As we eagerly wait news of House of the Dragon season 3, which is set to begin filming soon, we at WinterIsComing caught up with VFX Artist Andrea Sciamè, who worked on the first two seasons of the show and won a BAFTA for Special, Visual & Graphic Effects for the penulltimate episode of season 1, "The Green Council." He shares what working in special effects is like, how long it takes to make a season of House of the Dragon, and some of his favorite moments with the show.
Read our exclusive interview below!
WinterIsComing: First of all, you have an impressive track record of blockbuster films (Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, Justice League) and series (Van Helsing, Carnival Row) on your resume. You’re rocking it, congrats! Do you have a favorite that you’ve worked on and why?
Andrea Sciamè: "Foremost, thank you so much for having me. I feel honored to be here on Winter is Coming. It's been a few years that I am regularly checking it for news about HOTD and fantasy shows in general.
"As you can tell from these first words, I am a big fan of fantasy and huge fan of A Game of Thrones; therefore needless to say that my favorite show to work on is House of the Dragon. Actually, working on dragon shots from the GoT world was a personal goal of mine ever since I started in the VFX industry. Being part of this team and contributing to such an iconic series has truly been a dream come true!"
What does your work as a VFX Lead Artist and Supervisor entail? How long do you work on a project, typically? How long did HOTD seasons 1 and 2 take?
"My job as a VFX Compositor mainly consists of elaborating and combining different elements handed-off from other departments into a single image, integrating these with live-action shootings and striving to achieve the best artistic look to create the final image we see on screen. As a lead I am also responsible for planning and reviewing other people's work, assisting the team under both creative and technical aspects, and of course trying to fulfill the goal of transmitting emotions to the audience through a memorable visual experience.
"About the timing, it always depends on the complexity of a project, shots count and budget. The bigger the budget, the more time we have to make it look good! For compositing only, I would say an average of six months for a medium-large project is reasonable, but when we start a show from the concept like we did on HOTD, it can take about two full years of production work."
What’s your favorite thing about your job in VFX?
"This is my passion and my hobby, it's something I would do in my spare time (if I had any), and what I like the most about it is how much variety and creativity there is; every shot is different from the next one. Even if some of them look similar, it is always a new brain-teaser challenge to find the proper way to approach them. Basically, I never get bored!"
In 2023, you and your team won a BAFTA for Special, Visual and Graphic Effects with House of the Dragon. How did that feel? Tell us about that night.
"I was so skeptical, I couldn’t believe we could actually win the BAFTA for Best Visual Effects. I tend to be very self-critical, constantly questioning whether our shots are good enough to air, if they can compete with other AAA productions, or if something could have been done better. Therefore seeing people around the world appreciate our work and making it to the final list of nominees already felt like a huge win for me and for all of us. When that night our name was announced, it almost felt to me that the time stopped for a moment before I finally let the joy explode. While holding the physical BAFTA award in my hands after it arrived at our office in Stuttgart, I could truly feel the inspiring power it has. It made all our efforts worth it. We worked so hard day and night with all our strengths and hearts to make this show look great in the span of time we had, and such an important award to recognize it makes us all proud and motivated to keep pushing and always do better."
You were also nominated for an Emmy in season 1, and I’m sure you will be nominated again for season 2. Do you have an episode that you think deserves it more than others? One that you would choose to nominate, if you could?
"Let’s hope so! The competition in recent years has been very tough. In my opinion, the Battle at Rook’s Rest in Episode 4 ("The Red Dragon and the Gold") would be the top candidate if I had to pick one. When I first saw the previs for the battle, I knew right away it would be a huge challenge for the whole team. The amount of work involved, using cutting-edge technologies on such a big dragon battle sequence, was something never done before in entertainment history! I feel very proud to have been one of the sequence supervisors on this and to have worked side by side with such talented artists. Fingers crossed!"
What was your favorite scene to work on for House of the Dragon season 1 and why?
"This feels like a question Blood and Cheese would make! Impossible to choose between my babies.
On the last episode of season 1 ("The Black Queen"), the shots when Luke leaves Dragonstone on Arrax's back heading to Storm's End left in me some strong connections to it. I knew what was going to happen next, so I tried to give the feeling that he was leaving something beautiful behind, a sense of love he would never see again, while heading to something dangerous and dark awaiting him. When I finally saw it on TV, the soundtrack “Blood of my Blood” just made it perfect and gave me goosebumps. I hope it was the same for the viewers!"
What was your favorite scene to work on for season 2?
"This one is probably an easier pick. In season 2, I was leading some of the sequences, which meant I had fewer shots to work on directly, but more intense ones. There’s one shot that will likely stay in my portfolio for many years to come. In the Episode 4 battle, after fighting Meleys, Vaghar crashes to the ground, causing a massive impact across the area before we fade to black. Then comes my shot: a massive, injured and furious Vaghar emerges from a huge cloud of dust. You can clearly see the dragon’s enormous scale compared to the small soldiers trying to escape in all directions from her. The main challenge in this shot was the dramatic lighting change from what originally was, as well as blending the interactions between live-action plates and many CGI elements seamlessly. During those weeks, it became the centerpiece of my daily routine. Long hours were spent working on it, and when out of work, I was picturing it in my mind, trying to figure out how to pull the absolute best out of it!"
Who’s your favorite character in HOTD?
"I can't negate Daemon's charme. But the one I feel closer to me is King Viserys I. He is trying to maintain the peace in the Seven Kingdoms with all his strengths, from the first to the very last day of his reign. The infinite love for his wife and entire family undeniable and the fact that he could rest in peace only after seeing the Blacks and the Greens reunited and getting along together, was heartbreaking and makes him so endearing to me."
Will you be working on HOTD season 3, and is there anything you could share with us? Even just timeline-wise.
"More than a year ago, I transitioned to work from a permanent contract to a freelance status. This way I am finally able to work remotely from my beloved Sicily, in southern Italy; after having spent more than 15 years abroad between the UK, Canada and Germany. I absolutely love this new way of working, but it makes it much harder to predict what my next projects will be. Nevertheless, having worked on both previous seasons, I’ve built a strong and trustful relationship with the production team and supervisors. So I am confident that there is a very good chance I will be involved again, and I’m absolutely looking forward to it!
"As for Season 3, I’m afraid I can’t share anything at all. But if you’ve read the books, you already know it’s going to be absolutely spectacular!"
Can you say what your next project will be?
"As I mentioned earlier, it’s hard even for me to predict what’s coming next, so I am as curious as you are! Everything I worked on last year has already been released, except for one final, unannounced production. While I can’t reveal a details just yet, it’s set to premiere soon, so stay tuned!"
Thank you so much for Andrea Sciamè for taking the time to talk with us!
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