Mockingjay Part 1 Countdown: REENACTMENT!!

Courtney & Tiffany reenact *THAT scene

We are at the end of our Countdown series, you guys! We stopped at Chapter 12 because we believe that is where Mockingjay Part 1 will be split. If analysis is your thing, feel free to check out our Mockingjay Mockup series which we wrote a couple years ago to convince fans why Mockingjay should be split and how. Now lets get on with it.



So what happens in Chapter 12? Mainly, Katniss and Finnick are killing time while they wait for the results of the Peeta rescue mission. We have reason to believe that this sequence will be the climax of Mockingjay Part 1, along with the propo the rest of the rebels are filming around the same time as the mission starts. In just a few days we will be seeing Sam Claflin portray the real character of Finnick Odair, particularly in this scene. Finnick divulges his troubling secrets for all of Panem to hear, and I can't help but be excited to actually see President Snow's reaction. One of the things I've enjoyed the most out of seeing the films bring the books to life is the ability for the focus to be changed. Due to the nature of filmmaking we have been able to see what is happening behind closed doors in The Capitol while the main storyline is going on. I am crossing my fingers that not only do we see Finnick's secrets being aired on Snow's television (or hologram or whatever he's got) but also across Panem. What are the citizen's reactions to such atrocities? Will this event change the minds of citizens on the fence about the rebellion? I guess we will find out next week!

When the mission is a success, there is a reunion of sorts that is very happy: Finnick and Annie. I have a feeling they will really play up the joy of seeing a reunion like this only for the rug to be stolen away from under the movie goers. SUPRISE!! PEETA'S A RAVING LUNATIC!! Now I could be wrong and Francis could have chosen a different path for the end of Part 1 completely. But for years this is how I have felt they would end Part 1. Hopefully, it doesn't end too abruptly because I am already DYING to see Johanna. If I only see her roll by on a gurney I swear I will scream right there in the theatre.

So what's with the weird video? Well Tiffany and I (Courtney), wanted our Mockingjay Countdown to go out with a bang.  We decided to reenact, as ridiculous as possible, that awful moment that every fan is dreading to see on the screen. The only way for us to cope with this intensity is to laugh at it, so there it is. We hope you have enjoyed our Mockingjay Mockup posts, but more importantly we hoped you guys enjoyed our creations week to week. We wish everyone a happy film release, be safe, and have an awesome time!!

Be sure to tweet us your pics next week!!

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MOCKINGJAY PART 1 Countdown - Week 10

We're back for another week of Mockingjay Part 1 Countdown. We're getting closer and closer to the release of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1! Can you feel it? HEY! Can you feel it? Thank you.

This chapter starts Part II of Mockingjay "The Assault" and picks up immediately after the cliffhanger at the end of the previous chapter. Peeta had warned District 13 of an attack, and Katniss watched him getting beaten before the video feed cut off. She emotionally tries to deal with what she had witnessed when Haymitch and Coin argue about the validity of his warning. When Haymitch and Katniss assure Coin that Peeta believes there will be an attack, Coin decides that a Level 5 drill would be helpful in any case. Boggs leads her down in the depths of District 13 to the bottom of the stairs.

credit: mockingday

Plutarch finds her and asks her to be an example to the rest of District 13 and to act calmly in order to keep everyone else calm. When he leaves, she inspects and puts together her family's compartment according to the instructions:

Katniss notices that the others around her follow her example. It's a small indication to both the audience and Katniss that she holds sway over people. Even in a situation like this, she has more power than she thinks.

When Mrs. Everdeen arrives without Prim, Katniss realizes that Prim had gone back to their compartment to get Buttercup. She panics and rushes to the doors, which are closing, and shoves herself in between them. Gale and Prim arrive with Buttercup, Katniss's game bag, and the box of medical supplies they brought from District 12. As this scene would add suspense, I'm hoping Prim almost getting locked out will make it in the movie.

They get to their compartment, and Coin starts to make an announcement when the first bomb hits. Katniss brings their beds to the floor so that she, Prim, and Buttercup can huddle together. They talk, and Prim tells Katniss that she thinks she'll be trained to be a doctor. 

When Prim asks Katniss how she is doing, Katniss opens up to her and explains how she is worried that President Snow will kill Peeta. Prim tells her that they won't because Peeta is all Snow has to get to Katniss.

“So, what do you think they’ll do to him?” I ask. 

Prim sounds about a thousand years old when she speaks. 

“Whatever it takes to break you.”

In this exchange, we get both an insight into Prim's wisdom and growth and a sense of foreboding. Prim's words will fuel Katniss's motivation to save Peeta, so I'm fairly confident this conversation, in some form or another, will end up in the movie.

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Week 9

MOCKINGJAY PART 1 Countdown - Week 9

Welcome back to Week 9 of the Mockingjay Part 1 Countdown!

Chapter 9 of Mockingjay is quite a doozy. We have the aftermath of seeing Peeta's worsening condition weighing heavily on Katniss. She's released from the hospital but her nightmares are keeping her from sleeping. She's upset and worried about Peeta and angry at Gale for not telling her about Peeta's interview.

After confronting Gale, Katniss is whisked away to her film crew. The team is nearly done putting together some powerful footage in remembrance of past tributes that have died in the games to be aired in each district. As they ready those to air that night, Katniss and her team are sent to District 12 to film some footage. After filming Katniss and Gale in the destruction that used to be their homes they follow Gale and show how he escaped the attack on 12. While having lunch Katniss notices mockingjays in the trees around them. Pollux asks Katniss to sing a song and Katniss sings Rue's notes before launching into a new song to stop the memories of the arena that thinking of Rue brings on.

This is one of my favorite things in the book and I'm extremely excited to see in on the big screen. Katniss sings "The Hanging Tree" while everyone watches in awe. Castor films her singing and the mockingjays picking up the tune.

As they make their way back Katniss and Gale have a private moment and Gale brings up their kiss after Gale got whipped. As Gale becomes emotional Katniss kisses him. Gale accuses Katniss of kissing him only because he was in pain and tells her that it'll pass as he walks out.

The team makes their way back to District 13 and Katniss heads straight for bed. After sleeping the next day away, Katniss gets brought to Command in time to see a live appearance with President Snow and Peeta. Peeta is getting worse and worse each time we see him and the two discuss the damage in the districts. Beetee in the meantime has figured out a way to break into the Capitol signal and footage of Katniss and other propos are shown in all the districts and the Capitol itself during the segment. Everyone in Command is cheering Beetee's achievement except for Haymitch, Finnick and Katniss who all realize that Peeta is the one that will suffer in exchange for this.

Seeing Katniss on screen visibly shakes Peeta and Snow is infuriated. Snow asks Peeta if he has thoughts on Katniss. Peeta seems at war with himself and somehow gets a message across. District 13 is going to be attacked tonight. Snow orders the show to end and the last thing we hear is Peeta's cry of pain as his blood splatters the tiles.

This is one of the best chapters. We know that the Hanging Tree is going to be in the movie and Peeta's warning is crucial to District 13's fate. I am so excited to see the footage of the propos disbursed with the footage of Snow and Peeta.

Join us next week in time for District 13 to get bombed while everyone plays with Buttercup in Chapter 10!

MOCKINGJAY PART 1 Countdown - Week 8

We're back for another edition of our Mockingjay Part 1 Countdown. It's week 8, so naturally we will be discussing Chapter 8 from Mockingjay.

Chapter 8 starts off with the aftermath of the attack on District 8. Katniss is banged up, and she spends a night in the hospital. After a conversation with her mother, who had not known she'd gone to District 8, she is taken to Command in a wheelchair. She meets with Cressida, Messalla, and the "insect" cameramen first.

Castor introduces himself and his brother Pollux, who is an avox.

Side note:
After seeing Castor's name misspelled too many times as "Caster", I made a comment to fellow admin Courtney that I keep picturing him as a caster or spellcaster in Dungeons and Dragons, which we both play. Courtney then encouraged me to do the following:

Yes, a caster Castor D&D 3.5 character sheet. I created a level 10 sorcerer, with emphasis on charisma-based skills because Castor speaks for Pollux, and I imagine he did a fair bit of negotiating on his brother's behalf while buying his way above ground. Also, I gave him a relatively high strength modifier because I imagine it would take a lot of strength to carry his camera everywhere. Enjoy!

After everyone enters the meeting, Katniss watches the propo that has aired. I'm really looking forward to actually seeing this propo, and maybe we will get to see it being aired for the districts instead of Katniss watching after the fact.

Katniss realizes that Coin does not know that she disobeyed orders and removed her earpiece, and she notes that Haymitch is angry with her for it. After some discussion of other propos they will put together and air, including ones featuring dead tributes like Rue and Mags, the meeting ends, and Katniss falls asleep in the hospital.

When she wakes, Haymitch is there to confront her about the earpiece, threatening to even have a chip implanted in her where he can talk to her whenever he wants.

Katniss and Finnick watch another propo that was put together from District 8 footage, and immediately after, the second Peeta interview airs. Katniss notes how he is in visibly worse shape than she saw him in the first interview, and she realizes the first interview could've been taped long before it was aired. This interview is the first real hint of what the Capitol has been doing to Peeta since the arena blew up. He cautions Katniss about who she is working with, and when the interview is over, Finnick and Katniss agree to pretend they hadn't seen it. And when Fulvia and Plutarch show up later, they do not mention the interview.

I'm really looking forward to seeing Peeta's true state. Whether or not they will show this interview, I'm not sure, as they could easily cut this out since it is short. We may not see him again until the interview where he warns 13. However, if the focus of Part 1 will be getting Peeta back, it may be beneficial to drop more hints about Peeta and also to start putting doubt in Katniss's mind about whether she should trust the rebels. So far we haven't seen much of what goes on in this chapter in the promotional materials, so it can go either way.

Tune in next week when we discuss Chapter 9!

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Week 7

MOCKINGJAY Part 1 COUNTDOWN - Week 7

Welcome to week 7 of our Mockingjay Part 1 Countdown! Chapter 7 is one of my favorite chapters of the book for a few reasons. I'm going to discuss them further later, but I am going to enumerate them for now because it is also a good way to summarize the chapter:

• Cressida (played by Natalie Dormer) being introduced
• The District 8 hospital scene
• Katniss (and Gale) vs. the Bombers
• Katniss becoming the Mockingjay

This chapter is so compelling and so action-packed, it reads like it was made to be turned into a movie. As you may or may not know, a good portion of what happens in this chapter is featured in the (which you can re-watch here if you need a quick refresher), so we know what to expect. 

Natalie Dormer being cast as Cressida was like a dream come true for me. In the TV shows I've seen her in, she's played incredibly smart, fearless, strong, somewhat calculating characters. The role of Cressida, the director/journalist tasked with following Katniss to film propos to encourage morale among the rebels, is somewhat similar to other roles she has taken on. A big difference, however, is the fact that the movie is set in the middle of the war. It will be interesting to see her in a setting that is somewhat grittier with a sense of urgency (the life-or-death kind). Mostly, I am looking forward to seeing how her relationship with Katniss is portrayed in the movie. Also, does she get to keep her accent?

The District 8 hospital scene is one of the most compelling parts of the book. Katniss visits a hospital in District 8 and is surprised and moved by the rebel's reaction to her presence and the fact that she is alive. She then realizes how important she is to the rebellion, which, based on the teaser trailer, is (or will be) illustrated in the movie (since her realization was internal in the book)  when someone from the hospital asks her if she was there to fight with them to which she responds, "I am. I will." 

gif source

After obtaining the footage Cressida's team needed to put together a propo, hoverplanes from the Capitol appear to bomb the hospital. Katniss is whisked away to ensure both her safety and that the Capitol bombers do not see her. When she realizes that the target was the hospital, full of injured rebels who cannot run, much less defend themselves, she takes it upon herself to fire back at the hoverplanes. Her and Gale manage to take a couple of the planes down, but the Capitol was ultimately successful and the hospital is destroyed, along with those in it. 

gif source

The bombing is featured prominently in the trailer, and we see Katniss' bow and arrow, and Gale's crossbow, described in the book as a bow fitted with scopes and other gadgets, having been designed as military weapon. We can also clearly see them taking full advantage of their weapons' special features, as the arrows they fire cause considerable amounts of damage to the targets they hit. Long story short: their weapons are bad ass and I am excited to see more of what they can do with them!

Faced with the Capitol's ruthlessness and cruelty and with a little prodding from Cressida, Katniss films a response to President snow and the attack. If Katniss saying she is ready to fight with the rebels seemed compelling, her message to Snow is probably going to be compelling and a half! It will be compelling on steroids. "Fire is catching! And if we burn, you burn with us!" Thankfully (or sadly, depending on how you feel about visual spoilers), we will have to wait until the movie is out to see that particular scene. However, here's a little something I've drawn to show you guys what I think that scene is going to be like (I have a feeling this is exactly what it'll look like in the movie):

And that's a wrap! Join us again on Friday for the next installation of our Mockingjay Part 1 Countdown! In case you missed the previous weeks' posts, here they are:

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Week 6

MOCKINGJAY Part 1 COUNTDOWN - Week 6

It is Week 6 of the Mockingjay Part 1 Countdown! Chapter 6 brings us directly after the filming of Katniss's disastrous first propo. Haymitch gathers a group of people, including her prep team and former citizens of District 12 and shows them the footage, proving it will be ineffective. He asks the group for examples of when Katniss has made them feel something real.

Together, they conclude that all the examples provided had one thing in common: they were unscripted and from Katniss herself. Haymitch proposes to film her while she's out in the field, and Coin eventually agrees and says Katniss can go to District 8. This scene has always felt cinematic to me, so I hope the brainstorming scene makes it in, maybe switching out the notepad that Haymitch writes on with a fancy schmancy futuristic blackboard.

Afterwards, Katniss and Haymitch confront each other about failing to rescue Peeta, and Haymitch reassures her that they still can save him. This exchange is one of my favorites in the series and is pretty essential to illustrating Katniss's main motivation of the first half of Mockingjay.

Beetee equips her with Cinna's designs, and in comes Finnick for one of his best moments in the entire series. Finnick shows up fresh from the hospital, upset that he is not allowed to come. Katniss successfully distracts him, and as he is off to see Beetee, Katniss points out that Finnick has forgotten he is wearing a hospital gown and slippers and suggests that he put on pants.

He looks down at his legs as if noticing his outfit for the first time. Then he whips off his hospital gown, leaving him in just his underwear. “Why? Do you find this”—he strikes a ridiculously provocative pose—“distracting?”

We are praying this scene makes it into the movie, as it is a character defining moment for Finnick and it creates a little levity for a generally heavy story.

The chapter ends with Plutarch explaining to Gale and Katniss the vision for the future of Panem, a republic that emulates our present day and their past. And then finally Plutarch gives Katniss the nightlock pill for in case she is captured.

While this chapter is light on the action, it's full of moments that feel so integral to the storytelling and the experience that is reading The Hunger Games that we're hoping this stays in the movie.

Join us next week for the next chapter!

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Mockingjay Part 1 COUNTDOWN - Week 4

Thanks for tuning into part four of The Mockingjay Part 1 Countdown!

Week four starts off immediately where week three ends, with the shocking revelation of Katniss’ prep team chained to a wall, abused and half starved. I think this is one of the most pivotal scenes in part one of Mockingjay because this is the moment that Katniss really sees that the atrocities of President Snow’s reign exist in President Coin’s rule as well.

She finds out her prep team had been smuggled out of the Capitol the night that Katniss and her fellow victors were rescued from the arena. As Tiffany pointed out, we think there is a big chance that Effie will also be in this scene. Effie is our only real link to Katniss’ team in the movies since we never really got a chance to know the rest of the team intimately.

We find out the prep team is being punished for stealing an extra slice of bread because for the first time in their lives, food is a precious commodity. And as any fan knows, bread is practically it’s own character in the books.

After consoling her traumatized prep team, Katniss demands their release. With Plutarch’s authority, they take the team to Katniss’ mother to be looked over. While her team is examined, Katniss shares her thoughts with Plutarch and Gale. In the books, Plutarch’s assistant is also there, but we believe her character will be replaced with more Effie (yay!). Katniss has come to the conclusion that her prep team being punished is a warning to Katniss and her friends and no matter who Katniss is and what she demands, Coin is in charge.

When Katniss is assured her prep team is physically all right, she is finally able to put one of her demands as Mockingjay to use. She is able to hunt again. Gale and Katniss finally get a chance at being themselves as they work together. When they are finishing up they discuss why Katniss is so affected by her prep teams abuse. This, I believe, is the first real example they will show of the fundamental difference between Katniss and Gale. While Gale is angry at the entire Capitol, Katniss realizes that most of their citizens are also victims.

The two hunters give their spoils to the kitchens and Katniss waits for Coin’s announcement. As Katniss joins the assembly, she runs into Finnick and is reminded to seek Annie Cresta’s immunity as well as the kidnapped victors. Coin agrees to this amendment and announces Katniss’ consent to be the Mockingjay in return for the other victors’ pardons. Then Coin adds her own addendum. If Katniss is insubordinate in any way, she and her fellow victors’ lives are on the line.

Mockingjay Part 2 COUNTDOWN - Week 3

Greetings and welcome back to the Mockingjay Part 1 Countdown! It is week 3, so naturally we will be talking about Chapter 3.

Chapter 3 begins with Katniss unable to sleep and finally getting out of her bed to go through her drawer, itemizing all the things she left the arena with. Because The Hunger Games: Catching Fire included Peeta giving Katniss the pearl on the beach, I’m confident we will see the pearl again, specifically in this scene. If, as we suspect, Part 1 will be focused on getting Peeta back, the pearl is an important physical tie to Peeta for Katniss, and it will help remind audiences what he means to her.

Then Prim rouses to ask Katniss what is wrong, and Katniss tells her that she will agree to be the Mockingjay and explains her worries about the repercussions of it. Here we have Prim giving Katniss some smart advice, similar to the extra Katniss/Prim scene in the CF movie. I’m hoping that Prim will still be the person that advises Katniss, since it shows change and growth in Prim’s character and Katniss’s relationship with her.

The next day, Katniss and Gale go to Command, and she makes her demands. First, they make arrangements for keeping Buttercup and for hunting in the woods above District 13. Then, a conversation about what Gale would be to her both flusters and angers her, which, though unlikely, I hope is kept in to drive home the point that the focus of this story does not lie with the love triangle but the revolution (Booyah, popular media!).

When Katniss stipulates that Peeta, Johanna and Enobaria will not be punished and that Coin will promise this in public, it is the first intimation of Katniss as the Mockingjay, with Fulvia commenting to Plutarch that that is their vision. On the subject of Fulvia, she will most likely not appear in the movies since no casting announcement has been made for her character, and it is highly speculated that Effie’s inclusion in Mockingjay will fill that role. Whether or not she will be in Command with them at this point or will be kept with the prep team (more on that in a little bit), we can’t say for sure. And finally, Katniss says that she will be the one to kill Snow, which somewhat impresses Coin.

Once Coin leaves, Plutarch hands Katniss the all important and feels-inducing Cinna’s sketchbook. Cinna had designed the Mockingjay uniform, and Katniss reads a message written by him: “I’m still betting on you.”

With the knowledge that Cinna wanted this for her, Plutarch takes Katniss and company down to the 39th floor. A guard blocks them, telling them they have the wrong floor. Katniss and Gale create a distraction so that Katniss can push past the guard to find her prep team, abused and chained to the wall.

Would Effie be revealed here with the prep team? I think it’s a real possibility. It isn’t clear so far how they are incorporating Effie into these two movies. If Effie is as unaware of the rebellion as she seems, it would be logical for the rebels to have kidnapped her at the same time as the prep team, especially considering she is not on the hovercraft with Haymitch and Plutarch at the end of Catching Fire. Some food for thought. Effie’s inclusion in the movie is a change that most fans are in favor of, but we know very little so far about how exactly she will be incorporated outside of how she is styled in her character poster:

Tune in next week for Chapter 4.

Mockingjay Part 1 COUNTDOWN!

WEEK ONE

The Hunger Games fandom is alive once again! IT LIVES!! LIKE THE MOCKINGJAY! We are getting ever so closer to the release of Mockingjay Part 1, and thought that a countdown event is in order. Every Friday starting today we will release a piece about each chapter in Mockingjay along with a bit of media such as the comic above. However, we’re not doing every chapter in the book, only where we think the book will be split. If you read our Mockingjay Mockup you know what exactly that is. That is not to say where it is to be officially split, obviously. We could be completely and terribly wrong, but as patient fans all we can do is speculate. We do hope you enjoy our Mockingjay Part 1 Countdown!

My name is Katniss Everdeen. I am seventeen years old. My home is District 12. I was in the Hunger Games. I escaped. The Capitol hates me. Peeta was taken prisoner. He is thought to be dead. Most likely he is dead. It is probably best if he is dead.

Things have changed drastically. District 12 is gone. Welcome to District 12? Pfft. GOODBYE District 12!! Katniss visits so she can see for herself and to come to grips with reality. The speech above is repeatedly used in Mockingjay, which I thought was a good starting point for the countdown. Doctors recommended that Katniss repeat simple facts about herself to keep her... shall we say... sanity in check.

Katniss not only deals with the physical toll of breaking out of the arena, but also feels responsible for all the deaths in District 12. She is mentally unstable and has an exorbitant amount of grief piled on top of her, IN ADDITION TO her emotional baggage left over from her first games. Side note: This is why people who complain about Katniss’ mental state in MJ drive me insane. Could YOU deal with the emotional toll and PTSD of a seasoned war veteran BEFORE the war even starts at 17 years old? 

Everyone is broken, not just Katniss — Beetee, Finnick, Johanna, and Peeta to name a few. Most of them have deeper problems than just their electrical injuries. Everyone is in pieces, yet they have to come out of this war that just started alive and be victorious. It’s a daunting task, especially when Katniss is struggling with accepting the role of The Mockingjay. Peeta had said to her that he didn’t want to be a piece in their games, but it is already apparent that Katniss is another piece — this time in the rebels' games.  

All this in the first chapter, and I haven’t even talked about the present that President Snow leaves in Victor’s Village. I would hope that the rose is the focal point to the opening of Mockingjay Part 1 but I suppose time will tell on that one. It will be interesting to see the turmoil of what is happening emotionally and physically to Katniss on her return trip to District 12 without any kind of voice over, but I trust that Francis Lawrence will do a great job of illustrating that to the audience. 

What I hope to see the most out of this chapter is the frightening mental instability going on with Katniss during her tour. Upon stumbling upon the stocks and whipping posts Katniss’ hallucinations begin as she fights for control. This is coming from her PTSD that dates back to the beginning of Catching Fire, something we will be seeing a lot of in the next two films. To put it eloquently….. Shit’s about to get REAL.

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Week 10