Creator’s Statement
Anybody who has ever read a novel or who has studied literature has come across the term and notion of ‘point-of-view.’ In books, there is always a narrator, someone who tells us a story. And it is also the narrator who directs our emotions, our feelings, and our empathy towards the characters, the action, and the narrative itself. In films, however, we do not read words, we do not pick up emotions by stumbling upon certain adjectives in descriptions. We perceive images, we hear music, we hear sounds, and these direct our emotions towards what is happening in a narrative.
I have always found it fascinating how films make us care. How they make us aware of emotions and events portrayed on screen and how they make us feel part of a story that is so distant from us, yet so close in front of us. I chose Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004, Alfonso Cuarón) because this film struck me when I was younger with its dark visuals and its distinguished use of camera perspectives. With this video essay, I want to elaborate on how the film uses point-of-view to adapt a story from book to film by translating its way of narration beautifully and in the most faithful way. I contend that this film thereby accomplishes to arouse viewers’ empathy and sympathy towards the protagonist, namely Harry, and to awaken their attachment to his personal story, his feelings, and his following, yet to be unfolded, journey. I want to shed light on how this film differs from its predecessors, on what makes it special in its narrative style, and on why this film is inevitably essential for the entirety of the Harry Potter Saga.
When I started making this video essay, I did have an idea in mind where I wanted to go with this. However, the more invested I got in the material, the deeper I fell into a spiral and endlessly discovered more fascinating visuals, striking aspects of filmmaking, and Cuarón’s incredible skills of telling Harry’s story. I quickly noticed how easily and almost unnoticeably I got off track with regards to my original idea for my video essay, how I dived deeper into the crossroads of filmmaking. Thanks to my classmates’ input after showing a work-in-progress, I decided to integrate text excerpts of the original Harry Potter book to emphasize the literal translation from text to screen. This implementation then guided me, and I think also guides viewers of this video essay, through my examination and visual assertions. And I daresay that this video essay covers how well the film translates Harry Potter’s narration by smartly conveying his feelings through a combination of point-of-view shots, narration, and sound.
Author Biography
Sofie Hilbrands continued her academic education after receiving her Bachelor of Arts in English literary studies and, soon after, achieved her Master of Arts with focus on film and audiovisual studies. Her journey into film analysis started in her Master program where she deepened her knowledge about cinematic and videographic criticism. Her video essays highlight storytelling in film and, as a consequence of her background, compare it to literary storytelling. By doing this, Sofie Hilbrands focuses on the power in film storytelling and its impact on a single individual by translating emotions through images rather than text.
Works Cited
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, Warner Brothers, 2003.
Copyright (c) 2023 Sofie Hilbrands.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
