Synopsis:
An exciting 90 minute version of Deathly Hallows Part 1 that does away with four inconsequential subplots, some extraneous lines and scenes, and all but 10 minutes of camping, in the pursuit of a more whimsical, action-adventure oriented beginning to Harry Potter’s grand movie finale.
Intentions:
A focused, more broadly entertaining Deathly Hallows Part 1 narrative, satisfying casual fans of the Harry Potter movie series and maintaining its opening Act’s momentum. A more magical, action-adventure cut, as opposed to the original’s more introspective approach. To be considered as the first exciting 90 minute hook of a three and a half hour single film narrative.
Change List:
- Cut Minister of Magic Opening
- Cut Obliviate Montage
- Malfoy Manor deatheater meeting opens film
- Cut Pius and Voldemort’s exchange (replaced with single shot of Pius being threatened by Nagini after Voldemort says “You will, I think, prove most useful, Pius.”)
- Cut Bellatrix’s “I would like to volunteer myself for this task”
- Cut Pettigrew’s “Yes, my lord”
- Replaced: Bellatrix’s pouty-face reaction with a more attentive/fanatical response
- Cut a few frames during Lucius and Voldemort’s exchange and before Voldemort moves Charity Burbage
- Cut Dumbledore flashback
- Cut Mirror shard
- Cut Harry’s first “no,” in reference to the polyjuice.
- Madeye interrupts Mundungus after “Always been a huge…”
- Tightened: Gap between Hagrid’s “Can’t do that, Harry” and “Madeye’s orders”
- Cut a few frames during the Motorbike chase
- Cut the shot of Molly anxious in the Burrow
- Cut a few frames throughout the arrival of the Order of the Phoenix to the burrow
- Cut Hermione taking off Ron’s glasses
- Cut George’s “I’m ‘holey’” joke
- Reworked: Bill Weasely now says “Mundungus took one look at Voldemort, disparate” before “Madeye’s dead”
- Cut scene of Harry sneaking out/Ron confronting him
- Cut scene of Ginny being (as one lady at the midnight screening put it) “slut[ty]”
- Cut Harry’s “To what do we owe the pleasure, Minister?”
- Cut Minister’s “I think we both know the answer to that question;” now he just says “Mr. Potter…”
- Cut Ron’s “Brilliant…what is it?”
- Added: Humorous reaction shot of the Minister to Ron’s “Babbity Rabbity and the Cackling Stump”
- Cut Auntie Muriel Weasely and Harry’s lines naming Bathilda Bagshot
- Reworked: Patronus now says “Minister of magic is dead” before “The Ministry has fallen”
- Cut a few frames during wedding attack and bus dodge
- Cut Hermione’s line about her parents taking her to Shaftesbury Avenue when she was little
- Cut a few frames of the trio entering the London alley
- Cut Hermione’s “That’ll be the books;” scene ends on her “Always the tone of surprise”
- Reworked: The waitress no longer takes the trio’s order in the diner scene
- Cut recognizing the death-eaters and obliviating one’s memory
- Tightened: Trio’s exchange after the diner scene to add urgency
- Cut dust Dumbledore in the hallway
- Cut Bathilda Bagshot’s book in Sirius’ room
- Added: Discovery of Mirror Shard in Sirius’ room
- Reworked: R.A.B.’s note line starts 2 seconds earlier during the previous scene
- Cut a few frames during the Kreacher confrontation
- Cut Kreacher’s “Mundungus…” before “Munnnnndungus Fletcher”
- Cut Hermione teaching Ron Piano
- Tightened: Gap between two of Hermione’s lines to Harry about snitch “Flesh
memories”
- Cut Hermione’s pre-Ministry of Magic pep talk about “just try and blend in”
- Tightened: Whole Ministry of Magic sequence for added humor, urgency, and tension.
- Cut Ron’s “Long Story…”
- Added: Deleted scene discussing what the trio knows about the horcruxes and Ron revealing that Voldemort’s name said aloud is ‘taboo’ (read: traceable)
- Cut Hermione’s “What are you doing” and Harry’s “We have to keep it safe. We’ll take turns.”
- Cut Harry growing agitated with Hermione because of wearing the locket
- Reworked: Harry now kisses the snitch, reads its inscription, and yells Hermione’s name just before her encounter with the Snatchers
- Reworked: Harry and Hermione discuss “I open at the close” on the way back to the tent, and Hermione reveals that she found a symbol inked into “The Tales of Beetle the Bard.” All the while, Ron begins to feel worthless and lies down.
- Reworked: Hermione discovers why Dumbledore left Harry the sword of Gryffindor; scene ends after Ron’s “…the sword was stolen.” (Omitting Ron’s fight with Harry and his departure)
- Reworked: Radio montage now comes after they find out the purpose of the sword.
- Added: Shots of Harry seeing “Dumbledore” in the mirror shard and Hermione leaving her perfume-scented scarf wrapped around a tree during the Radio Montage.
-Reworked: Radio Montage ends after Harry overhears Hermione’s “None of us do” line, and the scene cuts to their new tent sight in the snow after the locket noise peaks.
-Reworked: The tent in the snow fades to black.
-Added: Dumbledore falling flashback during faint “trust me,” before cutting to Harry in the Silver doe scene.
- Cut lines referring to Ron’s departure during the Locket scene
- Tightened: A few shots during the Locket scene
-Reworked: 2nd half of the Locket Confrontation completely reworked so that the naked make out illusion is a last chance effort to sway Ron when he’s already begun to charge, alleviating the gratuitous impression given by the 5 second lingering in original scene. Locket now grows desperate after Harry yells. “Ron it’s lying,” and the scene is tenser due to uncertainty of if Ron is about to kill Harry.
- Reworked: Removed references to Ron’s return during the following scene where Harry and Ron show Hermione the destroyed horcrux. Hermione is now agitated due to her jealousy with the ‘coincidences’ which allowed Ron and Harry to find and destroy what her logic and time could not. Plus, Ron was supposed to still be sick.
- Added: Ron now says “Always the tone of surprise” at the end of telling Hermione about destroying the locket (a callback to the two times they said it to each other previously in the film).
- Cut Ball of Light conversations, but kept the shooting flame in the latter scene.
- Swapped: Hermione’s “It keeps cropping up” and “In ‘Beetle the Bard’”
- Cut Hermione’s “In the graveyard at Godric’s Hollow”
- Reworked: Mr. Lovegood’s reaction to Harry Potter at his front door is more immediate
- Cut Harry straining to speak and his “Actually”
- Cut Harry’s “We were wondering…”
- Cut Ron and Hermione’s argument about “Twilight”
- Cut Hermione asking Mr. Lovegood about the gravestone from Godric’s Hollow
- Cut Harry’s “Who took her, sir?”
- Cut a few frames in the Snatcher chase for a slightly more understandable sequence of events
- Cut Dumbledore’s fire cyclone during Harry’s final vision
-Reworked: Bellatrix now exclaims “NO…” instead of “Get Draco…” And the following scene starts with Draco’s “What’s wrong with his face,” followed by Bellatrix’s “A stinging jinx… was it you, dear!?” Smarter Villain=More imposing.
- Flipped the shot of Bellatrix on top of Hermione from right to left for better continuity with the shots before and after it
- Cut Dobby’s “Sir? I like her VERY much”
- Quickened: Ron’s “Like Hell!” reaction
- Reworked: Dobby no longer gives a speech, only says “Dobby has no master!”
- Cut slow motion knife; knife is thrown and goes in the wormhole
- Cut Harry’s “Help me!”
- Reworked: The music now drowns out Dobby’s “Harry Potter;” scene changes before Luna kneels by Harry.
- Reworked: The music now peaks right as Voldemort fires his lightning into the sky, making it feel more climactic.
Additional Notes:
- Video Levels adjusted to better match the prior films in the series.
- New Opening: Snape’s meeting in Malfoy Manor opens the film.
- New Mirror Shard Introduction: Harry finds the Mirror Shard in Sirius’ room
- 4 major subplots removed:
1. Bathilda Bagshot
2. Godric’s Hollow
3. Locket’s “One-Ring” Properties
4. Ron Leaving
a. Ron’s struggle is now an internal one, dealing with his sense of self-worth compared to Harry and Hermione, both of whom now quickly figure out 3 of Dumbledore’s clues and carry the team through the first half of the film. Ron begins to naturally feel guilty (not angry) about being a burden for Harry and Hermione. The Locket scene is where Ron proves himself a valuable member of the trio; a figurative ‘return’ to form.
- 10 minutes of Camping/Middle restructured: Only 10 minutes of camping separates the end of the ‘Ron Splinched’ scene and the beginning of the ‘Silver Doe/Locket’ scene. All lines directly referring to excised scenes (Bathilda Bagshot, Godric’s Hollow, and Ron Leaving) and important plot points to the narrative of Part 2 (such as, “I open at the close”) have been fit within the new continuity.
- Snatchers are no longer smarter than Bellatrix and the Malfoys when it comes to recognizing Harry.
- Scenes are cut that didn’t work (Zipping up Ginny) and/or that are unnecessary/over-explanatory/retreads (Ron confronts Harry at the Burrow).
- Trimmed/re-worked some lines and shots within sequences that were too long, unnecessary, and/or deflated the scene. (Examples: Dobby’s speech is now one line; Bellatrix’s slow motion knife is gone).
Other Sources:
Special Thanks: