For an episode entitled “The Long Night,” you’d think viewers would be prepared for a dark and ominous Game of Thrones installment.
And in that respect, HBO’s fantasy epic delivered in spades. So much so, in fact, that many felt “The Long Night” was too dark – particularly during the scenes shot outside of Winterfell where the Night King’s invading army tear through the Dothraki, the Unsullied and the remnants of the Starks.
Turns out there’s a simple solution, and no, it doesn’t just involve brightness and contrast levels. As cinematographer Fabien Wagner tells Wired, many people don’t know how to tune their TVs properly, as gimmicks such as an artificial HDR enhancer will inevitably screw with the black levels.
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.
Turns out David Benioff and D.B. Weiss committed to a dark episode early on in the creative process – likely to crank up the tension as the Night King and his army drew closer. Indeed, that’s the argument put forth by Wagner, who reminded viewers that Thrones has always been a deeply cinematic series.
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. [Thrones] has always been very dark and a very cinematic show. We tried to give the viewers and fans a cool episode to watch. I know it wasn’t too dark because I shot it.
Expect Game of Thrones to return this coming Sunday, May 5th, at which point we’ll have a better understanding of what comes next now that the Battle of Winterfell – the battle between the living and the dead – has drawn to a close. Is Dany still the red-hot favorite to assume the Iron Throne? Or will her incestual relationship with her nephew throw a spanner in the works? All will be revealed very soon indeed.