The camera operators behind hit TV show House of the Dragon filmed the dragon-riding scenes while standing on a gym half-balance ball.
House of the Dragon, which acts as a direct prequel to HBO’s hit show Game of Thrones, follows the division and fall of House Targaryen.
The Targaryen dynasty are famed and feared for their ability to tame dragons in the the television series. And as the title House of the Dragon suggests, the creatures are key to the show’s magic and appeal with audiences.
Filming Dragon-Riding Scenes
In a recent interview with Mashable, the cinematographers behind season two of House of Dragon revealed that they used a single piece of gym equipment to shoot the dragon-riding scenes and bring them to life.
According to the publication, House of the Dragon’s dragon-riding scenes are traditionally filmed with actors riding on a mechanical device known as a buck which mimics the movement of the show’s dragons. The buck is also surrounded by LED screens, which display animated backgrounds and light the actors.
For shooting, a remote camera was mounted directly on the buck. The camera operator, positioned away from the buck, used a Libra console placed on moose bars on their shoulders.
However, the show’s four cinematographers Vanja Černjul, P.J. Dillon, Catherine Goldschmidt, and Alejandro Martínez thought that this method did not make the dragon-riding scenes feel as real and immersive as possible.
“This setup allowed the remote head with the camera to react to handheld operation from the ground,” Vanja Černjul, who served as cinematographer for episodes six and seven of season two of House of the Dragon, tells Mashable.
“The challenge was making it look like the camera operator was reacting to the buck’s, or dragon’s, movement. The problem was the camera operator on the ground was too stable, and we didn’t want to fake the handheld movement.”
Finding Inspiration in The Gym
The cinematographers of House of the Dragon decided to push the boundaries even further in creating the on-screen dragon-riding experience.
“Our goal was to make the scenes feel more subjective, as if the camera operator was riding on the dragon alongside the actor,” Černjul tells Mashable.
That’s when Černjul came up with the concept of getting the camera operators to stand on a half-balance ball, commonly seen at the gym, to film the dragon-riding scenes.
A half-balance ball looks like an exercise ball cut in half. It is inflated on one side with a flat platform on the other.
“I had a silly idea that ended up working,” Černjul explains.
“I asked for a half-balance ball from a nearby gym and had the operator stand on it while operating. This made the camera operator a little off-balance, simulating the movement we needed. Our amazing camera operators were game to try anything, and this approach worked.”
Alongside the half-balance ball, Černjul used a 32mm prime lens to shoot dragon-riding scenes in his episodes, describing it as “close enough to the actors for subjectivity, and long enough to convey movement.”
“Our innovative setup made the dragon-riding scenes more realistic, and I’m proud of the results,” Černjul tells the publication.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos (right) and via HBO (left).