you call it, dialog. If you wish to comment back, good for you, but I will not.
Good-Bye Forever,
Freak For Fantasy
Ok thanks for sharing your thoughts. And no — what you are saying does not make sense to me because it seems contradictory. However thanks for your effort in attempting to elucidate me.
I love what Ghandi’s son said when confronted with what critics were saying about his father:
He said that how Ghandi lived his life was sufficient to stand by itself without needing anyone to defend it — and that his legacy was robust enough to stand up to scrutiny despite what criticisms were launched. I found that to be a pretty good example of someone who did not care about what people thought.
It makes sense to me to pick hero’s that don’t need anyone to defend them.
FT
I think we can all agree that everyone has a right to their opinion. I don’t think it’s fair for someone to say, “leave it to the movie critics” regarding stating one’s opinion of a film. Movie critics aren’t the only group that has a “right” to express an informed opinion on a film, albeit positive or negative. The only difference between people who are movie critics and people who aren’t is that the people who are actually get paid for stating their opinions of a movie.
I agree with Philip. I really looking forward for the Harry Potter movie when showing times is near, but I really had been disapointed when i saw it, it’s really too boring instead. The plot was too slow,then. The character is too different than i expected (i hope Dumbledore don’t act like a gangster for Harry, just like a guardian & teacher, just like the book describe) and there’s too many changes that i couldn’t accept, felt like destroy all the plot of story (something important were been cut, the other hand, the unnecessary plot had been added)very confusing,instead. I really prefered for read the book for 10th times than watch the movie for the 2nd times. But the minus point for the book is, JK couldnt describe out the terror of Voldelmort as good as Tolkiens do (The Voldermort’s terror in the Harry Potter just feel like only a STATEMENT!!!But Tolkien,i can felt the horror of Sauron in the each words!!!)
Hey,have you read Harry Potter and The Deathly Hollow? just one word i can describe my feeling, DISAPPOINTED!!!
1. How Harry dueling the previous Hocruxes(SAD!!!)
2. How all the puzzle (from book 1 – 7) didn’t have a responsible answer from the author (JK, are you forgot all the puzzle you had placed in your previous story 1-6??????)
3. How the Dursley’s ending? (not stated even in a word!!!)
Guys, it’s feel like has been cheated!!!:(
I do not believe this
I had a very long comment typed out, but I’ll summarize it for you in seven sentences:
1: If you’re going to try so hard to sound intelligent, please use your punctuation marks correctly.
2: Don’t compare two completely different things. You act like a children’s book series and a famed piece of master literature are the same basic things. And about screen plays… seriously? Screen play writers are the ass holes of the writing community. Write a book. Once you’ve finished a 700+ thousand word series, and once you’ve edited it fully with all new and original ideas, please feel free to bash any real author you wish.