Main image via ComingSoon.net
For those of you who have already seen this week’s episode of Game of Thrones, you would have found yourselves squinting throughout the episode.
And if you haven’t watched the episode just yet, all you need to know is that your brightness needs to be turned all the way up.
We promise, no spoilers here.
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Episode three, season eight is surely one for the books as it contains cinema’s longest battle sequence ever. However, at 82 minutes long, fans found themselves straining their eyes to see most of what’s going on.
Well, everything was made so dark for a reason.
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It turns out that it was not just a creative choice to make the episode super dark, it was also used to emphasise the “naturalistic” settings.
Back in 2017, GoT cinematographer, Robert McLachlan, spoke to Insider to point out that in the earlier seasons, the series used extra lighting. They then took the nature of their exact filming locations and reconsidered their decision.
“If you watch season one again, there’s a lot of unmotivated background,” Robert said. “Even day exteriors, you can tell that they’ve been lit.”
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“The cinematographers who’ve been doing it since then, I think we’re all very much on the same page where we’re trying to be as naturalistic as possible,” he continued.
Referring to season seven he said, “In season seven, of course, winter is here.”
"In the past, we had the shutters open out of necessity for the day interior [scenes] in Winterfell or Castle Black or Eastwatch, so that some daylight could make its way in,” he said. “That was your primary lighting source. There was this rule there that nobody in this world would burn candles in the daytime because they're a luxury item, they're far too expensive."
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"What's happened is now, with winter really here, there was a consensus that it would seem daft for them to have the shutters open when it's so bitterly cold out.
"Why would they do that? But on the other hand, it really makes it a lot harder for a cinematographer to justify some naturalistic light in there without so overdoing the candles or the fire or what have you."
We get it now, but we still recommend turning up your brightness way up if you’re watching or re-watching the latest episode of Game of Thrones.
Info via Digital Spy