[BOOK SPOILERS] Set design

[Xenophon]

What do you think of the sets?

Castle Black isn't at all how I imagined it, with all the bridges between the towers, but I think it's great. Winterfell also looks great, IMO. King's Landing, I'm not so sure about, though. I like the idea of making it hotter, almost Persian to emphasize the difference between it and the North, but I'm not wild about how some of the details. It seems like this is the most contentious decision so far. Do you all like this version of KL, or do you think it departs too far from the one in the books?

(Mods: Ran already has a threat for Visuals, Effects, and Sets, but it's marked as no spoilers, and it seems like people want to discuss how the sets differ from descriptions in the book, so I started this one.)

[NW Deserter]

Pretty much agree with everything you said. I don't really mind the feeling of heat in KL, as I always got the impression that it would be sweltering...but the palm trees are really throwing me off. I would expect these more in Dorne. I also don't like how it looks and feels so dusty, considering it's basically sitting on the shores of the Narrow Sea. Should be more humid.

These are nitpicky, though. I love how the Red Keep looks, as well as the throne room and the small council room. I never envisioned so many open areas though, especially where Arya and Syrio were training. I imagined that to be in a completely enclosed area, almost basement-like. Not to say it doesn't look great on screen, but it took me a bit to get used to.

[Xenophon]

These are nitpicky, though. I love how the Red Keep looks, as well as the throne room and the small council room. I never envisioned so many open areas though, especially where Arya and Syrio were training. I imagined that to be in a completely enclosed area, almost basement-like. Not to say it doesn't look great on screen, but it took me a bit to get used to.

Yeah, now that you mention it all those large open windows go against my mental image of the Red Keep too.

Incidentally, did they use the same room for the Arya/Syrio scene and the Robert telling war stories scene?

[NW Deserter]

I don't think so. The Robert scene felt much more closed in. Unless they have an expandable set, which would be a brilliant idea for the sake of the budget.

[valacirca]

One of the first criticisms I heard from a GoT thread in a different forum I frequent is that while the show looks pretty, it lacks a sense of space about it. It feels too closed in as if you could feel it was shot inside a set instead of on location.

At first I was going to go against that impression, but now I'm starting to understand where that opinion is coming from and I'm beginning to agree.

I'm not getting that sense of how the locations look like in their entirety or how big they are and what their characteristics are. We get a lot of small samples of places, but they're difficult to piece together to get a bigger picture.

[NW Deserter]

I'm not getting that sense of how the locations look like in their entirety or how big they are and what their characteristics are. We get a lot of small samples of places, but they're difficult to piece together to get a bigger picture.

One area where I would disagree is at the Wall. The wide shots we've seen have given an appropriate sense of scale to the location.

[Xenophon]

One of the first criticisms I heard from a GoT thread in a different forum I frequent is that while the show looks pretty, it lacks a sense of space about it. It feels too closed in as if you could feel it was shot inside a set instead of on location.

At first I was going to go against that impression, but now I'm starting to understand where that opinion is coming from and I'm beginning to agree.

I'm not getting that sense of how the locations look like in their entirety or how big they are and what their characteristics are. We get a lot of small samples of places, but they're difficult to piece together to get a bigger picture.

That's a really good observation. I hadn't quite put my finger on it, but something didn't feel right about the scenes in KL. Each scene was fine on its own, but I never got a sense of how the various locations related to each other. In fact, it never really felt like they were in a city, since I never got a proper establishing shot or background to give me a sense of scale. I guess it would have been too expensive, but I really would have liked to see the Ned riding through the city and up to the Red Keep. At Winterfell, they also cut a lot of corners, but just having a few shots of the whole castle early on gave us a some sense of scale and location. I don't have anything like that for KL.

Also, isn't KL supposed to be this impressive city with 3 hills and a mighty castle? You'd think they'd want to show us that. I understand showing only interiors in Pentos, but Kings Landing is sort of the center of the whole story. We need to have some memory of what it looks like. Are they just counting on the throne room/the throne itself serving as that visual anchor?

As NW Deserter says, at Castle Black and the Wall it's much better. I know some people didn't like that long shot of Jon walking through the towers/bridges and onto the elevator, but it gave us a great feel for what the place looks like.

[j52y]

The way the story is being told, we're only getting details on the things we need to know. As our characters move throughout King's Landing, we'll see more of it, but because it's only one location in a show that has a lot of locations to account for. Because of this, we're just gonna have to take King's Landing on piece at a time.

I personally don't mind, though. It's the way I had to experience the island on Lost, and it actually made me enjoy the show more, because each new piece of the island was was different and exciting.

[Xenophon]

The way the story is being told, we're only getting details on the things we need to know. As our characters move throughout King's Landing, we'll see more of it, but because it's only one location in a show that has a lot of locations to account for. Because of this, we're just gonna have to take King's Landing on piece at a time.

I personally don't mind, though. It's the way I had to experience the island on Lost, and it actually made me enjoy the show more, because each new piece of the island was was different and exciting.

I guess my objection is that this isn't how the characters themselves would experience King's Landing. I'd rather we enter the city with them. It's hardly a major objection though.

Also, what do you all think of the throne room? It's much smaller than I expected--the descriptions in the book made it sound massive--but I don't really mind. The Iron Throne really dominates the room, which I think is probably the most important thing.

[Spring Bass]

I don't have any complaints about the Wall or Castle Black.

I think King's Landing seems kind of small and empty, though. They need more people packed into those streets.

[valacirca]

One area where I would disagree is at the Wall. The wide shots we've seen have given an appropriate sense of scale to the location.

Yeah, the Wall so far has been the best handled, although not great. From the wide-angle shots of it, you could see that it's a gargantuan structure.

[Joanna vander Poele]

There appears to be no costume thread yet (why? :() but since the locale for King's Landing is much more temperate and sunny than I thought, I'm not sure the characters' clothing (at least, the men) really reflect the climate. The ladies have fairly suitable gowns, but the heavy stuff the men wear would seem rather hot, especially since they're clothed neck to toe. Wouldn't they be sweating bullets? :P

Kudos to the Wall though. Looks darn perfect.

[theMountainGoat]

Now that you mention it there really should have been an establishing shot of King's Landing at the start of episode 3 and it's strange because HBO released the screenshot of it back before the premiere episode, I'm talking about this one King's Landing. Would have helped set the scene a lot better.

[Hyper]

Now that you mention it there really should have been an establishing shot of King's Landing at the start of episode 3 and it's strange because HBO released the screenshot of it back before the premiere episode, I'm talking about this one King's Landing. Would have helped set the scene a lot better.

That shot was shown in episode 1, although it would have helped to see some variant of it again.

[Xenophon]

Yeah, that's the sort of shot I'm talking about.

Incidentally, does anyone else think KL looks a lot colder in that picture than in the actual sets? It seems like the artists didn't get the memo that KL has palm trees, not vaguely northern European forests.

[Hyper]

Incidentally, does anyone else think KL looks a lot colder in that picture than in the actual sets? It seems like the artists didn't get the memo that KL has palm trees, not vaguely northern European forests.

I'm not sure what you are referring to - If you zoom into the picture, it is very good match to the sets and location shots.

You are aware that Mediterranean climates have trees other than palm trees, right? Also, look outside the gate when Cat arrives in KL. Guess what? Regular trees... And it was shot in Malta.

[Xenophon]

I'm not sure what you are referring to - If you zoom into the picture, it is very good match to the sets and location shots.

You are aware that Mediterranean climates have trees other than palm trees, right? Also, look outside the gate when Cat arrives in KL. Guess what? Regular trees... And it was shot in Malta.

Yes, I am aware of that :P

But look at that forest in the bottom right--those scrubby little pines in the foreground just look off to me. I don't know why exactly, but they just don't look like anywhere I've been in the Med. Of course, I haven't seen any medieval era Med forests, so I have no real basis of comparison. But I just wouldn't expect the sets we saw based on that picture.

Might be the lighting though.

[Xenophon]

Was that how you envisioned the Eyrie? Did you like it or not? Based on the episode discussion thread, it seems like this is the most divisive set yet, save for the palm trees in KL.

Personally, I imagined it as more like this (less fantastic, for lack of a better word), and I thought the show's version looked a bit silly on the outside. It's the first set I haven't liked.

[Spring Bass]

King's Landing looked much better in the most recent episode - I take back what I said about it.

The Eyrie definitely looks different than I imagined, but it's still the same basic principle: castle way high up on a mountain. I think the Show's version actually looks pretty cool.

[Snow Wight]

Personally, I imagined it as more like this (less fantastic, for lack of a better word), and I thought the show's version looked a bit silly on the outside. It's the first set I haven't liked.

Exactly, I always thought of it as more of a Neuschwanstein sort of place, with a honeycomb on the side for the Sky Cells. I always thought Naismith got it dead on. The TV version was a little too fantastic for my taste.

That said, they nailed the Sky Cells in the scene when Tyrion was tossed unceremoniously into his new quarters. Perfect. Aslo, although others have expressed dislike, I had no problems with the throne room, I thought it looked very cool, and distinctive, and the added height made crazy Lysa and Sweetrobin lording over the rest all the better. For the record, I also have no problem with the Moon Door in the floor. Artistic interpretation is fine, everybody has a different viewpoint. Some will work for you, some won't. I just like artists who take chances, even if I don't always like the outcome.