What scenes that occur "off screen" will appear "on screen"?

[Padraig]

[quote name='Andhaira' post='1589018' date='Nov 14 2008, 16.01']I'd rather not have any flashbacks in the series period. Nor any slow mo. IMO roberts rebellion may one day be made into a movie or series of movies so I rather it be left ot that.[/quote]
Well, as people have said, the ToJ scene is almost essential for all sorts of reasons. But I do agree that flashbacks should be minimised otherwise. For example, I can't see why we would have Cat flashback to the Whispering Wood, when we could easily show it in real time. TV works differently from books.

[quote]I think as long as they keep the focus on the characters and don't get caught up trying to create some enormous battle or huge scene just to do it, they can pull off some great stuff.[/quote]
Very true. And luckily all the battles can be downplayed in aGoT.

[Dornish]

While downplaying the battles is good, there needs to be a scene to establish just how much better a swordsman Jaime is than everyone else before his injury. It's expressed repeatedly but the only demonstration I can think of is at Whispering Wood which occurs off camera.

[Padraig]

Oh yes. It would be a major shame not to focus on Jaime's attack on Robb. But the rest of the battle could be downplayed if required.

[Fat Belwas]

The Battle of the Green Fork, from Tyrion's POV, could definitely be done with a fraction of the expense of other filmed battles. For example, in the Battle of the Pelanor (sp?) Fields in The Return of the King, we see Sauron's vast army, we see the whole city and trebuchets and Grond, we see the Rohirrim charge, and the Nazgul, and we see everyone fighting. This story is about the characters, and we only need to see the battle from Tyrion's eyes. Camera shows Tyrion killing a few, and Bron and some important clansmen kicking ass, a shot of Gregor's horse going down, and we're good.

A similar thing can be done with Tyrion's scenes in the Battle of the Blackwater, and a lot of it can just become reports delivered to Cersei, shown from Sansa's POV. Davos's scenes, that's probably going to be a lot more expensive.

The pyrotechnics team is going to have fun with this one...

[Ran]

See [url="http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?showtopic=32295"]my thread[/url] on effects. It's not as expensive as people think, if you've got industrious VFX guys with a "can do" attitude.

I actually think that'd be the wrong tack to take, trying to minimize these battles. It seems to me that the success of the show as the first adult epic fantasy series on TV would rest a lot on it delivering an epic feel. People were extremely disappointed in [i]Rome[/i]'s lackluster battles -- the huge, lavish sets and large groups of extras made you expect you'd get the same thing for the battles, and it never happened. While it didn't kill the show, it didn't do it any favors either.

[i]Tudors[/i] is kind of in the same boat. It's got lavish costuming and interiors, but Henry's England feels like it's the size of a small village, not an up-and-coming kingdom.

[Padraig]

[quote name='Ran' post='1590057' date='Nov 15 2008, 16.36']I actually think that'd be the wrong tack to take, trying to minimize these battles.[/quote]
Certainly if they can do the battles well in aGoT, they should try. They'll add an extra bit of class to the show. And would be good practice for trying to do something amazing with the end of aCoK.

Nice to know that the effects may not be that expensive either.