The Battle of Winterfell was dark and full of terror; So dark, we could not see anything

They say that democracy dies in darkness (OK, OK, only we say it), but in the Sunday episode Game Of Thrones we learned what else dies in the dark.

All Dothraki army.

White Walkers.

Dragon (s)?

Important characters for important plot points who may have died or may have lived, or died, then re-ascended with the undead, then died a second time – c & # This is really not clear, because we really could not see much at all during The Long Night .

The whole episode seemed chaotic and tense, more than an hour of fighting that went from sky to sky ground to castle crypts. It is the longest and most expensive battle scene in the history of television and cinema, the animators said.

According to many fans of Thrones the darkest.

Among social media, viewers shared a screen shot after an indecipherable screen capture of blobs: is this Jon Snow? Is it Arya? What dragon is this? Who knows?

"Everyone could have died this episode, and I will not know because I do not see anything," tweeted a fan.

"Did they blow up the dragon budget or what, because there is not enlightened," wondered another.

"The long night is dark and full of spectators who can not see what's going on," says another.

The lighting, or lack of lighting, was an intentional choice, according to the director of photography of the show, Fabian Wagner. In a recent interview with Vanity Fair's "Still Watching" podcast, Wagner cited "the clbadic cinematography and emission" of the show, an aesthetic that does not lend itself to artificial light sources.

Instead, Wagner relied on familiar elements for the biggest battle of the series: the sun, the moon and the fire. In the final installment of HBO's Game, Revealed which examines every episode behind the scenes, Wagner describes "a color palette that has developed throughout the episode".

"It begins with a moonlit night because the king of the night brings the storm and the clouds.The moon fades and the moonlight prevails, but in a very diffuse way "he explained.

The next step was a fiery trench, lit by a Melisandre resurfacing, which would serve as "overwhelming light" and evoke the infernal nature of the battle.

"It turns into hell for each character, so the blood red fire of the trench picks up the image and drains it completely blue from the moon," Wagner said. "Until the end, because the trench is dying.The moonlight is suddenly presented again."

In addition to the color scheme, Wagner admitted that the episode, which would have taken 55 nights to film himself, presented cinematographic challenges.

"As a fan, I thought to myself" Wow, "remembers Wagner." As a DP, I thought … "(Well, since it's only 39, is a family diary, we can not tell you exactly what he said.)

Game Of Thrones is not the first issue to deal with complaints from viewers unable to discern the action on their television screens (not to mention laptops or mobiles) Dramas, in particular, are increasingly known for dimly lit scenes.

But some viewers with newer TVs, such as 4K high-definition TVs that have become more accessible to consumers in recent years, claim to be able to watch .] The Long Night is perfect.

To understand everything we have called on the best experts in the field: Best Buy. " It all depends on the ignition of your TV, "said an employee of the home theater department of a Virginia Best Buy, who declined to give her his name.

4K TVs offer better contrast than older LCDs. models, which are usually lit from the bottom or the side. For customers wanting to take full advantage of the Battle of Winterfell, Best Buy employee said she would recommend a TV with OLED technology. They do not count on the backlight at all – each pixel creates its own light, she explained.

They are also very expensive. At Best Buy, OLED TVs cost more than $ 1,500.

That brings us back to Twitter, where a fan joked: "HBO holds the leading OLED patents and currently collecting it."

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(c) 2019, The Washington Post

(With the exception of the title, this story was not changed by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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