VFX interview on Westeros

[Jimbeezee]

Did you guys read the interview with the VFX people? (http://www.westeros.org/GoT/Features/Entry/Interview_with_VFX_Producer_Lucy_Ainsworth-Taylor/) I'm impressed with all they managed to do but some of the things they say make me really nervous for season 2. For example they say all the major battle scenes would have to be filmed at the BEGINNING of the shoot if they want to incorporate lots of CGI, which I think is kind of unrealistic . . . What do you guys think?

[Jimbeezee]

/bump

[Maginor]

I don't see that it is unrealistic to film that in the beginning. They can film the scenes in whatever order they wish. Also, they don't need huge scenes with thousands of people fighting on them, I think. It will be enough with a view from the Red Keep as Sansa looks out the window, and it will be dark, and you can only see ships burning in the distance. Then when Tyrion fights, you will only see things that happen right on the galley he is on. Everything in the background is just fire that is out of focus. At least, that is how I would do it. If they can't afford it, they don't even have to have Tyrion out on the galleys, they can just have his scenes happen in front of one of the city gates, and if you angle the camera towards the city wall, there is a restricted number of soldiers that you would have to fit in there. Then in the throne room, Cercei gets reports about all the skirmishes that happen around the different places, and this gives you an idea of how big the fight actually is.

Edit: Well, I'm no specialist at all, but I gathered that the op asked for opinions.

[Anomandaris86]

I think the way they handled the battles in this season seems a pretty good indicator that it will be shit in season 2 as well. Unless they end up pouring more money into it, but they weren't even willing to approve two more episodes. I wouldn't get my hopes up.

[Abaddon]

Right, because there was an entire episode in Season 1 called "Green Fork" and an entire episode called "Whispering Wood" and those battles were equal in importance and on-page presence to Blackwater in the novels.

Well, 0-3 says you don't know what you're talking about. Blackwater is far more important than Green Fork or Whispering Wood (which wasn't even "on-screen" in the books for crying out loud). It is absolutely true we don't know if we're going to get a great battle depiction for Blackwater, but the situations are not the same.

[Abaddon]

After reading the article, I'm even less worried. At the very beginning:

Will BlueBolt be the lead VFX vendor in the second season? If so, has any preparatory work already started given that cameras are due to roll in late July?

So, we know immediately that the CGI plans are being expanded, and I believe someone else somewhere (Werthead?) mentioned that the CGI staff are being increased from six to thirty, a very large increase. The rest of the article talks from a personal perspective how difficult things can be when you have a small staff with an inadequate pipeline for these types of effects. An expanded staff at a company with the ability to tackle larger projects means HBO is shooting a lot higher.

Also, I found it interesting that the most effects heavy episode was the first, and most of that was matching the pilot footage to the other reshot stuff. The re-shoot of the pilot clearly was a big drain for a multitude of reasons.

[Anomandaris86]

Right, because there was an entire episode in Season 1 called "Green Fork" and an entire episode called "Whispering Wood" and those battles were equal in importance and on-page presence to Blackwater in the novels.

Right, instead we got a chapter called "Tyrion, Bron, and Shae drinking game." :rolleyes:

Honestly, are these the best strawmen you people could can up with? Because that's just weak. Try harder.

[Nebiros]

One thing from the interview really had me laughing:

The whole sequence had been pre-vized ahead of time so that everyone knew where the dragons would be and what they would be doing. The actress had tracking markers on her shoulder and leg where the dragons were going to cling onto her to help us matchmove her in post. She was holding a green shaped small object to represent the dragon she would hold so that she moved correctly, especially as she stood up. [...]

And here's what Emilia Clarke said about the same thing in this interview:

They made a little squishy toy for their reference to create the dragons. It was a neon green stuffed type of thing and they put a little face on it for me and a little tail.

I would love to see that "dragon" in some kind of making of feature. :D

[Arya The Assassin]

I think Lucy mentioned a few things of particular note in her interview

As BlueBolt is a small new VFX house, tackling CG creatures with fur, plus CG fire and water would be too much of a stretch.

This implies that season two will probably feature CG direwolves, something the producers have been talking about in other interviews.

Since BlueBolt won't be the lead vendor in season two, the task of creating the CG direwolves and creatures will probably be handed over to another company (who specializes in these kinds of effects).

She also mentioned that they had been doing some small scale crowd replications in season one. But recreating the Battle of the Blackwater in full scale, and in a somewhat realistic manner on the small screen will be too expensive, even with a bigger budget (1), so it seems to me that HBO needs to decrease the scale of the battle, and perform a few simplifications here and there. The question is if they'll manage to give the battle a sense of scale (2), while keeping up the level of quality, and without breaking the budget.

(1) The producers said in a recent interview that they wanted a bigger budget for season two, but apparently nothing was decided yet. I really do hope that HBO increases the VFX budget for season two, because in many ways it's expectedly a more VFX-intensive season.

(2) Hiring a few hundred extras and perform crowd replications won't do if they want to show us those big battlefield shots with armies clashing together, they'll probably have to resort to crowd simulations.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that although BlueBolt no longer will be the lead vendor, it doesn't necessarily mean they won't be along for season two. In any case, I think BB has done an excellent job so far.