Fonz's Favorite Frames: "House of the Dragon: Season 1"
Welcome to another blog post where I share my favorite edited scenes and why you should study them. In this write-up, I’ll be telling you which scene to look out for, for the editing, in HBO Max’s House of the Dragon (Season 1).
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Note, there are spoilers ahead so please watch through Episode 5 “We Light The Way” before reading on.
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This episode is edited by Crispin Green. Let’s begin.
If there was one scene to study the film editing for in House of the Dragon (Season 1), it would be…
Rhaenyra & Laenor’s Wedding.
Before we break down the editing, here’s some context about the full 20-minute scene. There is a welcoming feast to celebrate the upcoming wedding between Rhaenrya Targaryen and Laenor Velaryon. And all of the families of Westeros are invited: the Lannisters, Baratheons, Starks, Hightowers, you name it. It’s the party to be at.
The important backstories to keep in mind here are:
Ser Cristan Cole’s secret relationship with Rhaenyra.
Laenor’s secret relationship with his knight Joffrey Lonmouth.
Alicent’s coming of age arc and becoming a player in the politics of power.
King Visery’s ailment and his relationship with his wife Alicent.
Prince Daemon’s secret relationship with Rhaenyra & lying about killing his current wife, Rhea, in order to be with Rhaenyra.
Before the feast kicks off, King Visery makes a toast. And midway through the speech, Alicent dressed in “War Green” confidently walks in as if she’s reborn. We can tell she’s a different Alicent - one that can change the course of the politics. She’s no longer just the submissive queen to Viserys. Larys Strong comments “Green is the color Hightowers fly when they’re going to war”. Something is up.
The first half of the pre-wedding feast is filled with toasts, dance, and food (lots of it).
However, what kickstarts the tension into second gear is when Laenor notices Ser Cristan Cole admiring Rhaenyra and guesses correctly that he’s the "sidepiece”. This doesn’t bode well with Cole since he can be killed for this and ruin his name. He hates that Laenor knows.
Meanwhile, Gerald Royce, Rhea’s cousin, confronts Prince Daemon and claims that he killed his wife. Daemon nonchalantly dismisses him and looks forward to his share of the inheritance.
Suddenly, we’re caught in a dance and Rhaenyra and Daemon are whispering sweet nothings to each other.
And then the unthinkable happens, a fight erupts! Wrapped up in all of the chaos (and great editing), it’s revealed that it’s Ser Criston Cole bashing Laenor’s head to the ground, killing him. What was supposed to be a happy celebratory pre-wedding feast has now turned into a bloodbath.
King Viserys makes the decision to marry Rhaenyra and Laenor right then and there instead of waiting. He’s had enough. But to top it all off, Viserys falls to the ground during the vows exchange.
Showing Not Telling
What’s important to keep in mind in this entire twenty minute scene is how well Editor Crispin Green plays with Point of Views and Reaction Shots. It’s almost as if we don’t even need to hear the dialogue - we are so immersed in every character’s body language because what they say isn’t even true to their intentions anyway. We’re looking for looks and subtle reactions. That’s what makes House of the Dragon so intriguing, we have to always look beyond what the characters are saying.
For instance, right before Jason Lannister greets Viserys & Rhaenrya, we already see Rhaenrya rolling her eyes even before he says a word. “Here we go, incoming comment about how he is better fit to be my suitor or my lack of ability to rule the Seven Kingdoms”. These reactions are put in on purpose and are extremely well-thought out. Crispin didn’t just happen to edit that in, he watched every single piece of the dailies and chose this shot with Rhaenrya’s look. It’s a small detail but this look actually sets the tone for their conversation: Rhaenrya clearly has bigger problems than dealing with Jason Lannister at this moment and she basically predicts what he’s going to say. He’s basically an annoying little peasant to her at this point. We knew this all from that “eye roll” reaction. That’s really good take selection from Crispin.
However, the real meat of this scene is about Rhaenrya and Laenor’s secret agreement with their respective sidepieces. Crispin does a great job giving us the answer for why the brawl happened at the end with quick subtle reaction shots from Ser Criston Cole and Joffrey Lonmouth. We see this when the Valeryon family is introduced and when Rhaenrya greets Laenor, Crispin makes sure that we see how jealous Ser Criston Cole feels, and then how Joffrey Lonmouth feels, seemingly confident it will all work out. Editor Crispin even sneaks in a reaction shot of Jason Lannister in there as well (haha well played). This storyline ultimately is the catalyst for everything to go wrong.
But in typical Game of Thrones fashion, there are several storylines at play in a given scene, Crispin actually mixes in reaction shots that belong to different storylines, which is a risky editing move but it plays so successfully here. If you notice, when Rhaenrya and Laenor greet each other, Visery’s looks over to his right, looking for his Queen Alicent, acknowledging that his Queen isn’t by his side at this important moment. He’s seemingly lost complete control over his relationship with her. Furthermore, in his last reaction shot, he coughs. Confirming that his health is worsening. All of these two additional storylines are at play and it’s all done through subtle reaction shots in this 30 second exchange of shots. No dialogue, all said through all body language and reactions. That’s extremely difficult to achieve from an editing standpoint. Well done Crispin.
Just to point out again, these reaction shots are well curated by Crispin in order to further the story at hand. He is not blatantly spoiling of what’s to come next but he is building us up for it.
The next scene to observe this notion of “Showing Not Telling” is when Queen Alicent, seemingly reborn, walks down the aisle implicitly defying King Viserys by interrupting his speech. Everyone notices that she’s a completely different person when she walks down the aisle - it’s no secret that she’s purposefully delayed her entrance into the feast to make a statement. She’s no longer going to be told what to do. Editing wise, the reaction of King Visery’s when his Queen approaches the table is where Crispin shines. His reactions mean more than any dialogue could ever suggest. And to top it all off, the exchange between Queen Alicent and Rhaenrya shows how well Crispin picked performances that showed characters saying one thing when deep down they don’t actually mean it. In this instance, Queen Alicent knows about Rhaenrya’s misguided lie about her promiscuity and her affair with Ser Criston Cole. After she says, “Congratulations stepdaughter, what a blessing this is for you.”, Rhaenrya knows something is up. Whether she knows the full truth or not, we as an audience see it all over her face that her secret arrangement might not be sustainable. We got that all from a look.
But again, this is what really great editing is about as well. I point this out because every time we think of great editing, we immediately think of fast cuts, montage, or purposeful cutaways that show off editing. However, molding and sculpting performances to the finest details is actually what makes great editing. Of course, those scenes that rely on editing to prove a point is skillful editing, but I want you to start thinking beyond those scenes. Editors go into great lengths studying performances and seeing the meaning behind the body language. Some Editors even call on the VFX department to “split-screen” shots so that they can take Character A’s take 1 performance and mesh it with Character B’s take 2 performance and have it be on the same frame as if they performed their best takes together. It’s that important. Remember, getting the right performances for the underlying meaning of the story is what editing is all about and editors will fight to get it as precise as they can.
The second half of the wedding kicks off and it’s central focus is a “Westeros-ian” Dance. If you thought the editing in the first half is good, this just takes it into another gear. Like I said before, Crispin delicately cuts to shots and reactions with differing storylines. Not only that but he now also has to deal with the dance and music. What Crispin does so well is that he interweaves the storylines to the rhythm of the dance, and doesn’t fight the flow of it. We see throughout the dance that we’re learning all of these revealations:
Laenor’s lover bodyguard, Joffrey, finds out who Rhaenrya’s lover is and confronts Ser Criston Cole about it all. The point of view and reaction shots of these four characters drive this scene all the way to the end.
Prince Daemon’s ultimate goal of being with Rhaenrya is coming to fruition albeit playing the long game. He skillfully sidesteps his late wife’s cousin’s accusation of murdering her and has a flirty exchange with Rhaenrya.
Queen Alicent clearly doesn’t have any desire or respect for her King anymore as she seemingly is up to something with her Hightower family.
We notice the dance music beats a bit faster and Crispin’s edits follow suit. And after Prince Daemon and Rhaenrya’s sweet nothings exchange, a fight ensues. The way that Crispin misdirects us to think Prince Daemon started it by using King Visery's point of view is masterful. We’re so used to Prince Daemon being the firestarter, but not this time. For the first time, Crispin is putting the audience on the outside of “knowing it all before it happens”. No longer do we know a secret that gives us a clue of what’s happening and who’s fighting. We’re just like King Visery’s and the rest of the characters at this moment: “What in the Seven Hells is going on?” Crispin even hides any chance to see who is fighting until the crowd spreads further out to safety.
His use of point of view shots and reaction shots are more apparent than ever. He has completely changed his editing pattern here. We went from being so fluid, rhythmic, going with the “Westeros Dance” flow into chaos and disorientation. Crispin is cutting quickly from one reaction to another, breaking traditional editing rules, and reflecting the frenzy that the story is portraying.
If you rewatch the scene, he cuts to about 13 point of view shots and 25 reaction shots from the time the fight starts until it ends. That’s interesting to breakdown because the majority of this scene is not even featuring the fight itself but the tension that surrounds it. As an Editor, that’s an important lesson to be learned. Less is more. Having the audience imagine what’s happening in their head is more stimulating than telling them what’s going on. And that’s why it’s no secret Crispin used so much Point of View and Reaction shots because that’s the best way to successfully achieve that “imagine-it-for yourself-stimulating” feeling.
Crispin’s range as an Editor is what made me choose this scene. In the first half of the wedding, we were molding, fine tuning character performances through their subtleties in their actions. And by the end of it, we were thrown into a frenzy with a chaotic editing pattern that mimicked the gravity of the fight. I wouldn’t be surprised if this entire scene singlehandedly wins Crispin an Emmy for this episode.
Building Tension
What’s masterful about this twenty minute scene is that it builds tension and then pays us off for all of it. Crispin does it in a way where we can’t possibly guess what’s to come next though. The payoff happens all at different parts of the scene when we least expect it. Let’s break down all of what Crispin’s building up and paying off:
Buildup: Rhaenrya/Cole and Laenor/Joffrey’s secret relationship. Payoff: Ends with a brutal fight between Cole and Joffrey.
Buildup: King Visery’s relationship with Queen Alicent worsens. Payoff: Ends with Queen Alicent defying King Visery’s by interrupting his speech and wearing “War Green”
Buildup: King Visery’s health worsens throughout the scene. Payoff: Ends with him collapsing during the impromptu wedding of Rhaenrya and Laenor.
These are the three “shock factor” sequences where Crispin needs to plant tiny seeds throughout the scene in order for the buildup to fully payoff. Like I said before, Crispin mixes in reactions together that don’t necessarily belong in the same storyline. That way, we are clocking in reactions, but it is up to us to make sense of it all during the feast. So let’s go in order and explain how Crispin successfully builds up tension and then pays it off later on in the sequence.
In Rhaenrya/Cole & Laenor/Joffrey’s storyline, the amount of cutaways Crispin goes to, for either Ser Cristan Cole or Joffrey, should be a sign that he is purposefully trying to build towards something bigger. Every time Rhaenrya is featured in a ceremonial activity, we can bet Crispin will cut to Ser Cristan Cole right afterwards. Likewise with Laenor and Joffrey. The tension is further escalated when Joffrey wants to figure out who Rhaenrya’s sidepiece is. And once he figures out that it’s Cole and confronts him, the tension increases even more.
The payoff for this storyline is that Cole ends up bashing Joffrey’s face to death. A very gruesome result and honestly a surprising payoff. Cole snapped and let his jealousness, anger, “sidepiece status” get to him mentally. Not only that, he hated that Joffrey figured him out so easily. It’s like in elementary school when a friend calls you out for having a crush on someone and then promises not to tell anyone with a smirk. But you know damn well that that friend will. You feel vulnerable and compromised.
I have to assume Crispin purposefully did not show us Cole more explicitly angry until the fight because he wanted us to be caught off guard and surprised. To be honest, I thought Cole was handling it all well throughout the scene until the fight. This was another example of how well Crispin surgically selected dailies where Cole was not outwardly angry. Almost acted cool with the entire thing but knew deep down that he was furious. Again, the script breakdown by Crispin is incredibly well done. He sees beyond the dialogue and brings to life what these characters feel on the inside. And that’s why it’s such a surprise at the end when we see Cole losing it. It’s a great albeit gruesome payoff.
The next storyline that Crispin is responsible in building tension for is King Viserys’ relationship with his Queen, Alicent. Note there are countless of moments in previous episodes where Queen Alicent’s relationship with her King was already rocky, I’m just going over the continuation of that buildup specifically in this scene that leads us to this reborn version of Queen Alicent. But just know, for those keeping score, that this has been an ongoing conflict.
The first moment of buildup Crispin had to properly portray was King Viserys’ exchange with Jason Lannister. Lannister asks, “Where is the Queen?” Viserys replies that she’s just getting ready (which is a lie - he has no clue!), to which Jason replies with a backhanded insult to Rhaenrya. Again, Crispin is juggling two storylines here and having to pick the right performances that accommodate both plot lines. But we can already infer that King Viserys has no idea where his wife is or what she’s up to just by his delivery of the line. If Queen Alicent’s relationship with King Viserys was in good terms, there would be no way that she would miss a single moment of this feast with him, let alone the entrance of the clans to her land. Also, she would’ve made a public apology if she actually was late.
The next seed of buildup was subtle. If you look at the reaction shot that Crispin added after Rhaenrya/Laenor greeted each other, then Lord Corlys/Rhaenys, we see a shot of King Viserys looking for his Queen. He feels left out and sad that he didn’t have the Queen by his side at that moment. It all but confirms that he has lost control over his relationship with his wife.
And finally, the payoff catches us all off guard when Queen Alicent shows up during the middle of King Viserys’ speech. Bold move Alicent, bold move. She walks down the aisle, stone cold face, wearing a color that symbolizes war, and is seemingly reborn. This was a payoff in the making, a huge power shift in her character happens here and she’s no longer the old Alicent we saw in previous episodes.
What I’ve noticed too in how Crispin reveals Queen Alicent, is that he is fully aware of how to use the cinematography to its fullest meaning and vision. If you rewatch the reveal, Crispin cuts to this powerful wide shot of Queen Alicent silhouetted to the crowd, before we even see her actual face. It’s villainous and ominous. She appears taller than everyone in that room and looks to be more “King-ly” than Viserys at this moment. Crispin even includes these ominous overhead shots that looks like a macabre painting. It all cuts so well with each other and portrays this new “reborn” Queen Alicent effectively.
Side note, this is something to have in your toolbox as well when you edit. Look at the cinematography of your shots and find the meaning behind them. As an Editor, it’s your job to properly place them in the edit to give audiences a complete experience that support its meaning and intentions. That’s what Crispin did so well in this Queen Alicent reveal.
The last storyline that Crispin had to buildup throughout this scene was King Viserys’ health worsening. It was another surgical edit where Crispin had to really find moments throughout the scene to place them. If you rewatch the scene, the small coughs felt strategically placed. It almost feels innocent at first, like we don’t even care that Viserys just coughed, it’s a normal occurrence. But then you start to realize that it led to a nosebleed and then the eventual payoff at the end after all of the chaos… collapsing during the wedding ceremony.
Though, I wonder if the coughs Crispin placed were already scripted in or if he placed them in during the edit. They knew they needed to have a couple moments of “coughing foreshadowing” but I’m curious to know if Crispin had any say on where to put them.
So those were the three storylines that Crispin had to buildup and payoff in this scene. It’s pretty remarkable to watch because everything happens so fast and is heavily intertwined with each other. I can only imagine editing this all together, perfecting it over and over again with all the subtle fine tuning that come with this scene. What a great episode.
Look Beyond Dialogue
In a show like House of the Dragon, you must look past the dialogue when watching the show. The reason why I love this scene for editing so much is because Crispin communicates the truth to us through the character’s actions rather than what they say. And that’s why when you cut to a reaction on this show, you have to really think about the non-verbal language it’s giving to the audience. As an Editor, you have to ask yourself, does this reaction align with that specific character’s motives & backstory?
I can only imagine the amount of work Crispin had to go through to get this scene right. With so many storylines at play, he had to make sure that the characters were pointing to their truest intentions in their non-verbal behavior.
On a show with such talented actors, they also must have given Crispin different options in their performances as well. This is where most people don’t understand how difficult and challenging editing can be. But these are the decisions we go through every time we cut.
Say in that scene with Rhaenrya and Jason Lannister (when Rhaenrya eye rolls right before he walks up), we have several options in the dailies footage:
Rhaenrya fake smiles, greets Jason while staying poised and fake happy to see him.
Rhaenrya stays cold faced - makes him feel less than her intentionally, and ignores looking at him.
Rhaenrya acting afraid of Jason and wants her father to get him away from her.
What’s crazy is that they are all actually in line and true with Rhaenrya’s character and what she would actually do. The part that Crispin has to do now is to decide which take fits best. This is where Crispin looks beyond the dialogue and has to really have a strong grasp of what the story is.
So how do we make this decision and figure out which take to put in? You start to dig at the script and ask yourself, “Ok what is the relationship between her and Jason? Well, in previous episodes, she clearly does not like him and would rather stay single than ever considering him as a suitor. So the fact that he’s still trying to show that he’s a better suitor again shows he’s just not getting the hint and can’t accept that he’ll never be with Rhaenrya. And then he does this backhanded insult to her where he questions her ability to rule.”
Knowing this, I would use a mix of reactions from Take 1 and Take 2. I want a mixture of her staying poised and strong but also giving him the coldest of looks. Being fake happy to see him is a great way to accomplish that, but also having her look straight up cold to him would show Rhaenrya’s truest of intentions.
What’s interesting is that Take 3 starts to look like the wrong choice once we dig at this storyline more through our research. Why would Rhaenrya act afraid or submissive to Jason in this moment? It would actually change the storyline and possibly infer to the audience another intention, which is not good.
So this is what it’s like. And this is what Crispin goes through hundreds of times per day whenever he cuts something in. These are questions he asks himself every time he edits performances and perfecting all the subtleties.
In Conclusion
So, what did we learn from Crispin’s Editing? And how could we take what we watched and add it to our editing toolbox?
The biggest lesson is to break down the script to find the character’s true intentions and motivations. What I mean by that is to go through each scene and write a little summary of what these characters’ true motivations are. So you can understand everything fully.
If a character says “Drink the wine.” That could mean he is offering, helping, and being accommodating, or it could mean that he is trying to poison him. You have to know which one he means because this will influence your shot selections.
Another lesson to learn is how to build up tension and then pay it off. Know how to plant seeds for the audience and then hit them with eventual payoff. Sure, this all might be scripted in already but you are in charge of finding the correct performance that correlates to the right gauge on where to be in the story.
For instance, if Crispin chose a more angrier performance from Ser Cristan Cole in his exchange with Joffrey, we wouldn’t have been surprised at the payoff. We actually would’ve knew, once there was commotion, that it was Cole and Joffrey fighting. That’s the difference! That’s what happens when don’t know where you are in the story and accidentally pick a performance that isn’t correlating to where you are in the script. And this is what Editors and Directors chat about during their edits. They fine tune these decisions to make sure their vision is coming to life in how they intended it.
Lastly, ask yourself how the cinematography of a shot feels to you when editing. I’ll take the example of Queen Alicent during her reveal. There was this powerful silhouetted shot of her that made her look taller and more ominous than everyone. Use these shots to your advantage to tell your story.
Well, I hope you got a lot out of this blog post and learned something new that you can apply to your editing. If you had a favorite House of Dragon scene for editing, let me know in the comments below. Would love to hear what you thought about the series.
If you enjoy my content and are interested in pursuing a career in film editing, check out my YouTube Channel and subscribe. Also, if you’d like 1-on-1 mentorship and are curious on how to get started working on Hollywood shows like House of The Dragon, schedule an appointment with me here. I appreciate you stopping by, and look forward in seeing you on the next one. Thanks again, until next time.
-Alfonso