1st HBO Preview, 12 Sept 2010

[Slick Mongoose]

Not exactly this, is it? :lol:

[Ran]

Okay, massive screencapping effort mostly done. Still have the very brief Ned Stark clips from the 2010-2011 preview to do, and I guess I'll go back and do our own screencaps for the first teaser at some point.

[Songlian]

Great work, Ran, thank you!

[corund]

People thinking Lannister armours and Targaryen eyebrowns arent "realistic" ¿What the hell are you going to say when Daenerys enters fire and exits with three dragons?

This is fantasy! perhaps some things arent perfect but there are a lot of great details on banners, furniture and clothes that evidence they are taking the books very seriusly. Enjoy the show!

[redxavier]

I think you're confusing 'realistic' with 'looking good and functional'.

[Edda van Heefmstra Ruston]

I hate you, Slick. Now I can't get the image of Darling-as-Dany out of my head. Particularly in the bustier, walking next to the horse, looking mysteriously off into the middle distance. :tantrum:

Also, I am fully in favour of the dark eyebrows. It's not that people with lighter eyebrows can't emote, it's that we as people are linked into using eyebrows as part of our 'read' of someone's face. If they're really pale and shorter/thinner/not "old man eyebrows", it's harder for us to get a lock. This is just going to be exacerbated by professional lighting, too. Which isn't to say that some people don't manage it, but that on most people it actually pulls away from the face, even if we don't originally notice it.

(Plus, you know, I have relatively dark eyebrows for my natural hair colour, and they're still too light and too ashen for photographs. Filming is worse. Plus, as Parris has pointed out, that's even before getting into the idea of bleaching and dying them regularly for a role. Prosthetics are a possibility, I suppose, but why, when the darker actually works well? (IMO.))

And, of course, thanks Ran. :)

[Yoadm]

People thinking Lannister armours and Targaryen eyebrowns arent "realistic" ¿What the hell are you going to say when Daenerys enters fire and exits with three dragons?

This is fantasy! perhaps some things arent perfect but there are a lot of great details on banners, furniture and clothes that evidence they are taking the books very seriusly. Enjoy the show!

The (mild) criticism wasn't directed at whether it was realistic or not by modern standards. Naturally this is a fantasy novel/tv-show. The point is that some of the costumes (and yes, eyebrows too) give, at least me, a vibe of a cheap or unprofessional production. Naturally this is only a small part of it: The actors are great, the budget is high, and the storyline is one of the best ever put on paper. But the problem is that even mild issues such as drab costumes can ruin a show and make it seem much less convincing.

[Ran]

While the costumes are not flashy, those who've seen them up close point out that the workmanship and quality is very high. It should translate on screen as well as... well, as well as the costuming in the LotR films, much of it which was also using a similar, understated aesthetic with close attention to fine details that don't immediately pop out when you look at it from a distance.

I suspect it'll look great on screen. :) But mileage, it does vary.

[Stubby]

While the costumes are not flashy, those who've seen them up close point out that the workmanship and quality is very high. It should translate on screen as well as... well, as well as the costuming in the LotR films, much of it which was also using a similar, understated aesthetic with close attention to fine details that don't immediately pop out when you look at it from a distance.

I suspect it'll look great on screen. :) But mileage, it does vary.

Indeed. Every suit of LOTR chainmail was made out of cut up bits of plastic hose. And it looked fantastic.

[trio]

I hate that if we're discussing how we don't understand/like a thing, then it's "nitpicking". How dismissive. No it's not - it's the only place we can express our concerns. Where the hell else are we gonna talk about it with people? With our families?? :lol:

I imagine that the white cloaks are used at court. I mean, I guess they'd get pretty filthy on the road - so maybe what we're seeing on the KG is just their travelling attire. If so, that's OK - it's fair enough.

I'm actually relieved that Dinklage looks like himself and they haven't uglied him up. I think it's completely unneccessary, as everyone around him seems to react with repulsion to his height, his eyes, and his scar, in that order. And those things will be all present and correct. It would be very distracting if they went all out with prosthetics and false teeth and stuff. And unneccessary. It'll be obvious to the viewer that he could look like Brad Pitt and the courtiers would only see those 3 things and nothing else.

After looking at the behind the scenes pics:

I LOVE how Catelyn looks. I think she looks perfect. The hair, the blue dress.....LOVE. And I also love how she looks permanently on the verge of grief-stricken, which is basically the character from very early on.

I also LOVE the red leather jerkin with the gold embroidery that Tyrion is wearing. That's gorgeous.

However I hope that this boy is not Prince Joffrey: http://www.westeros.org/GoT/Graphics/Gallery/Screencaps/GameOfThrones_BehindTheScenes01_Screencap_03.png

For obvious reasons - he's not blond and so that would screw up the reveal. I'm presuming he's someone else. As it is I'm a bit taken aback how dark blond Tommen's hair is. And bang goes those Tyrion = Targ discussions that were based on his "white" hair! (Actually, that's a bit of a relief...)

[Stubby]

However I hope that this boy is not Prince Joffrey: http://www.westeros.org/GoT/Graphics/Gallery/Screencaps/GameOfThrones_BehindTheScenes01_Screencap_03.png

I thought that might be Micah.

[Jack Sparrow]

I imagine that the white cloaks are used at court. I mean, I guess they'd get pretty filthy on the road - so maybe what we're seeing on the KG is just their travelling attire. If so, that's OK - it's fair enough.

That's an interesting idea: I like it. I kinda doubt it will be the case, but I like it anyway! I wonder if the producers will address some of their decisions (my guess is probably yes); I wonder if they thought about doing the Kinsguard white, but didn't like the way it looked, or would potentially look (if they didn't do any screentests, or the like). As far as the actor in the picture being Joffrey: it looks like the actor. At first I thought his was hair was blond, but then on second glance it looked more brown. Might be the lighting or something, but I think that's the guy.

I'm surprised that people think they'll alter eye color in post production: I'm sure they can do this, but I thought it was customary just to go with colored contacts. My feeling is they probably just aren't doing the purple eyes for Targs, or mismatched eyes for Tyrion. I wouldn't be surprised if they did away with Tyrion's nose job, either, though I'd prefer if they kept that in, since it was a pretty cool move to do a major and popular character, unlike most wounds in pop entertainment that heal perfectly (it was also just adding insult to injury at that point for Tyrion).

Also, Ran, thanks for clearing that up about the Kingsguard uniforms. I had read some of the commentary at WiC yesterday morning, but then got busy at work, and that place was swamped with comments; I was wondering if Rimshot had any details to offer.

[Ran]

The child cast as Mycah is younger and has very red hair, IIRC. This looks much more like Jack Gleeson to me.

Re: white cloaks, hrm.. now I'm wondering if maybe you're right, trio. Looking at this image, it seems possible that they do indeed have white cloaks. Hrm.... bears closer examination.

[Sekhmet]

Just a thought, but the most famous platinum blond ever to grace your TV set!

http://images1.cliqueclack.com/tv/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/buffy_the_vampire_slayer_spike.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1b/Spike_70s.gif

And the most famous platinum blond ever to grace any screen ever!

http://www.nilacharal.com/enter/celeb/images/MarilynMonroe.jpg

[Stubby]

The child cast as Mycah is younger and has very red hair, IIRC. This looks much more like Jack Gleeson to me.

I'm inclined to agree after closer examination. And that hair could still be blonde, bearing in mind that it is all sweaty and wet. Mine (which is blonde) goes dark like that when wet.

[Lady Cheesevillage]

Just a thought, but the most famous platinum blond ever to grace your TV set!

http://images1.cliqu...layer_spike.jpg

http://upload.wikime...b/Spike_70s.gif

And the most famous platinum blond ever to grace any screen ever!

http://www.nilachara...rilynMonroe.jpg

I never once thought Spike was meant to be a natural blond. That's clearly a dye job and I think it's clear it's supposed to be a dye job. (When he's William, it's several shades darker.)

Monroe is also not a natural platinum blond -- neither is Madonna. Their look isn't natural -- it's very stylized. Such looks call for vastly different makeup and grooming choices and lend themselves to thinks like painted brows (and fake beauty marks). That said, that photo of Monroe is actually a bad counter-example of brows not matching hair because she's used a soft brown that looks dark next to her hair and skin, but is actually not all that stark. This is what I'm hoping the colors on my monitor are failing to show on Dany and Cersi.

I can't comment on the armor because I know nothing about armor. I can't comment on the swordplay because I know nothing about swordplay. But I can comment on eyebrows because, dang it, I know something about eyebrows!

I love the shape of Dany's eyebrows. They are super dramatic and natural yet sculpted. I'll take that shape over a painted on sperm any day! I'm just hoping they're not the charcoal shade my screen is giving me unless they show her handmaidens painting them on every day because the color does look like the accompaniment to a modern dye job and not natural at all with that wig. (I actually think it makes more sense to have Cersi's brows look slightly less natural and more stylized. After all, she is the Queen and probably spends far more time on her personal grooming than Dany who is riding around with the Dothraki. And yes, just like some of you on the board think about armor and styles of fighting non-stop, I think about the psychology of dress and makeup as they relate to characters.)

Also, just because we nit-pick doesn't mean we're not excited. In fact, it means we're more excited. Would I even bother to look at trailers for a show I'm not excited about? Let alone post about them?

[Ran]

Is it on point to note that neither James Marsters nor Marilyn Monroe were natural blondes? ;) But it's a fair point that most people tend not to think about it.

[Ran]

Yeah, you know, I think it's easy to take the picking at minor details as if we're up in arms. Most people are just ... noting it and it's a minor gripe but it's hardly a turn off. So I don't think we should focus on motivations for nitpicking. Now, that said, feel free to point and laugh at anyone who says the show is doomed and they're not going to watch it because it's going to be a trainwreck because <searches for minor detail> Tommen isn't plump. ;)

[Yoadm]

Yeah, you know, I think it's easy to take the picking at minor details as if we're up in arms. Most people are just ... noting it and it's a minor gripe but it's hardly a turn off. So I don't think we should focus on motivations for nitpicking. Now, that said, feel free to point and laugh at anyone who says the show is doomed and they're not going to watch it because it's going to be a trainwreck because <searches for minor detail> isn't plump.

I don't think anyone said that, nor did anyone say these 'minor gripes', or 'nitpicks' as you call them, will be what makes the show great or not. On the other hand, sub-par costume design can be an issue, and sub-par makeup or hair do can allso hurt a show. Im not saying its a game-changer, but its hardly something to ignore, and I would not call it a nitpick. Again, Im not saying this is how it will be, but its fair to question the footage we got to see. Really hope Im wrong, though.

[Sekhmet]

Is it on point to note that neither James Marsters nor Marilyn Monroe were natural blondes? ;) But it's a fair point that most people tend not to think about it.

My point exactly Ran.