I’m having #jonsafeels again 😮💨 and I’m dying to write fic, but I’m out of ideas! I’ve already written everything I used to daydream about. Does anyone have any prompts to get me going?
You know what reminds me of this House of the Dragon shot from s1e5 âWe Light the Wayâ:
This scene from The Borgias, s2e10 âThe Confessionâ:
Both are shots with shallow focus, blurring the foreground (dancing people) as well to give the feeling of an intimate scene in public. Also, they seem to both be from the perspective of a family member. Viserys, the father/brother in the first, Vanozza, the mother, in the second.
Of course, Cesare and Lucrezia are actually dancing, while Daemon was confronting Rhaenyra and not dancing with her (speaking of, why did he not dance at all? Because even with Laena before, I didnât get the feeling that he actively danced, instead he just stood there and let Laena dance for him)
Anyway, itâs interesting to see such similarities in both of the shows, even if they are completely unrelated.
This is not a âpro-Helaemondâ post. Itâs a straight-up âHelaemond IS REALâ post. I mean, I already wrote extensively about Helaemond being real, but it got deleted with the rest of my old MlfcntRx account due to it becoming infested by unblockable bots. Itâs lost in the reblogs now. But I didnât discuss visual subtext using a little, commonly-used filmmaking technique called âscene blocking.â
The Visuals In Question:
A Brief Lesson On âScene Blockingâ:
Blocking isnât only about working out sight lines and stage movementâit also determines where you want your audience to look and how you want them to emotionally engage with a scene.
[Blocking] has evolved to mean working with performers to figure out the actorsâ movements, body positions, and body language in a scene. In cinema, the blocking process also involves working out the camera position and camera movement, and can impact the lighting design, set design, and more. It is thus an essential part of the planning process during preproduction.
Blocking can be an art unto itself, and is similar in many ways to the choreography of a dance. What are the characters actually âdoingâ in the scene? How can their motions embody the text? The movements of the actors can be crafted during the rehearsal process in artful ways that reveal additional subtext in the dialogue, as well as reflect the relationships between characters, direct the focus of the viewer, and create effective compositions for the camera.
In other words, when you have big scenes where there are a lot of actors, set pieces, movements, there is almost always going to be a lot of thought put into where actors are standing in relation to one another, what theyâre doing, what theyâre not doing, etc., all of which communicates information visually to the viewer. Blocking scenes before you film them is essentially how you help show the characterizations and the story beats and merge them with the technical aspects of camera work.
Application of Knowledge:
Exhibit A: âI would perform my duty if Mother had only betrothed us.â
The visual subtext: The inclusion of the word âonlyâ is what sets Aemondâs statement apart from being merely about his sense of duty and responsibility. Including the word âonlyâ is what tells you that he has feelings for Helaena. The text is underscored by the additional visual subtext provided in the actorâs body language: Swaying moodily and gazing sadly at Helaena offscreen. Aegon even repeats, âIf only,â wishfully:
Exhibit B: Aegon, Aemond, and Helaena stand together at court.
The visual subtext: Aemond could easily have been positioned between Helaena and Alicent as it doesnât mess up any technical aspects. But he is deliberately positioned between Aegon and Helaena to convey that he is an obstacle in the dead-from-the-start marriage of Aegon and Helaena:
Exhibit C:Â Aemond, Helaena, and Aegon seated at the table.
The visual subtext: This is a heavily-choreographed table seating and everyone was definitely placed very specifically for technical reasons, but also storytelling reasons. Aemond needed to be on the opposite end from Lucerys for their later pig scene and him being on the end of the table highlights his lone-dragon image. But Helaena could have been placed where Aegon is and it wouldnât have affected the technicality of the camera work. However, she is specifically placed between her brothers because she is one of the many obstacles in the broke-from-the-start fraternal relationship of Aemond and Aegon:
Exhibit D: Aemond turns his chair around to watch Jace and Helaena dance.
The visual subtext: Aemondâs body language indicates heâs tense. Itâs communicating that he didnât turn his chair to merely be able to see the dance better. The fact heâs sitting so rigidly tells you heâs offended by Jaceâs gesture:
Exhibit E: Aemond walks into Helaenaâs room.
The visual subtext: Helaena, who was staring off moodily prior to his appearance, straightens and looks anxious when he steps into the room. Aemond looks visibly taken aback to find his mother in the room. His one eye darts suspiciously between Alicent and Helaena. Alicent also seems surprised to see him. The body language of everyone indicates that something is afoot other than Viserysâs death, which only Alicent knows at this point:
Exhibit F: Aemond goes into Protec Mode.
The visual subtext: Aemond and Helaena are deliberately framed and filmed together during a heightened dramatic moment to convey that Aemond and Helaena are a far more connected unit than Helaena and Aegon:
Long and short of all this is that everything that actors do in a scene, how theyâre positioned and filmed, is deliberately planned and laid out because thatâs how you tell a story visually particularly if thereâs minimal dialogue, vague dialogue, or no dialogue in a scene.
So Helaemond is definitely a Real Thing on Aemondâs part.
Itâs not entirely clear if Helaena feels the same toward Aemond, but she definitely doesnât hate him.
Whether or not Helaenaâs kids are Aemondâs is a little more debatable. But on that topic, I'ma just leave you with a scene from episode 6 where Alicent discusses Viserysâs refusal to acknowledge Rhaenyraâs kids are bastards with Larys. Notice how the camera lingers on Larysâs reaction to her adamant denial of the suggestion that she would also turn a blind eye if one of her kids tried to pass off bastards as heirs:
