Thought the most recent episode of Game of Thrones was too dark? Don’t blame the cinematography!
Fabian Wagner, the cinematographer who shot the Battle of Winterfell, addressed complaints from fans that The Long Night could’ve used some help from the Lord of the Lighting Department.
Well, Wagner doesn’t want you blaming him for the nightly episode; he insists it was shot perfectly. Instead, he’s blaming HBO… and viewers for (probably) not watching Game of Thrones the right way!
Related: Sophie Turner Recaps Maisie Williams’ MAJOR ‘Thrones’ Moment!
Speaking to TMZ, the cinematographer, who also shot classic episodes like Hardhome and Battle of the Bastards, explained that the poor visual quality was likely due to HBO’s compression of the episode, which caused the pixelation and muddy dark colors fans saw on their TV screens and mobile devices.
Wagner added that the visuals can also suffer if it’s being viewed on a streaming service with a weak connection or in a room that’s not dark enough. He explained:
“[GoT] has always been very dark and a very cinematic show… [it should be watched] in a dark environment. Ideally, this means viewing it like you would a movie — in a dark theater.”
Wagner advised fans to make their viewing room as dark as possible, adjust their TV settings, and — at all costs — avoid watching it on their phones.
As for the way it was shot, he noted that showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss, as well as the episode’s director Miguel Sapochnik, wanted the episode to be dark AF. Wagner points out that the battle scenes were intended to be intense, claustrophobic, and disorienting — which he felt they achieved.
But if you thought the episode wasn’t bright enough, he concluded, you really only have yourself to blame:
“We tried to give the viewers and fans a cool episode to watch… I know it wasn’t too dark because I shot it.”
Aside from its nightly-ness, fans had pretty much no complaints about The Long Night — which, as we wrote, [SPOILER ALERT] ended with Night King’s death thanks to a surprise fatal blow from Arya Stark.
Photos: Best ‘Game Of Thrones’ Memes From The Battle Of Winterfell!
While most fans loved the fact that the young assassin was the one to do the deed — instead of, say, Jon Snow — one person wasn’t sure about the twist ending: Maisie Williams.
The actress told Entertainment Weekly:
“It was so unbelievably exciting. But I immediately thought that everybody would hate it; that Arya doesn’t deserve it. The hardest thing is in any series is when you build up a villain that’s so impossible to defeat and then you defeat them. It has to be intelligently done because otherwise people are like, ‘Well, [the villain] couldn’t have been that bad when some 100-pound girl comes in and stabs him.’ You gotta make it cool.”
Oh, but it was cool, gurl!
Arya slaying the Night King was something that was set up for the past few seasons, yet many fans still didn’t see it coming… and not because their screens were too dark. Ha!
What did YOU think of The Long Night?? Watch more on the making of the episode (below).
[Image via HBO]
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