After two episodes of story based character reflection, the moment Game of Thrones have been waiting for arrived on Sunday with the Battle for Winterfell between the Living and the Dead. The Long Night was one hour and 28 minutes of tension, conflict, death, and a desperate fight for life. But if you ask some, it was also an extremely dark story. Literally dark as in difficult to see what was going on. However, if you ask Game of Thrones Cinematographer Fabien Wagner, he would tell you that the lighting was done in the manner the show’s creators wanted and part of the problem viewers had was due to the way their selected method of watching was setup. He expressed this opinion in a recent interview with Wired.
A lot of the problem is that a lot of people don’t know how to tune their TVs properly. A lot of people also unfortunately watch it on small iPads, which in no way can do justice to a show like that anyway. The showrunners decided that this had to be a dark episode. We’d seen so many battle scenes over the years – to make it truly impactful and to care for the characters, you have to find a unique way of portraying the story. Game of Thrones is a cinematic show and therefore you have to watch it like you’re at a cinema: in a darkened room,” the cinematographer revealed. “If you watch a night scene in a brightly-lit room then that won’t help you see the image properly.
The main fear fans had was that between the winter storm that came with the Night King and his minions, and the lack of light, they might be missing an important character event transpiring. In this matter, Wagner assured fans: “Everything we wanted people to see is there.”
Did you have any issues with how the episode was lit? If so, does Wagner’s explanation help reconcile your concerns or do you feel he is being defensive about his craft? Share your thoughts with us at GVNation.
Source: ComicBook
Senior Writer at GeekVibesNation – I am a 50 something child of the 70’s who admits to being a Star Trek/Star Wars/Comic Book junkie who once dove head first over a cliff (Ok, it was a small hill) to try to rescue his Fantastic Four comic from a watery grave. I am married to a lovely woman who is as crazy as I am and the proud parent of a 18 year old boy with autism. My wife and son are my real heroes.
