‘House of the Dragon’ cinematographer talks dragons, ‘Succession’ inspiration, and more

Cinematographers on Home of the Dragon face a tall order every episode, engaged on all the pieces from large crowd scenes to draconic set items to hushed Small Council periods.

Season 2, episode 6 options a number of such standout moments, all with their distinct sense of rhythm and motion from behind the digital camera. In an interview with Mashable, cinematographer Vanja Černjul broke down how he shot three key sequences, together with traditional movie influences and drawing on Succession for inspiration.

The riot in King’s Touchdown

Whereas episode 6 options two prolonged dragon set items — each of which required in depth collaboration with Home of the Dragon‘s VFX workforce — essentially the most planning on Černjul’s finish went into the King’s Touchdown riot. Right here, an indignant mob surprises Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) and her daughter Helaena (Phia Saban), and the 2 should struggle their method by the crowds to flee of their carriage.

“We will need to have had 300 extras, and we had two days to shoot it,” mentioned Černjul on getting ready for the scene.

Capturing on location added additional problems: “With medieval structure, it was a really difficult place to maneuver the digital camera, as a result of first, [Alicent and Helaena] run down very steep stairs, after which they [go] by the sq., after which they hop into the carriage, all whereas being chased by an enormous crowd of smallfolk,” Černjul mentioned. “We wished [the scene] to have stream, so we shot it so as, and as a lot as doable consecutively.”

The riot sequence locks us into Alicent’s standpoint till she and Helaena get within the carriage. A remotely operated digital camera awaited their arrival within the carriage to offer protection for the inside part, conserving us educated on their anxiousness as they departed the scene.

Aemond’s Small Council assembly

Ewan Mitchell in “Home of the Dragon.”
Credit score: Ollie Upton/HBO

Small Council conferences are a staple of Home of the Dragon, with episodes usually displaying the fraught Council periods from each Workforce Black and Workforce Inexperienced. Černjul relished these sorts of scenes particularly, saying, “Probably the most particular scenes in that episode have been scenes that solely included a few characters within the room, speaking and discussing how this warfare goes to unfold.”

For these scenes, together with a gathering of Aemond’s (Ewan Mitchell) Small Council, Home of the Dragon drew on one other HBO heavy hitter for inspiration: Succession. Episode 6 director Andrij Parekh — who Černjul attended movie college with — directed a number of episodes of Succession, even serving as cinematographer for the pilot.

“Andrij introduced his expertise from his earlier initiatives of capturing these rooms the place highly effective individuals focus on the destiny of different individuals,” Černjul mentioned. “He had an excellent sense for creating a digital camera habits that provides you a seat on the desk, mainly a fly-on-the-wall method, the place the digital camera additionally turns into a personality that’s subjectively reacting to no matter is going on.”

Within the Greens’ Small Council assembly, that always meant the digital camera reacting to Aemond as he prowls across the room. “We wished to shoot the scene in that observational type, however we additionally wished Aemond to be on the heart, so we granted him the ability to maneuver the digital camera within the scene,” Černjul defined. “We designed blocking the place Aemond was strolling across the desk all through the scene whereas addressing the council. Two cameras have been following him on a regular basis, circling across the desk on a so-called “dance ground,” however then they’d react to whoever Aemond was addressing. The digital camera motion appeared extra observational, which labored properly in distinction to Home of the Dragon‘s total type, which has a extra intentional and designed really feel.”

Seasmoke chases down Addam of Hull

Clinton Liberty and Abubakar Salim in “Home of the Dragon.”
Credit score: Ollie Upton/HBO

It would not be Home of the Dragon with none dragons, and episode 6 contains a first for the present: Seasmoke, a riderless dragon, chasing down a potential rider in Addam of Hull (Clinton Liberty). The scene performs out with a good bit of suspense, as Addam tries desperately to flee. It is sensible, then, that Černjul and Parekh drew on the work of the Grasp of Suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock.

“To jumpstart the method of shot itemizing, we might use references from classical cinema, simply to get us going,” Černjul defined. “For that specific scene, we wished to take a look at the well-known scene from North by Northwest, the place Cary Grant’s character [Roger Thornhill] is being chased by the cropduster. We thought, ‘It is similar to the dragon in our scene, this aircraft.’”

The similarities prolong to Roger and Addam as properly. “[Roger] would not perceive what is going on on or why he’s being chased. Similar with Addam,” mentioned Černjul.

Whereas the North by Northwest cropduster scene served as a jumping-off level, the Addam and Seasmoke scene grew into its personal as soon as Černjul and Parekh started creating it for its particular capturing location in Anglesey, Wales. Nevertheless, they nonetheless wished to keep up the cropduster scene’s “kinetic power,” as Černjul mentioned. Completely different capturing methods proved key right here.

“In that scene, we moved the digital camera in each doable method,” Černjul mentioned. “We shot handheld, we have been on a dolly, we had a techno crane transferring from an excessive excessive angle to an excessive low angle, a drone. We have been transferring the digital camera to match the power of the scene.”

New episodes of Home of the Dragon air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.