Los Angeles: ‘Game of Thrones’ cinematographer Fabian Wagner has defended how multiple scenes were too dark for home-viewers to make out the much anticipated Battle of Winterfell.
Fans were particularly excited for the show’s tent-pole episode over the weekend, but many were left disappointed when it turned out too dark.
Wagner has a defence for the poor lighting, and said it was an artistic choices he made for the gruesome battle scenes.
In an interview with Wired alongside episode director Miguel Sapochnik, Wagner placed the blame away from the production team onto viewers’ home devices.
“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,” Wagner said.
“Personally I don’t have to always see what’s going on because it’s more about the emotional impact… ‘Game of Thrones’ is a cinematic show and therefore you have to watch it like you’re at a cinema: in a darkened room,” he added. “If you watch a night scene in a brightly-lit room then that won’t help you see the image properly.”
Wagner also noted the shift in tone throughout the series, with each season becoming darker alongside grim themes.
“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,” he said.
Wagner also pointed out that the darkness could be due to the episode’s night-time shoots compared to lighter scenes that were shot on-set.
“Everything we wanted people to see is there,” he said.
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