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OUT OF THE DARKNESS IBC SHOW NEWS If you, like us, were disappointed with episode 3 of Season 8 of Game of Thrones, you won’t want to miss a rerun of it at this year’s IBC in Amsterdam
WORDS JULI AN M ITCHELL / PICTURES HBO
S ometimes you’ve got to love those ‘powers that be’. Here’s a decision that will warm the cockles of many cinematographers’ hearts. IBC has decided to show, in its amazing immersive cinema, the whole of episode 3 from the final season of Game of Thrones as it was always meant to be seen. As you may well remember, this was the episode that got the cinematographer who shot it some very unwanted publicity. Cinematographer Fabian Wagner shot The Long Night episode – and walked into a storm of social media trolling, with fans complaining about the darkness on-screen. But this is the streaming world’s dirty little
secret: broadcasters restrict the data rates for huge shows, such as Game of Thrones , causing banding and compression noise in dark scenes. Of course, viewers blame the creator and find people like Wagner on social media to abuse them about it. But Wagner was philosophical when we spoke to him about it in our June issue: “I’m not someone who thinks he is above criticism. I’m happy to be criticised and happy to admit my mistakes. What’s been annoying about this complaint was that I had said in another interview that some people can’t tune their TVs properly, and probably watch things in the wrong environment and in the wrong conditions. Some people are just unaware of how you can enhance your viewing through your television. My emphasis was on ‘some’ people’, which obviously angered people.” He continues: “The way I shot it was a creative decision. It was something I was always sure and proud of. The way we did it enhances the episode. It’s a shame people became nasty and personal, but I think controversy and polarisation is a good thing. I consider cinematography an art form, and it can be controversial. We always said that it would be boring to see this army of the dead – we wanted to not see it.” To light the battle scene in The Long Night , Wagner used large banks of Arri SkyPanel softboxes. He explains: “I wanted
It was a creative decision to shoot the episode this way. It’s a shame people were nasty to control them from the floor, and because of the changeable weather, I had to come up with a rig that would allow me to fly those boxes as much as possible, but were able to be pulled down during windy conditions.” From Season 2, Game of Thrones had two units available permanently, but for Season 8 it changed: “That season, a single unit used three cameras. The director Miguel Sapochnik and I had started working together on the Hardhome episode in Season 5, and we work very well together. What we did was to carry it on by shooting four cameras on The Long Night , with me operating the fourth camera.” Watch The Long Night as Wagner envisioned it at IBC on 13 September at 4pm in the Auditorium Big Screen. Get there early as there will be a queue.
IMAGES Stills from Season 8, episode 3. See it as it was intended to be seen at IBC2019
08 DEF I N I T ION | SEPTEMBER 20 1 9
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