BEHIND THE SHOT
silks to be flown over sections of the decks as conditions changed. “We decided very early in prep that there would be no lighting fixtures on the decks themselves. That was partly practical, but it was also an aesthetic decision,” says Dillon. “We didn’t want the lighting to feel overly polished or sculpted, we wanted the images to have a sense of rawness, as though grabbed in the middle of the action.” The approach to movement was to let the story guide the way. They considered capturing the warring ships handheld, but instead opted to mount on hydraulic gimbals. “We felt adding excessive handheld movement risked becoming distracting,” he explains. Plus, “the visual language of House of the Dragon is also relatively formal, so we wanted to preserve some of that control even within the chaos.” After testing on a boat at sea, they settled on Libra stabilised heads mounted on cranes outside the hulls, and Ronin 4D cameras operating on deck. “The Ronins allowed us to retain the immediacy of handheld work while
keeping the horizon stable, which was especially important in selling the ships’ movements within a largely blue- screen environment.” For water-heavy sequences, they relied primarily on handheld ALEXA 35s in splash housings. “Loni insisted there should be no impossible shots,” he adds. “Every move had to feel like something that could genuinely have been achieved photographing boats at sea, which kept the audience grounded in the action.” Shooting the one-day battle took five months – with photography taking place over 27 shooting days in ‘virtually every weather condition imaginable’ – making continuity a big task. They were also contending with moving gimbals, practical fire, water crashing on decks, smoke and large-scale stunts, which all had to work together seamlessly. Another factor was the visual effects. “Much of the work involved making sure the practical photography and digital elements shared the same physical logic - the same direction of light, atmosphere and behaviour,” explains Dillon. “Loni is a former VFX supervisor, so
his understanding of the process meant we were always pushing the ambition of what could be achieved. We were also fortunate to work with Dadi Einarsson, who was a fantastic creative partner. “The most important thing was giving VFX something photographic to hold onto: smoke, interactive light, atmosphere, practical fire, water, focus choices and real camera movement,” he adds. “Those elements anchor an image, even when a great deal of it is ultimately created digitally. That didn’t make their lives any easier but they embraced it and made spectacular work. The best VFX are the ones you don’t think about.” Looking back, “I’m proud that we managed to make something this ambitious feel cohesive. It only works because so many departments are operating at an incredibly high level. The cinematography sits at the centre of those contributions and tries to bind them together into a single experience. “If audiences remember how the battle made them feel rather than how it was achieved, then I think we’ve done our job,” Dillon concludes.
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DEFINITIONMAGS
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