Video: Scanline VFX brings the destruction of King’s Landing to life

Game of Thrones definitely had a special effects glow-up in the later seasons, to the point where it could destroy an entire city with dragonfire and make it look absolutely believable. That’s due to the hard work of special effects studios like Scanline VFX.

Scanline has a working Vimeo account, a knack for putting together highlight reels, and a lot of good work to show off when it comes to the final three episodes of Game of Thrones. In the reel below, the focus is on the melting of the Iron Throne and Daenerys and Drogon destroying King’s Landing. And if you recognize the name of the studio, you probably watched the season 7 highlight reel for “Beyond the Wall.” Check out their new one:

Note that this is the sped-up, condensed version of what went on. The video says that “thousands of man-hours” went into this, and these episodes take up only about four hours. If you only focus on the finale and “The Bells,” then you’re under three hours. These scenes only take minutes, all told, and yet they took a lot of time to produce to this level of quality.

Slowing it all down and then showing the layers that go into each shot is a great way to emphasize that effects might seem effortless, but they, like every part of production, require tireless, careful work. In particular, the throne melting looks like it might have started as a practical effect, then was enhanced with the dragon fire and more. Also, try and count just how many green screens and models show up.

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Naturally, the music is suitably epic as well, though not Ramin Djawadi levels of epic.

Scanline has also done effects for Marvel films like Black Panther. You’ll be able to see more of their work in upcoming movies like Black Widow, Joker and Gemini Man. Clearly, they’re not going anywhere soon.

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