The special effects on Game of Thrones are top notch, and the companies that design them are justly proud of their work. For example, Rodeo FX worked on the Greyjoy sea battle sequence from “Stormborn” and the destruction of the Wall from “The Dragon and the Wolf.” In this video, they show us how they took these sequences from the conceptual stages to the final product. Check it out:
Rodeo FX was tasked with building the SFX for the sea battle from the ground up. “We created a CG ocean, CG background ships, extended parts of Yara’s ship, redressed it in CG and added extensions, as well as extending the Silence set piece to create a whole ship. Our team also augmented the practical fire in the plates, enhancing the foreground on-set fire with CG or comped fire elements in the background.”
Like a lot of the best special effects, the Silence is part-real and part-CGI. Thanks to Rodeo FX, it all seems of a piece onscreen.
The collapse of the Wall is one of the most important sequences of the season, perhaps the most important, and Rodeo had to get creative to make it work. “we scored the wall to break it apart in multiple shots to cover its extensive size. We separated the wall in three parts: the closest area, which was destroyed in hi-res, the middle section, that remained standing in hi-res, and the farthest section in low-res as a base for digital matte paintings.”
"We received a previs referencing the timing and size of the collapse, and the studio layered effects on top of that. Our artists added secondary debris, smoke and interactive fire when the fire hits the wall. For the actual collapse of the wall, our team created debris, powdered snow and water splashes as the ice falls into the sea."
As for Viserion’s blue fire, the team added real fire elements that were color graded to match the undead dragon’s breath. Viserion himself was animated by an entirely different studio: Rhythm and Hues.
No one special effects company could do all the work necessary on a show as complicated as Game of Thrones. Other studios have already released videos showing off their work on season 7; sample a few below, starting with Image Engine‘s demonstration of how it brought Drogon to life:
Mackevision released a video about how it created the armies outside King’s Landing, Euron’s fleet, Oldtown, and the Unsullied attack on Casterly Rock.
Meanwhile, Zoic Studios handled the effects related to Winterfell and Dragonstone:
Filming on season 8 is coming to an end, so many of these studios will probably be very busy over the next bunch of months building one of the most ambitious battle scenes the show has ever featured. We can’t wait to be blown away.
Next: Game of Thrones finishes shooting in Spain, probably for the last time
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