Shooting mud, fog and firelight in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 368: Gustav Danielsson, FSF

Instead of leading with grand, sweeping Game of Thrones melodrama, HBO’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is a bit more of a buddy comedy, with plenty of action and drama. At first, cinematographer Gustav Danielsson, FSF was concerned about how to hook an audience with a smaller character drama set in the Game of Thrones universe. “It starts out very slow. There’s not a lot of drama. That was a little bit of a worry for me and for the director,” Danielsson says. “How do we capture the audience in this slow-paced drama where there’s not too much exciting going on, except for a friendship emerging between the older knight, Dunk, and the kid, Egg?”

Danielsson and director Owen Harris had collaborated previously on the series Black Mirror. For A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, the two partnered on episodes one, two, and the Emmy-nominated episode five. They built the show around an understated, pastoral look, shooting in Northern Ireland. “When we filmed this, we wanted it to be kind of classical,” says Danielsson. “We didn’t move the camera in a very fancy way to obstruct the viewer from what you’re actually viewing. And we let the landscape and all the scenery do its talking instead of us trying to be fancy with cameras.”

That naturalism shaped how the team handled night scenes. Rather than relying on artificial moonlight, Danielsson pushed to shoot at dusk whenever possible, catching some setups in the lingering blue light before switching to faster Panavision T-Series lenses that could let firelight read as the true source. He hid lights around the fire and fill lights for the actor’s faces, creating a world that appeared lit by actual sources seen in the shot.

Episode Five was the most grueling and exciting of the series for Danielsson, including a sprawling seven-on-seven tournament battle. The scenes were storyboarded extensively and shot over roughly two weeks with two camera units on a field nearly the size of a soccer pitch. The sinister gray mist was chosen as a practical solution to use fewer extras, but story-wise, it added to the atmosphere of dread as it obscured the combatants. Covering such a large area evenly with fog was a huge problem, with the special effects team chasing shifting winds the entire time. Luckily, VFX was able to even out the fog in post.

The mud used on the field was also problematic. “We sprinkled water on this surface and then you get the mud. But when the crew and actors start walking around on this, the mud develops into almost a concrete pavement, especially around where you have all the gear and trucks,” explains Danielsson. “So you line up a shot, and then I start talking to the special effects department and you say, ‘Hey guys, this is our next shot.’ And they start hacking up the earth like farmers digging in the ground. And then spraying more water and preparing that mud, because that mud had to be prepared for every shot.”

Just as memorable is the sequence’s helmet POV shot through Ser Dunk’s visor. A Ronin 4D camera was strapped to the operator’s chest, with the knight’s helmet rigged in front of it. Explains Danielsson, “It adds this confusion when you look out through that face slit and you see gray and you see shapes coming towards you when you see your opponents, the other knights, just dark shapes coming towards you. So it adds to this claustrophobic feeling.”

The episode’s extended flashback sequence had its own subtle visual signature. Rather than applying a different grade, Danielsson shot it on a Panavision T-Series Anamorphic lens pushed outside its intended sensor size, producing a fall off towards the edges.

Despite all the obstacles on A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, extensive communication, prep and planning led Danielsson to create some of the most striking images for the show.

Find Gustav Danielsson: Instagram: @gustavdanielssson

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is currently streaming on HBO.

CAMERAS: Alexa Mini LF, ARRI Raw 4.5K, open gate 3:2 aspect ratio, final 2:1; additional Ronin 4D camera.

LENSES: Panavision Ultra Panatar 1.3 squeeze anamorphic, Panavision T Series anamorphic, Panavision VA lenses.

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