The fantastic special effects used in Game of Thrones.

In just under four minutes, VFX studio Pixomondo has highlighted – with gusto – the best special effects from HBO’s second season of Game of Thrones. The reel, which Pixomondo has now made available to fans, is exceptionally impressive, not only because of the quality of the work shown but, frankly, in the actual production of the clip itself.

One of the most impressive elements of the season were Dany’s dragons, and seeing how they were layered up from bone to flesh and movement just goes to prove the lengths the VFX team went to to make them as visceral as possible for their scenes. 

To view the clip which also features key scenes like the Battle of Blackwater Bay as well as that rather memorable closing scene of the season, hit the jump.

Though many might be surprised at the extent to which Pyke, Harrenhal and some of the other castles and locations were digitally rendered, even more interesting is perhaps how much of it is not.  Many of the sets are incredibly impressive in their own right, with the green screens or layering (technology that we also use at our workshops) in post helping just to enhance the grandeur of scale. 

That is particularly true with the White Walkers, many of whom were actors with zombie-esque make up on as a base layer that was digitally enhanced to exceptionally creepy levels of decay.

The special effects do not fail to amaze when it comes to the direwolfs as well.

            In Season 1, the production team used adult dogs to stand in for the juvenile direwolf puppies. Northern Inuit Dogs from Mahlek Kennels were used.

             In interviews they have stated that this was done to allow the audience to grow attached to them, which would have been more difficult had the dogs been created by special effects. As the direwolves continue to grow, however, more special effects are going to be used.

           

            When Season 1 wrapped up, the dogs used as direwolves were offered to the young actors who played their owners in the show. Sophie Turner (Sansa) took the dog that played Lady. Sophie Turner (Sansa) wanted to take Summer, but his family already had two dogs at home.

In Season 2, real wolves were used to portray the adolescent direwolves. Using a variety of camera tricks and techniques, the shots were augmented to make the wolves appear larger, and then composited with the background and actors for the final shots. The result is that in Season 2 the direwolves are played by real-life wolves that have been super-sized in post-production.

IF WANT YOUR CHILD TO LEARN MORE ABOUT 'GREEN SCREEN' SPECIAL EFFECTS AND MAKE HIS OWN SHORT FILM OR TVNEWS BROADCAST USING PROFESSIONAL CAMERAS AND SOFTWARE BRING HIM TO OUR 'GREEN SCREEN' WORKSHOP FROM 23RD OF AUGUST 2013. A FUN AND ACTIVE WORKSHOP FOR CHILDREN THAT PUTS YOU IN THE HEART OF THE ACTION!! (AGE +7)

You can book online through our website (www.signals.org.uk booking fee applies) or you can save the booking fee and call Signals direct on 01206 560255.

Arabella Clarke - Special Effects Make-up Artist.

At the Colchester Film Festival on the 6th of October Signals will be working alongside Arabella to lay on a morning of make-up and green screen filmmaking fun. Arabella has some great experience with all things gory and we hope that you'll come along get made-up and and star in a short green screen special effects film, It should be lots of fun and what's more the morning will be FREE!

Here's some more from Arabella...

"I started off with painting, sculpture, drawing and photography, and had a few exhibitions in London. While I was doing portrait photographs I thought it would be a great idea to learn how to do people’s make-up. I also liked the blood on the Cradle of Filth videos and magazines and was inspired by special effects in music videos. I did an I.T.E.C. Level 3 Diploma in Theatre, Fashion and Media Make-Up at City and Islington College and did a bit of freelancing and eventually I started getting paid work and jobs through word of mouth. I even did some freelance jobs for the B.B.C. I then discovered that I had been living opposite a very good make-up school for years, which was hidden round the corner in Hampshire Street in Camden. I had a full time and evening to fund my make-up course. I chose which modules I wanted to do which were special effects, prosthetics, character make-up, bald caps and period hair. I was taught by Stuart Bray who did Shaun of the Dead and Harry Potter and Jeanne Richmond, a BAFTA award winner and Raphael Fieldhouse, a champion body painter.

I like doing special effects make-up, small prosthetics, the blood pump effect and body painting and anything creative. I like having a brief which gives me room for creativity. I enjoy doing work for film, television and music videos. 

My favorite projects to work on have been through the B.B.C.  True Stories, episodes 1 and 2. I worked on the Florence Nightingale and Elizabeth Fry parts. It was great fun filming in Fort William in Portsmouth as it added to the whole atmosphere and excitement of the project.  I enjoyed doing a mixture of character and period make-up along with my favorite special effects and prosthetics make-up. I pre-made gelatin prosthetics for it at Elstree Studios, and worked as an assistant to Selen Hurer.  We had to do lots of special effects and prosthetic wounds on soldiers and had to dirty up the prisoners. I will never forget getting up at 6 am to watch it on T.V. with my credits on it. They gave me a copy to keep which was great.

Another favorite project I worked on was Phil Berridge’s music video for Paul Foster Dent for his band Basement Torture Killings. I enjoyed working on this project because I was helping my friend make his music video and which was a great thing to do and I also love metal music so it was great to be doing a metal music video. I also enjoyed it simply because the director absolutely loved my work and has given me good references since.

Another great project was a short film called Heartbroke Hitman. I had to create a bullet wound prosthetic, this turned out quite well and I got to work closely with armourers and learnt a lot about weapons and guns and how they create the types of wounds they do, which helped with my special effects creation. The crew was also great to work with.

I have done some Colchester based work on a project called the Waking Witch, which was at Colchester Institute, with members of the film club. I did some gothic make-up, beauty make-up, a black eye a scratch and burn special effects. The burn special effects took a lot of sculpt gel to create and I made it with this and bruise gel and charcoal by stippling with my stipple sponge and a little bit of purple grease paint.

I am organising and running Firstsite Horrormakeupfx workshops at 15 Queen Street for the 16^th September, 23^rd September and 14^th October. I am doing a special effects workshop, a prosthetics, prosthetic appliances and life casting workshop and a zombie and Halloween special effects make-up and prosthetics workshop. They are workshops for beginners, or anyone wanting to update their skills or build up their portfolios or anyone wishing to take up a new interest."

Check out more of Arabella's creations at:  www.horrormakeupfx.com