House Of The Dragon Cinematographer Explains How Season 2 Brings 'Actual History' To The Fantasy, And Fans Might Not Have Caught This
House of the Dragon Season 2 already has sky-high stakes after just two episodes aired on HBO, with major characters pruning the Targaryen family tree themselves with fire and blood. The trailer for the next new episode, airing on June 30, features Rhaenys warning of the savagery of dragon vs. dragon fighting... as well as Baela looking fierce on dragonback. Cinematographer Catherine Goldschmidt spoke with CinemaBlend about Season 2 and her work on Episode 3, including the combination of fantasy with real-life history.
While the rules are of course different in HBO's take on George R.R. Martin's Westeros than the real world, one that can't really be broken concerns the use of modern technology on screen. When asked about the challenges of working on House of the Dragon when even the most basic technology like electric lights can't be on camera, Catherine Goldschmidt said:
It's a good question, because our show is a fantasy show, but we like to think of it more as a historical epic. So it does have this time period that we tried to root in actual history, in medieval times. As far as light sources go that I'm working with, I'm working with moonlight and firelight and daylight, and those are really the only motivation for lighting at that time. We love using flame on the House of the Dragon.
You don't have to be an expert on real-life medieval history to know that there were never dragons swooping around, but George R.R. Martin confirmed to EW that House of the Dragon is based on the "Anarchy" period of English history. According to Catherine Goldschmidt, rooting HOTD in history as well as fantasy involves some challenges for lighting that fans may not have considered.
It's also a good thing that they "love using flame," because the show is based on a book called Fire & Blood for a reason. As more of the dragons of House of the Dragon are unleashed, it seems like a safe bet that more people are going to burn. The cinematographer, who joined forces with director Geeta Vasant Patel for Episode 8 of Season 1 as well as the upcoming Episode 3 of Season 2, went on:
Our joke in Season 1 was that even though it's House of the Dragon, we didn't get any dragons! Coming back for Season 2, we were very keen to get to work with some dragons. And I think everybody can tell from the trailer that in Episode 3, we get to hang out with Baela on her dragon. That's in the trailer. That was a really exciting new thing for us to get into.
Goldschmidt's Season 1 episode was set almost entirely within the walls of the Red Keep, with no dragon action to speak of. That certainly won't be the case this time around. In case you missed it following the tragic deaths at the end of Episode 2, check out the trailer for what to expect on June 30 below:
The trailer also shows what appears to be a very wet Daemon riding on the back of Caraxes, so there are evidently at least two dragon sequences in very different circumstances. Daemon in the rain, and Baela in the sun. Catherine Goldschmidt shared some insight on the differences between dragons in daylight vs. dark, saying:
The thing about daylight is that there's lots of different variations - where the sun is going to be when you actually shoot the location piece versus where you want it to be, and what if it's cloudy on the day that you do the location piece? So there's a lot more variation, whereas with night, you can say ahead of time, this is what night is going to look like, because I have control of the lighting and the exposure. I make one decision about night and that stays true, whereas with day we tried to shoot the location pieces first, simply because we knew that would dictate a lot of the lighting choices.
Since she came to House of the Dragon Season 2 with one full episode of Season 1 to her name already, what has changed from the first to second season? Catherine Schmidt opened up on precisely that subject, saying:
Just generally speaking, technology has progressed. Volume stages were a big fad when we started Season 1, and so a volume stage was built for the show and it was used for a lot of sets and for a lot of dragon riding sequences. And by Season 2, the volume stage was taken down, and that's because, ultimately, I think everyone felt it wasn't economically worth it. I will say that what we wound up doing for the dragon riding stuff this year is that we essentially built a sort of volume type space using large LED screens that surrounded the mechanical buck. But the difference was that what we were putting on those screens was for lighting purposes only rather than treating it like a background that's going to stay in camera. That's one way that we changed the approach from Season 1 to Season 2.
Catherine Goldschmidt's Season 1 episode – "Lord of the Tides" – was certainly pivotal, as Paddy Considine had some final great moments before Viserys finally died, and a deathbed misunderstanding with Alicent guaranteed conflict with Rhaenrya. While we can only wait and see if there are any game-changers in Episode 3 of Season 2, the wait isn't much longer.
Tune in to HBO (or stream via a Max subscription) on Sunday, June 30 at 9 p.m. ET for the third episode of House of the Dragon's second season.
