Hey HBO, ‘Home of the Dragon’ Is Too Darkish to See

Having fun with HBO Max’s Home of the Dragon? Me too. At the least, what I can see of the Recreation of Thrones prequel. Seven episodes in, it is truthful to say the present is abnormally darkish, and I do not imply gloomy and pessimistic. I imply bodily darkish. As in, I cranked up the brightness on my laptop computer all the best way and I nonetheless want the captions on to determine who’s zooming who. And making an attempt to look at it on a daily tv set is even more durable.

Episode 7, which aired Sunday night time, was particularly darkish. Spoilers forward. 

Laena Verlaryon’s funeral scene was outdoors and principally OK. However something going down contained in the fort, or after dusk? It was like I used to be making an attempt to see my hand by a bit of black development paper. There have been shapes? And generally the Targaryen blond hair was seen? However when Otto cuffed a drunk Aegon, and when Daemon and Rhaenyra had been strolling on the seaside, and particularly when Aemond was making an attempt to coax Vhagar the dragon to let him trip it? Yeah, it was like staring right into a cup of black espresso squinting to see outlines.

It is a advanced present. I’ve learn Hearth & Blood, the 736-page e-book it is primarily based on, so I just about know what is going on on. However for a extra informal viewer, it is bought to really feel such as you want a flowchart to maintain up. Each different character’s identify is AE-something, or RH-something, they’re all associated and/or married to one another, and everybody’s bought some type of declare to the Iron Throne. I like the present, however that is why I simply need to have the ability to see it.

 I am not alone. One Twitter person implored HBO to lighten issues up on Sunday, tweeting, “Can I get somewhat mild on this episode?”

Different individuals complained on to the HBO Max Assist Twitter account, however the official responses could not have been very satisfying.

“We admire you reaching out a couple of night time scene in Home of the Dragon: Episode 7 showing darkish in your display,” the response learn. “The dimmed lighting of this scene was an intentional artistic determination.” (THIS scene? There wasn’t only one, HBO!)

So, OK, don’t try to regulate your set — the filmmakers need it this darkish. However there is a rising tide on social media protesting the “artistic determination.”

One viewer wrote, “I get that the showrunners need to convey, ‘sneaky shit occurs at night time’ However ppllleeeeeaaaaasssseeeeee add somewhat extra shade, cuz that is me,” including the meme picture from the present Group displaying actor Ken Jeong squinting at a tiny piece of paper.

Joked one other, “The lighting funds for this episode: $12.”

And one other Twitter person is making an attempt to get the hashtags #HBOFixTheLighting and #HBOWeWantLight trending.

One person shared two photos of Daemon and Rhaenyra strolling on the seaside — one by which they’re clearly seen and straightforward to see, and one other that may have been filmed by chocolate pudding.

A cinematographer weighed in to say we should not be blaming the lighting.

“This is not a lighting situation; it is a shade grading situation,” Oren Soffer wrote. “The second nonetheless was shot in broad daylight — loads of mild. It was graded to look this darkish, although, which is the issue. Begging individuals to at the least attempt to perceive the issues they’re (rightfully) complaining about.”

Lighting or shade grading, it looks as if showrunners would need their costly, fastidiously filmed scenes to be seen. 

Home of the Dragon has a darkish plot — with homicide, torture and all types of bloody vengeance. Does it additionally should be visually darkish?