Hello , I’m Fahad, I do a show called Big Screen Vibes on YouTube where I review movies. And today I want to talk about the third episode of most watched television show in the world right now, Game Of Thrones Season 7.
In these pieces I wanna talk about the parallels of GoT with the big screen. The way it is shot, the dialogue, the pacing, and the overall screenwriting.
Let’s get started.
We start in Dragonstone, sweeping panoramic wide shots whenever we’re here this episode, our characters brood looking down on the ocean from a cliff. Shots like those in James Bond movies where they set the location.
We see an introduction that requires backstory which really is only possible on TV (or Marvel movies) but the calibre of the dialogue and the way it’s shot in the Walk-n-Talk fashion felt very film. And reminds of the style of Aaron Sorkin who made ‘The Social Network’ the quippy sarcastic film it was. Speaking of quippy, it’s very much a unanimous consensus that this episode was the funniest episode of GoT. The one with the most deliberate points of laughter. There have always been jokes in this show but the ones in this episode felt like deliberate character defining moments, like those we see in movies where characters are made to speak with intention to define their own key traits.
Furthermore let’s talk about the more intimate closed quarter moments. Those between Cersie and Ellaria. The facial acting in those scenes were shot for emphasis on the eyes and the angles changed as the power difference in the scenes changed. Something that’s very reminiscent of mob films and torture scenes in horror movies.
The scenes in the war room at Dragonstone were shot in a way which emphasised the the side-taking. Using the war table as a divider and leaving Dany alone in her decisions and to defend herself. The blocking in that scene is also similar to another in the episode between Cersie and the banker/repo man from the Iron Bank of Braavos. The scene was written like a scene from a Tarantino movie where each character unravels the plan of another and we see one character come out victorious as they are revealed to be ahead of the other the whole time.
Another similar scene is the one closed quarter scene with Jamie and Olenna Tyrell (the thug boss queen of my heart). The scene began with one character holding power and a slow reveal allows the other to take reign over the scene.
Now to discuss the only real battle scene of this episode. There was potential for two but we see a fraction of one. A friend of mine pointed out the similarities between the Greyworm siege scene and the action works of Guy Ritchie. A very kinetically shot and edited montage scene overlaid with a very charismatic voice-over from Tyrion outlining his plan. The scene also had some over the top action and violence which tied it ever closer to scenes directed by Guy Ritchie. The potential second action scene of the episode was the taking of The Reach (the territory of the House Tyrell. We see a large army led by Jamie march toward the castle and right after, we cut to a defeated Olenna Tyrell. Leaving out such a fight might seem like a cop out, but this season is gearing up for much greater fights. And the scene only further proves how easy it really was to defeat the Tyrell army with the right strategic implementation of troops by Cersie and Jamie.
We know Game of Thrones has defined the cinematic television experience for this generation. And this episode is up there with the top 10 most inspired and tactfully implemented episodes of the show. Season 7 is rumoured to have the most breathtaking imagery, and the most inventive writing. I can’t be anything but excited for an episode this season to one-up episode three.
For a more in depth and fun rundown of the show, watch us on the @BigScreenVibes YouTube channel and Facebook page. The episode we made about Ep3 is down below!