Harry Potter movie scene

First off, I have to say I haven’t seen any of the HP movies. I’ve read the books a few years ago, but I don’t remember them very well.

I am watching a video of a deaf woman signing about a Harry Potter movie. Sometimes signers use their hands to describe something, without saying what it is. She is saying something like:

A person is climbing up stairs. S/he comes to a barrier of some sort. A big thing is rising up and turning its head. It turns its head and hits something wall-like. The person climbs the barrier and runs away.

Then she says:
A person is climbing upwards. Something big rises up and turns its head. It dives around to the left. Then it swings back to the right. It’s looking for something (I think).

It looks like Harry is trying to get away from some monster. He gets away by climbing a wall that the monster for some reason can’t follow him over. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Anyone know what the monster is and what book it’s from?

Sounds like stealing the dragon egg in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Harry is flying his broomstick at the time.

Regards,
Shodan

This may seem like a stupid question: But why do visuals have to be signed?

It could also be from Chamber of Secrets, during the final battle when Harry has blinded the Basilisk and it is trying to sniff him out while he climbs a carved wall.

In the last book, Harry is climbing the stairs in the house of Bathilda Bagshot, the woman who talked to Rita Skeeter about the Dumbledores. Nagini is in her skin and attacks Harry on the landing at the top of the stairs.

Sorry, I don’t understand this question.

The conversation is about whether a certain scene from the movie is in the book (the book and the movie are identified as Harry Potter, but not which one). She doesn’t sign out word for word PERSON CLIMB UP. BIG THING LIFT HEAD. She is showing what happened using her hands. I’m just having trouble working out what she means. The first time I watched it I thought it was a a giant spotlight turning from side to side, but the wall part was confusing. Now I think it’s a big creature, but it might be something else all together.

I don’t think he’s on a broomstick, since he’s moving his limbs. Could be the Chamber of Secrets. Bewildebeest, is that scene in the recent movie? Does Nagini hit her head on a wall at any point? Actually, maybe it is the Chamber of Secrets, because if the basilisk was blind it could easily run into a wall.

It just occurred to me, the ‘wall’ could be a tree, or hedge, even.

We are wondering what the context of this video is. Usually interpreters only sign what’s audible, since deaf people can see the visuals for themselves. What situation is the person in, that they decided to describe the visual plot of a movie using sign? Is it just a practice exercise? Or are they being interviewed, and they are describing the scene as the answer to a question? Or is it a conversation between two signers who happen to be chatting with each other about a Potter movie they just watched?

Yes and yes. Actually, she smashes through the walls.

Oh, OK. It is two signers having a conversation. I am transcribing it as part of a university linguistics assignment (I’m looking for how subjects are or aren’t marked in Australian sign language). Don’t interpreters interpret both ways, though, say if a hearing person wanted to know what a deaf person was saying?

It could be Nagini then, especially since that’s recent. It looked more like it hit the wall and stopped rather than smashed through, but it’s close.

Aha! Thanks for the explanation. As far as Potter, keep in mind that it’s not likely to be from the last book unless your video was filmed within the last seven days.

No, it’s from two weeks ago. I guess I’ll have to chase her up and see if she remembers what she was talking about.

It sounds more like the Chamber of Secrets scene **maggenpye **mentions.

Is this conversation video something avaliable to all of us (on Youtube or something)? That might help.

Yeah, my first thought was the basilisk from Chamber of Secrets.

I feel so … validated (sniff), thank you.

So, Weedy, have you checked? what’s the actual answer?

I’m hoping I’ll see her tomorrow so I can ask her.

The basilisk does seem like a good bet.

Ok I’ve checked up and it turns out I completey misunderstood what she was saying. D’oh!

There was no creature. The thing coming up off the ground was a flight of stairs, that rose up, and locked into place. Then the flight up the next level went back the other way. Does that sound more familiar? I think it was the 5th movie.

Hmm…sounds to me like the “trick step” scene in the fourth book. Harry is climbing a staircase, lost in thought, and steps in a trick step–a step that isn’t a step at all. Consequently, his feet get stuck, and he drops something big and heavy and it rolls down the stairs.

Or it could be the very first movie, when the new students first see the crazy Hogwarts staircases moving hither and yon.

I thought of that scene, too.

There are a couple of scenes where the staircases move - when the first years are led to the Griffindor common room for the first time and then later where the three kids accidentally find themselves in the ‘forbidden corridor’ and meet Fluffy.