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Fans Brighten Up The Latest Episode Of Game Of Thrones And People Are Noticing How Many Details They’ve Missed
Finally, it looks like Melisandre isn’t the only one who can turn the lights up. Following complaints about the latest Game of Thrones episode being nearly impossible to see due to its dark cinematography, quite a few fans of the show have taken it upon themselves to brighten up crucial scenes to show how epic The Battle Of Winterfell really was.
Image credits: HBO
The show’s decision to go all natural was understandable. One of the things the episode tried to convey was the horror of war, and how sometimes it can be difficult to even see your enemy. The Night King attacked at night, and he brought a snowstorm with him. Of course, visibility was going to be reduced. But Helm’s Deep in Lord of the Rings was at night in the rain, and we at least saw what was going on.
As Elite Daily pointed out, it probably would have been an entirely different experience to see this episode in IMAX on a large screen. There’s simply more light projected because of the size. When you think about it, even large scale TVs aren’t that large. Not to mention streaming it on a computer monitor where pixelation becomes a huge factor; scenes were just a black blur, causing audiences to miss many moments.
Grey Worm
Image credits: Hivemind
Image credits: Hivemind
YouTube account Hivemind really went the extra mile and not only brightened the scene in which the Wights make their way across the battlefield to crash into the Unsullied, but it also played the original version right next to the edit to highlight the changes in the viewing experience.
Arya
Image credits: Hivemind
Fabian Wagner, the cinematographer for the series’ longest episode ever has also responded to the criticism. “[GoT] has always been very dark and a very cinematic show,” he told TMZ. “We tried to give the viewers and fans a cool episode to watch. I know it wasn’t too dark because I shot it.”
Daenerys And Jon Snow
Image credits: Hivemind
Image credits: Hivemind
He was a little more specific when talking with WIRED. “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 … Another look would have been wrong. Everything we wanted people to see is there … Personally, I don’t have to always see what’s going on because it’s more about the emotional impact.”
Tormund
Image credits: Hivemind
“Game of Thrones is a cinematic show and therefore you have to watch it like you’re at a cinema: in a darkened room,” the cinematographer continued. “If you watch a night scene in a brightly-lit room then that won’t help you see the image properly.”
Jon Snow
Image credits: Hivemind
“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.”
Dragons lighting up the enemies
Image credits: Hivemind
Image credits: Hivemind
Brienne of Tarth rallying the troops
Image credits: Hivemind
Daenerys riding her dragon
Image credits: Hivemind
Image credits: Hivemind
Jaime Lannister
Image credits: Hivemind
Grey Worm
Image credits: Hivemind
Sansa and Arya
Image credits: Hivemind
Image credits: Hivemind
Jon Snow
Image credits: Hivemind
The chaotic battlefield
Image credits: Hivemind
Image credits: Hivemind
Gendry
Image credits: Hivemind
The Hound
Image credits: Hivemind
Watch the entire comparison below
Image credits: Hivemind
Reddit user czmanix has also shown off their video editing wizardry by lighting the episode up. “I understand [the showrunners’] decision from an art standpoint, but I think they did not take into account technical limitations,” czmanix told Bored Panda. “Most of the action happens between 5 to 20 % of brightness. A lot of TVs have problems with these dark colors and often crush them.”
Other brightened up moments from the episode
Image credits: czmanix
“Also, HBO was serving more compressed version to the first wave of viewers to survive the onslaught and often aggressive compression ignores parts, that “an eye cannot see”, but that’s where the most of action was happening. So the creators were able to see it on their TVs, but bad TVs in bright rooms and an aggressive compression created this mess.”
Image credits: czmanix
This fan of the show edited the episode because they “wanted to see, what was happening, nobody was talking about that cool dragons scene, not even in the ‘making of’ video, so I wanted to see it more and understand it.”
Image credits: czmanix
“[I edited the footage] using Lumetri Color in Adobe Premiere Pro. Usually, it’s used for color grading, but I used it to restore most of the original color palette.”
Image credits: czmanix
Image credits: czmanix
Image credits: czmanix
Image credits: czmanix
Image credits: czmanix
[Spoiler] S08E03 Fight of the dragons – brightness UP, speed DOWN from r/gameofthrones
[SPOILERS] S08E03 Crypts scenes – brightness UP from r/gameofthrones
RELATED:
Check out these GoT Facts That you Probably Didn’t Know!
What do you think ?
Malakai 5 years ago
Wow, the the guy being interviewed sounds like a whiny pr*ck. "People watch it on little iPads anyway" and "I know it wasn't too dark because I shot it"? Dude, if you know your audience so well, maybe you should consider shooting an episode appropriately?
MoonBeam 5 years ago
Am I the only one that just used "dark calibration" on my TV settings? I saw everything...
Nikki D 5 years ago
I dont know what tv you have, but my Roku tv doesn't have that.
Load More Replies...
Cathie Balsamo-Herrera 5 years ago
As much as I like seeing the detail in the 'lit' version to see what I missed, the original version was SCARY AF. If this had been a real life battle, it would have been dark, and they wouldn't have been able to see. The part where they are waiting, and then can hear/sense something coming but not see anything....if I were there I would have s%&* my pants. Then when it was hard to tell if they 'got' one of my favorite characters...I was dying! I will watch the episode in compete darkness next time tho.
Honey 5 years ago
Why was it so dark for everyone? Mine was perfectly fine. It looked like all these brightened photos.
DP von Icecream 5 years ago (edited)
Probably you watched directly from HBO. I also saw the Amazon version, much darker version. Or you have a high brightness on your screen :-)
Load More Replies...
Pseudo Puppy 5 years ago
Simple answer is this: the creators wanted the audience to share the experience: of fighting for your life, in the dark, with minimal visibility. That's exactly what was achieved. Sure, it would've been great to see things more easily - for viewers, and the characters - which was the point being made.
Kathrin Segal 5 years ago
The point being made means nothing if you can’t see their faces, reactions, or even see what was going on. It’s a ridiculous concept decision that cost half the audience the full enjoyment and excitement of the episode.
Load More Replies...
Alex Dunn 5 years ago
The fact they these "fans" were able to brighten and pull out details, proves that they weren't lost. Having worked in post-production and color-correction, I get so tired of this sort of "criticism". Do you want every show to look the same? How about we color the entire series to look like Gossip Girls? Look at any David Fincher film. The artist wanted you to feel like it was night, it was dark, it was hard for the heroes to see. The artist wants you to FEEL that. But if you don't want to feel, yeah, just blast your LEDs and stop whining.
Pseudo Puppy 5 years ago
*THANKYOU*!! As i've said in another comment - he fulfilled the brief. As the creators have said "One of the things the episode tried to convey was the horror of war, and how sometimes it can be difficult to even see your enemy. The Night King attacked at night, and he brought a snowstorm with him. Of course, visibility was going to be reduced". Those complaining, are totally missing the point - the battle was AT NIGHT. It was DARK. The entire point was for the audience to experience what the participants were experiencing - the terror of not being able to see s**t, while fighting for you life. I thought it was brilliant, in every aspect.
Load More Replies...
Doodlebug 5 years ago
I watched it on a ten year old Sony Bravia. It was fine. It wasn't as dark as this video. I could go either way. The darkness is effective at making you feel the confusion and chaos of war. This is literally humanity's darkest night. But there are a few scenes where a bit more visual clarity would've helped me follow the scenes better - the art should serve the story, not overpower it.
Sarabelle Palsy 5 years ago
I guess I've been confused by all of the issues with how dark it was... and a lot of people had an issue with it, so there must have been an overwhelming problem with it for the majority of people. I can only go with my experience watching it live, on a regular 70 inch HD TV in a dark room... at the start we noticed right away it was darker than any episode before it, but we knew it was literally the dead of night and all you had was candles and torches as their only light source, and that's what made it brilliant for us. All those before images in this post, they looked a bit darkened on purpose to make a point, because at no point did I have an issue seeing Grey Worm or anyone else's faces or expressions. and I've watched it three times now at different times on the same TV... idk.
Dan Stefanson 5 years ago
I think that the new lighting added by the user actually departs from what was great about the cinematography of the episode. War at night is supposed to be dark and dismal, the lighting made you feel like you were actually in the battle. The new lighting is just far to stark (pun intended I suppose).
Kathrin Segal 5 years ago
This whole debate is ridiculous. 1. Some people were able to view the episode. 2. Some weren’t. 3. It isn’t because we don’t know how to ‘tune our TVs.’ 4. I’m sure everyone watches their TVs regularly and never had a problem with any other show. 5. If the episode was going to be unusually dark, there should have been a heads up at the beginning to adjust the settings. 6. Making snotty remarks is just plain rude. 7. Obviously, this was a real problem, otherwise half the viewing audience wouldn’t have gotten on social media immediately to talk about it. 8. The DP is an arrogant a—hole who cared more about his ‘brilliant concept’ than about how it would be viewed by a large portion of the audience. 9. Likely, the producers, director, et al viewed it on ultra HD screens in the editing room. 10. It did a disservice to the artists - production design, costume, makeup, prosthetics, actors, set design, CGI team - that much of their work was a shadowy blur.
Israel Martinez 5 years ago
Hate to be that guy, but for me, it was not as dark as they say it was ... even on a Macbook Air 11 inch, it was perfect, especially with the lights out ...
John Montgomery 5 years ago
I wondered if this was going to be Man of Steel all over again. I don't remember it being that bad either except for in some places. Like you had to have it that dark for the dothraki scene.
Load More Replies...
Robert Lane 5 years ago
They made it worst. Some people act like they shot the whole damn thing with the lens cap still on. It wasn't that bad.
Luis Milian 5 years ago
I squinted my eyes so much for this episode, but I loved ever second of it!!
Miss Cris 5 years ago
Well, talking about details missed... did anybody took Melissandre's collar? Because she or he could become a witch, or at least inmortal, couldn't she?I didn't see it! And you? By the way, that thing she said... about green eyes, why everybody think that it's about Cersey? Arya's brother, Bran, is a greenwatcher... by the moment!
Amazon QT 5 years ago
Cersei does have green eyes and she’s the one that will get her up-in-comings E5.
Load More Replies...
Eric Dawson 5 years ago
If hbo knows it's viewers are from a mix of cable, hbo now, hbo go, stream, iPad, iPhone don't you think they should've considered this rather than the cinematographer bitching about the quality of our TVs ? What an arrogant response
Crochet lady 5 years ago
What it comes down to is no one should have to adjust their tv screen for one episode of a tv show. If you knew that going in then you knew you shot it too darkly. And to those saying if you had adjusted all these different settings you would have seen it just fine isn't accounting for all the problems that were also brought in by different carriers compressing th video at different rates. The entire problem would have been solved by them not making it so damned muddy in the first place. It was terribly shot.
Kathrin Segal 5 years ago
Thank you!!! Even with pushing up the brightness on our TV to the max and watching in a dark room, we missed all this detail. The arrogance of the DP was disgusting. He didn’t care that all the fabulous work of the set designers, art director, director, cast, could barely be seen.
Katie Suffolk 5 years ago
I think if your TV is that dark you need a new one. People will moan about absolutely anything. You could see it perfectly fine, its meant to be a dark scene....stop moaning.
Chacha Cakrawati 5 years ago (edited)
“Game of Thrones is a cinematic show and therefore you have to watch it like you’re at a cinema: in a darkened room,” the cinematographer continued. You could've put this viewers advise, before the episode. So that everyone can enjoy this episode in the first place, like viewing instructions
Jeremy Porter 5 years ago
What's wrong with the "before" pictures? The "after" are just over-exposed and awful.
Marg Jorgensen 5 years ago
Well, I watched it first on my computer and then on my TV screen. It was much brighter watching it on my computer so that shoots that info down, IMO.
Ascitien Neymo 5 years ago
The episode needed to be dark and full of terrors. Yes brighter version finale is much more easier to watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdcjiMQ7coA but it doesn't give same feelings of unease
Roy Plisko 5 years ago
If you want it to be a realistic night scene why not just have a black screen with just sound? Thats' what a realistic night battle would be like. People seem to miss the point that this is a medium where things need to be seen. It's like writing a book about people who can't read by leaving the pages blank.
Stan Bucasas 5 years ago
I think you guys need to learn how to properly calibrate your televisions, projectors, whatever.
Sonya Jersey 5 years ago
I watched it at night, with all lights off and I saw more..than when I saw it during the day. I saw it twice. :)
Evil Little Thing 5 years ago
I watched this episode on the smallest TV in my house and I had no problem seeing everything throughout the entire episode. That TV isn't even at its brightest setting. I think people don't know how to tune their TVs.
Kelly Cooper 5 years ago
I think it depends more on what you were watching it on and how it was coming in. I watched it twice from my Apple TV direct from HBO Now and it looked just like the "brightened" versions in the article. In fact, I did not even realize the brightness was an issue until Monday morning when that was all anyone could talk about.
stephanie kaagman 5 years ago
It’s true that you can see it better in a darkened room, so you have to Watch it late at night, Perhaps they should have starter the season in december or january
Brad Evans 5 years ago
So on a retina Macbook pro, which "display profile" are you supposed to pick?
Volker H 5 years ago
not watching this, to begin with, can't understand the hype for desperate housewifes in the middle ages, that beeing said, to keep it objective: Making an episode this dark is just bad editing. Why have so much CGI and then hide it in the shadows, usually that happens to bad CGI. Besides, you want your audience to see the episode, so usually you make a night scene brighter than actual night. if you want to show alot, its commin to just use some suttle things to indicate its night, its a show not reality. But as its comming close to blasphemy to say something bad about GoT I expect alot of fanboys (thats those people that can't take constructive critizism about what they love, and you know how stupid it is to think something is perfect without any reasonable doubt, nothing is perfect) to get angry by me critizising this, especially without seeing it. I see the photos above, which show enough, or in this not. I am waiting for as much as possible dislikes, prooving my fanboy point.
Misterscooter 5 years ago
Slightly brightening the video might have helped but brightening these still shots doesn't add anything. In fact, in many, it just washes them out and doesn't reveal anything I didn't already know.
Ovi Rio 5 years ago
i didnt know it was a problem until i saw this post. honestly iv been wait for this episode and i prepare for it like everyone else in the winterfell. i set up my tv, my sound system, prepare my meal. and when it come to that dark battle scene . i turn up the brightness. and to be honest it was the smallest effort on my preparation.
Sara Ellen Mitchell 5 years ago
These before images look like they’ve been darkened. I definitely admit the episode was too dark to properly enjoy, but it wasn’t impossible to watch like these stills make it out to appear.
Waxier Cereal Ai 5 years ago
Why make it so dark anyway? Don't they have huge teams of professionally trained filmmakers to catch stuff like this>
Pseudo Puppy 5 years ago
"It wasn't too dark, because I shot it" ie it matched the brief he was given & he achieved the results required of him. Whether someone else (not his boss) agrees with him or not, is actually not the point. He did the job he was asked to do. If his bosses didn't like what he did, they would've released a different version of it (ie lighter)
Felicia Dale 5 years ago
I'd have been happy with about half this much brightness added. We know how to use our TV, it's not small (and not giant, either), we had the rooms lights down the way we always do, and it was just very hard to follow the action. Also, I really wish that there was some explanation for Danaerys and Jon being able to stay on their dragons in any way at all besides "they're Targaryans." I mean, the cold alone would have made it hard to stay on within minutes of leaving the ground, but the spines they're hanging onto are smooth and get smaller at the end so make terrible hand holds, the dragons are sometimes upside down, the impacts of the fighting, etc. Some kind of harness with hand and foot holds would have made a ton of sense!
Asen Nedyalkov 5 years ago
Can someone tell me where to find the first picture of the article? The one with the dragons in the sky and the ice vortex... It says HBO credits, but can't find a link :/
Mascha Claessens 5 years ago (edited)
Saw all the details when watching in a very dark room, so I suppose that's the right way to watch this episode. But I guess a liiiittlebit more light wouldn't have hurt anyone. Especially those watching the episode 'live', they didn't know beforehand they would need to watch it in a pitch black room. :') When I watched it (on a 55" 4k samsung (a HD file though)), it didn't seem as dark as these pictures. Definitely dark, but NOT this dark.
John Wayne 5 years ago
i watched this on my 100 inch projector in my dark theatre room and it was still dark as hell..it was a great episode but still like watching the dark scenes of a bootleg movie
Binod Lama Waiba 5 years ago
need a torrent link to the brightened version of this episode. Anybody, please.
Raif Copeland 5 years ago
The lighting could have been somewhere in between to balance letting us see and portraying the blindness of war.
Bryan Goodwin 5 years ago
apparently, people don't set their television brightness to a good level. Adjust that stuff.
Little Wonder 5 years ago
I saw someone on twitter refer to GoT as a podcast and I can see what they mean. I don't watch myself, but friends of mine had to adjust their TVs significantly to see anything. That kind of light and colour grading might work in a cinema, but TVs are a different beast, and tbh Fabian Wagner needs to settle his petals.
Elaine Dodge 5 years ago
Excuses, excuses. You fluffed, dude. You forgot that people would want to watch the episode. 'Watch' being the operative word, otherwise it's a radio drama. To watch, one needs to be able to see!
Marri Champié 5 years ago
How do you set the brightness on your TV? I went thru all the settings and couldn't find anything.
Lauren Caswell 5 years ago
If you Google the tv brand and model you have, you can get an instruction manual document, it will have info on how to change your settings :)
Load More Replies...
TheKnightOwl 5 years ago
What an arrogant sod. He screwed up, and he can't handle the criticism. It was too dark. We watched it on our large screen tv, in complete darkness, with the brightness up, and still struggled. His excuse that it's a cinematic experience so that's why our tvs weren't good enough is ridiculous; it's watched on tv...coz, you know...it's a tv series.
Pseudo Puppy 5 years ago
Technically speaking, he didn't screw up - he fulfilled the brief given by, and approved by the creators. The entire point of the brief, was that it was a battle being fought in the dark - there was minimal visibility. They wanted the viewers to share the experience of those fighting ie being scared, and fighting for your life in the dark. Sure "seeing" things more clearly would've been great for us - and the characters. And that was kinda the point.
Load More Replies...
Michael Alber 5 years ago
I call b******t on the cinematographer. They edited it for people with bleeding edge TVs and are backtracking now. How are you supposed to get emotional depth from a performance if you can't see the actor's expression because the exposure is too freaking dark?!?
Sanjeeb Chatterjee 5 years ago
Well, here's hoping they lighten it up for the eventual DVD release.
MidgetDogg 5 years ago
Wow! I thought it was too dark on my 4KUHD, but mine was more like the after shots. Definitely not cool GOT
Meg Seaman 5 years ago
Can Hivemind do the whole episode? I would really love to rewatch it while being able to see everything. THe show runner is seriously deluded if he thinks it's better when it's so dark you can't even tell who's on screen! If you know people are watching it on tablets, then make it accessible for tablets. Duh.
Binod Lama Waiba 5 years ago
Can anybody get a torrent link to the brightened version of this episode.
Malakai 5 years ago
Wow, the the guy being interviewed sounds like a whiny pr*ck. "People watch it on little iPads anyway" and "I know it wasn't too dark because I shot it"? Dude, if you know your audience so well, maybe you should consider shooting an episode appropriately?
MoonBeam 5 years ago
Am I the only one that just used "dark calibration" on my TV settings? I saw everything...
Nikki D 5 years ago
I dont know what tv you have, but my Roku tv doesn't have that.
Load More Replies... Cathie Balsamo-Herrera 5 years ago
As much as I like seeing the detail in the 'lit' version to see what I missed, the original version was SCARY AF. If this had been a real life battle, it would have been dark, and they wouldn't have been able to see. The part where they are waiting, and then can hear/sense something coming but not see anything....if I were there I would have s%&* my pants. Then when it was hard to tell if they 'got' one of my favorite characters...I was dying! I will watch the episode in compete darkness next time tho.
Honey 5 years ago
Why was it so dark for everyone? Mine was perfectly fine. It looked like all these brightened photos.
DP von Icecream 5 years ago (edited)
Probably you watched directly from HBO. I also saw the Amazon version, much darker version. Or you have a high brightness on your screen :-)
Load More Replies... Pseudo Puppy 5 years ago
Simple answer is this: the creators wanted the audience to share the experience: of fighting for your life, in the dark, with minimal visibility. That's exactly what was achieved. Sure, it would've been great to see things more easily - for viewers, and the characters - which was the point being made.
Kathrin Segal 5 years ago
The point being made means nothing if you can’t see their faces, reactions, or even see what was going on. It’s a ridiculous concept decision that cost half the audience the full enjoyment and excitement of the episode.
Load More Replies... Alex Dunn 5 years ago
The fact they these "fans" were able to brighten and pull out details, proves that they weren't lost. Having worked in post-production and color-correction, I get so tired of this sort of "criticism". Do you want every show to look the same? How about we color the entire series to look like Gossip Girls? Look at any David Fincher film. The artist wanted you to feel like it was night, it was dark, it was hard for the heroes to see. The artist wants you to FEEL that. But if you don't want to feel, yeah, just blast your LEDs and stop whining.
Pseudo Puppy 5 years ago
*THANKYOU*!! As i've said in another comment - he fulfilled the brief. As the creators have said "One of the things the episode tried to convey was the horror of war, and how sometimes it can be difficult to even see your enemy. The Night King attacked at night, and he brought a snowstorm with him. Of course, visibility was going to be reduced". Those complaining, are totally missing the point - the battle was AT NIGHT. It was DARK. The entire point was for the audience to experience what the participants were experiencing - the terror of not being able to see s**t, while fighting for you life. I thought it was brilliant, in every aspect.
Load More Replies... Doodlebug 5 years ago
I watched it on a ten year old Sony Bravia. It was fine. It wasn't as dark as this video. I could go either way. The darkness is effective at making you feel the confusion and chaos of war. This is literally humanity's darkest night. But there are a few scenes where a bit more visual clarity would've helped me follow the scenes better - the art should serve the story, not overpower it.
Sarabelle Palsy 5 years ago
I guess I've been confused by all of the issues with how dark it was... and a lot of people had an issue with it, so there must have been an overwhelming problem with it for the majority of people. I can only go with my experience watching it live, on a regular 70 inch HD TV in a dark room... at the start we noticed right away it was darker than any episode before it, but we knew it was literally the dead of night and all you had was candles and torches as their only light source, and that's what made it brilliant for us. All those before images in this post, they looked a bit darkened on purpose to make a point, because at no point did I have an issue seeing Grey Worm or anyone else's faces or expressions. and I've watched it three times now at different times on the same TV... idk.
Dan Stefanson 5 years ago
I think that the new lighting added by the user actually departs from what was great about the cinematography of the episode. War at night is supposed to be dark and dismal, the lighting made you feel like you were actually in the battle. The new lighting is just far to stark (pun intended I suppose).
Kathrin Segal 5 years ago
This whole debate is ridiculous. 1. Some people were able to view the episode. 2. Some weren’t. 3. It isn’t because we don’t know how to ‘tune our TVs.’ 4. I’m sure everyone watches their TVs regularly and never had a problem with any other show. 5. If the episode was going to be unusually dark, there should have been a heads up at the beginning to adjust the settings. 6. Making snotty remarks is just plain rude. 7. Obviously, this was a real problem, otherwise half the viewing audience wouldn’t have gotten on social media immediately to talk about it. 8. The DP is an arrogant a—hole who cared more about his ‘brilliant concept’ than about how it would be viewed by a large portion of the audience. 9. Likely, the producers, director, et al viewed it on ultra HD screens in the editing room. 10. It did a disservice to the artists - production design, costume, makeup, prosthetics, actors, set design, CGI team - that much of their work was a shadowy blur.
Israel Martinez 5 years ago
Hate to be that guy, but for me, it was not as dark as they say it was ... even on a Macbook Air 11 inch, it was perfect, especially with the lights out ...
John Montgomery 5 years ago
I wondered if this was going to be Man of Steel all over again. I don't remember it being that bad either except for in some places. Like you had to have it that dark for the dothraki scene.
Load More Replies... Robert Lane 5 years ago
They made it worst. Some people act like they shot the whole damn thing with the lens cap still on. It wasn't that bad.
Luis Milian 5 years ago
I squinted my eyes so much for this episode, but I loved ever second of it!!
Miss Cris 5 years ago
Well, talking about details missed... did anybody took Melissandre's collar? Because she or he could become a witch, or at least inmortal, couldn't she?I didn't see it! And you? By the way, that thing she said... about green eyes, why everybody think that it's about Cersey? Arya's brother, Bran, is a greenwatcher... by the moment!
Amazon QT 5 years ago
Cersei does have green eyes and she’s the one that will get her up-in-comings E5.
Load More Replies... Eric Dawson 5 years ago
If hbo knows it's viewers are from a mix of cable, hbo now, hbo go, stream, iPad, iPhone don't you think they should've considered this rather than the cinematographer bitching about the quality of our TVs ? What an arrogant response
Crochet lady 5 years ago
What it comes down to is no one should have to adjust their tv screen for one episode of a tv show. If you knew that going in then you knew you shot it too darkly. And to those saying if you had adjusted all these different settings you would have seen it just fine isn't accounting for all the problems that were also brought in by different carriers compressing th video at different rates. The entire problem would have been solved by them not making it so damned muddy in the first place. It was terribly shot.
Kathrin Segal 5 years ago
Thank you!!! Even with pushing up the brightness on our TV to the max and watching in a dark room, we missed all this detail. The arrogance of the DP was disgusting. He didn’t care that all the fabulous work of the set designers, art director, director, cast, could barely be seen.
Katie Suffolk 5 years ago
I think if your TV is that dark you need a new one. People will moan about absolutely anything. You could see it perfectly fine, its meant to be a dark scene....stop moaning.
Chacha Cakrawati 5 years ago (edited)
“Game of Thrones is a cinematic show and therefore you have to watch it like you’re at a cinema: in a darkened room,” the cinematographer continued. You could've put this viewers advise, before the episode. So that everyone can enjoy this episode in the first place, like viewing instructions
Jeremy Porter 5 years ago
What's wrong with the "before" pictures? The "after" are just over-exposed and awful.
Marg Jorgensen 5 years ago
Well, I watched it first on my computer and then on my TV screen. It was much brighter watching it on my computer so that shoots that info down, IMO.
Ascitien Neymo 5 years ago
The episode needed to be dark and full of terrors. Yes brighter version finale is much more easier to watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdcjiMQ7coA but it doesn't give same feelings of unease
Roy Plisko 5 years ago
If you want it to be a realistic night scene why not just have a black screen with just sound? Thats' what a realistic night battle would be like. People seem to miss the point that this is a medium where things need to be seen. It's like writing a book about people who can't read by leaving the pages blank.
Stan Bucasas 5 years ago
I think you guys need to learn how to properly calibrate your televisions, projectors, whatever.
Sonya Jersey 5 years ago
I watched it at night, with all lights off and I saw more..than when I saw it during the day. I saw it twice. :)
Evil Little Thing 5 years ago
I watched this episode on the smallest TV in my house and I had no problem seeing everything throughout the entire episode. That TV isn't even at its brightest setting. I think people don't know how to tune their TVs.
Kelly Cooper 5 years ago
I think it depends more on what you were watching it on and how it was coming in. I watched it twice from my Apple TV direct from HBO Now and it looked just like the "brightened" versions in the article. In fact, I did not even realize the brightness was an issue until Monday morning when that was all anyone could talk about.
stephanie kaagman 5 years ago
It’s true that you can see it better in a darkened room, so you have to Watch it late at night, Perhaps they should have starter the season in december or january
Brad Evans 5 years ago
So on a retina Macbook pro, which "display profile" are you supposed to pick?
Volker H 5 years ago
not watching this, to begin with, can't understand the hype for desperate housewifes in the middle ages, that beeing said, to keep it objective: Making an episode this dark is just bad editing. Why have so much CGI and then hide it in the shadows, usually that happens to bad CGI. Besides, you want your audience to see the episode, so usually you make a night scene brighter than actual night. if you want to show alot, its commin to just use some suttle things to indicate its night, its a show not reality. But as its comming close to blasphemy to say something bad about GoT I expect alot of fanboys (thats those people that can't take constructive critizism about what they love, and you know how stupid it is to think something is perfect without any reasonable doubt, nothing is perfect) to get angry by me critizising this, especially without seeing it. I see the photos above, which show enough, or in this not. I am waiting for as much as possible dislikes, prooving my fanboy point.
Misterscooter 5 years ago
Slightly brightening the video might have helped but brightening these still shots doesn't add anything. In fact, in many, it just washes them out and doesn't reveal anything I didn't already know.
Ovi Rio 5 years ago
i didnt know it was a problem until i saw this post. honestly iv been wait for this episode and i prepare for it like everyone else in the winterfell. i set up my tv, my sound system, prepare my meal. and when it come to that dark battle scene . i turn up the brightness. and to be honest it was the smallest effort on my preparation.
Sara Ellen Mitchell 5 years ago
These before images look like they’ve been darkened. I definitely admit the episode was too dark to properly enjoy, but it wasn’t impossible to watch like these stills make it out to appear.
Waxier Cereal Ai 5 years ago
Why make it so dark anyway? Don't they have huge teams of professionally trained filmmakers to catch stuff like this>
Pseudo Puppy 5 years ago
"It wasn't too dark, because I shot it" ie it matched the brief he was given & he achieved the results required of him. Whether someone else (not his boss) agrees with him or not, is actually not the point. He did the job he was asked to do. If his bosses didn't like what he did, they would've released a different version of it (ie lighter)
Felicia Dale 5 years ago
I'd have been happy with about half this much brightness added. We know how to use our TV, it's not small (and not giant, either), we had the rooms lights down the way we always do, and it was just very hard to follow the action. Also, I really wish that there was some explanation for Danaerys and Jon being able to stay on their dragons in any way at all besides "they're Targaryans." I mean, the cold alone would have made it hard to stay on within minutes of leaving the ground, but the spines they're hanging onto are smooth and get smaller at the end so make terrible hand holds, the dragons are sometimes upside down, the impacts of the fighting, etc. Some kind of harness with hand and foot holds would have made a ton of sense!
Asen Nedyalkov 5 years ago
Can someone tell me where to find the first picture of the article? The one with the dragons in the sky and the ice vortex... It says HBO credits, but can't find a link :/
Mascha Claessens 5 years ago (edited)
Saw all the details when watching in a very dark room, so I suppose that's the right way to watch this episode. But I guess a liiiittlebit more light wouldn't have hurt anyone. Especially those watching the episode 'live', they didn't know beforehand they would need to watch it in a pitch black room. :') When I watched it (on a 55" 4k samsung (a HD file though)), it didn't seem as dark as these pictures. Definitely dark, but NOT this dark.
John Wayne 5 years ago
i watched this on my 100 inch projector in my dark theatre room and it was still dark as hell..it was a great episode but still like watching the dark scenes of a bootleg movie
Binod Lama Waiba 5 years ago
need a torrent link to the brightened version of this episode. Anybody, please.
Raif Copeland 5 years ago
The lighting could have been somewhere in between to balance letting us see and portraying the blindness of war.
Bryan Goodwin 5 years ago
apparently, people don't set their television brightness to a good level. Adjust that stuff.
Little Wonder 5 years ago
I saw someone on twitter refer to GoT as a podcast and I can see what they mean. I don't watch myself, but friends of mine had to adjust their TVs significantly to see anything. That kind of light and colour grading might work in a cinema, but TVs are a different beast, and tbh Fabian Wagner needs to settle his petals.
Elaine Dodge 5 years ago
Excuses, excuses. You fluffed, dude. You forgot that people would want to watch the episode. 'Watch' being the operative word, otherwise it's a radio drama. To watch, one needs to be able to see!
Marri Champié 5 years ago
How do you set the brightness on your TV? I went thru all the settings and couldn't find anything.
Lauren Caswell 5 years ago
If you Google the tv brand and model you have, you can get an instruction manual document, it will have info on how to change your settings :)
Load More Replies... TheKnightOwl 5 years ago
What an arrogant sod. He screwed up, and he can't handle the criticism. It was too dark. We watched it on our large screen tv, in complete darkness, with the brightness up, and still struggled. His excuse that it's a cinematic experience so that's why our tvs weren't good enough is ridiculous; it's watched on tv...coz, you know...it's a tv series.
Pseudo Puppy 5 years ago
Technically speaking, he didn't screw up - he fulfilled the brief given by, and approved by the creators. The entire point of the brief, was that it was a battle being fought in the dark - there was minimal visibility. They wanted the viewers to share the experience of those fighting ie being scared, and fighting for your life in the dark. Sure "seeing" things more clearly would've been great for us - and the characters. And that was kinda the point.
Load More Replies... Michael Alber 5 years ago
I call b******t on the cinematographer. They edited it for people with bleeding edge TVs and are backtracking now. How are you supposed to get emotional depth from a performance if you can't see the actor's expression because the exposure is too freaking dark?!?
Sanjeeb Chatterjee 5 years ago
Well, here's hoping they lighten it up for the eventual DVD release.
MidgetDogg 5 years ago
Wow! I thought it was too dark on my 4KUHD, but mine was more like the after shots. Definitely not cool GOT
Meg Seaman 5 years ago
Can Hivemind do the whole episode? I would really love to rewatch it while being able to see everything. THe show runner is seriously deluded if he thinks it's better when it's so dark you can't even tell who's on screen! If you know people are watching it on tablets, then make it accessible for tablets. Duh.
Binod Lama Waiba 5 years ago
Can anybody get a torrent link to the brightened version of this episode.
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