Seems like everything in Westeros is falling apart. Dragons are dying left and right, tensions are high, and there's a lot of death and destruction. This week's episode starts with a funeral and then ends with a promise of more violence. While we spent a lot of time talking about a misplaced coffee cup, I want to take a look at some of the major points put forward in the HBO behind the scenes video and talk about what we learned.
The opening feast is said to be 17 pages of script. And they have to constantly be cutting and shooting to show you what's going on within that room. You need laughs, romance, and tension. 17 pages is like Deer Hunter-wedding length. David Nutter directed this episode and isolated and grouped people.
Even though these shots could come across as too static, they found a way to move the camera to keep the lulls dynamic.
One of the coolest VFX things they talked about was the funeral pyres. They had the actors lie on glass partitions and put real flames underneath them. It looked as if they were truly burning and allowed Nutter and his team to get intimate shots of everyone's faces as the flames licked higher.
When the show goes fully digital, it really goes for it. The sea battle toward the end of the episode had to be done completely with CGI and then intercut with green screen shot on a closed set. In the middle of all of this stuff, they decided to shoot a oner. It's a bit of a cheat because many of the elements within the take are controlled by computers, but they follow Tyrion across the deck of a boat being attacked in a stunning element of tech and showmanship combined.
Again, the production design of Game of Thrones is epic. They built a 57-foot tall castle wall. They had to shoot that set while also keeping secrets from the people they have spying and wanting to send out spoilers. So when it came time to add select characters to the castle, they added them digitally so no one on the ground was able to get spoilers.
And who knows what's going to happen next week when they have to balance a battle and the aftermath of Cersei's actions.
Tune in and we'll cover how they did it!
What's next? Who do you think makes it out of episode 5 alive?
We all know the biggest question in Game Of Thrones is who will end up on the Iron Throne. Now, BetOnline has released a list of who they think the odds on favorites are to sit on the Iron Throne at the end of Season Eight. The odds are favoring the usual suspects, but you can place your bets on lots of longshots too.
Click the link to make your bets!
