We had the opportunity to speak with Ed Bruce, Visual Effects Supervisor for Dublin-based post-production company Screen Scene, concerning the extensive work Screen Scene did on the VFX-side of the production. Of roughly 686 VFX shots for the first season of Game of Thrones, Screen Scene produced just over half of them, with 350 effects shots. Although BlueBolt were the lead VFX vendor on the project, and BlueBolt’s co-founder Lucy Ainsworth-Taylor was in the role of VFX producer for the show, it’s clear that Screen Scene (in collaboration with series VFX Supervisor Adam McInnes) made a major impact on the high quality of the visual effects for this season.

In the follow interview, Ed discusses some of the effects for the show in-depth, the benefits of having so much post-production capability under one roof, and explains why some things may be harder to realize than fans may expect.

Comic Con’s done, but we managed to land an exclusive interview ... with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who plays Ser Jaime Lannister in Game of Thrones. With the help of our correspondent (and site host!) Rachel Blackman, we put together a few questions for Nikolaj during the convention. Scheduling problems made us miss the opportunity for a sit-down interview, but Nikolaj—who was taking off for Belfast on Saturday, rehearsing on Sunday, and already filming on Monday—was kind enough to answer our questions via e-mail.

To read more of Nikolaj’s thoughts on the series, be sure to visit our first season interview with the actor.

NOTE: There’s a spoiler, which we’ve hidden.

Ser Jorah:  I know what you intend.  Do not.
Daenerys:  I must.  You don’t understand.
Ser Jorah:  Don’t ask me to stand aside as you climb on that pyre.  I won’t watch you burn.
Daenerys:  Is that what you fear?

What do we understand, and what do we fear?  Do we understand the trouble brewing beyond the Wall?  Do we fear the blue-eyed wights?  Do we understand the power of fire?  Do we fear the dragons it spawned?  We flee.  We seek refuge from our fears.

An elephant fears a mouse because it does not understand.  Ser Jorah feared Daenerys’ transformation to ash because he did not understand.  The morning after the funeral, he should have run.  He should have sought refuge from his fears.  No one understands dragons.  No one understands a woman reborn in fire.

Trembling, he bowed down.  Not because there be dragons.  Not because a queen was reborn.  There are greater fears than things not understood.  Ser Jorah bowed down, he trembled and did not run, because he knew she understood what no one can understand, and from this frightful knowledge he had no place to flee, he had no refuge from fear.

The special effects of HBO’s Game of Thrones is something that really interested many fans before production started, because of the grand epic sweep of the setting and the fact that epic fantasy on television was a tall order. It certainly captured our imaginations as well, as we considered what HBO had been able to achieve in its other shows, as well as what other television programs and VFX vendors were able to create. The end result? Some of what some imagined (and even what we tried to project) proved to be too ambitious for a show on such a tight schedule and with so many other budgetary needs to meet outside of visual effects (massive use of sets and locations, many costumes and extras, etc.)

Still, despite the fact that the battles never really transpired that some might have hoped for, there were some jaw-droppers, and those are thanks to BlueBolt, the lead VFX vendor for the series. We had the opportunity to speak with Lucy Ainsworth-Taylor, one of BlueBolt’s founders and the VFX producer for the first season of the show. We learn some surprising things along the way, with a refreshing level of frankness regarding the reality of producing VFX for a television program such as HBO.

Interview

My understanding is that BlueBolt is a pretty new company, but its founders have quite a lot of experience in VFX for film and television. What role has landing the lead vendor role on Game of Thrones played in the present and future of your company?

Sky Atlantic‘s excellent Thronecast post-episode web series somehow got the notion of inviting us as expert commentators. We were very grateful for the opportunity, as it’s been great fun (if sometimes a bit nerve-wracking!) When it turned out Natalia Tena (Osha) was going to be present for their final episode of the season, they very kindly offered to let us record an exclusive interview with her, which you can find below! Many thanks to Natalia for taking the time, and for Dan and Ruby at Thronecast!

What is the purpose of a bastard sword?  Such a weapon confers greater power than a single-hand sword, but as with all longswords, the bastard sword has two polished blades; it cuts both ways. 

The warrior wielding such a sword must render a decision.  Shall I cut forward or back, up or down?

Tonight’s episode, Baelor, was about the double-edged sword.  Every character was given a life-or-death decision.  That a concerted effort to choose life for Ned Stark instead resulted in his execution marked the most fascinating event of the episode, not because it disclosed anything of interest about a particular decision, but because it revealed critical properties of choice itself.
Who wields the Sword of Mormont, and the direction she decides to cut, is the most compelling question of Game of Thrones.

“The Council has determined,” Queen Cersei said, “that Ser Jaime Lannister will take your place as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard.”

Ser Barristan seethed at the Queen’s words.  “The man who profaned his blade with the blood of the king he was sworn to defend?”

We believe we understand the full significance and import of this scene.  The Queen has dishonoured Ser Barristan, and in so doing, brought dishonour to herself and her house.  What other interpretation is possible?  Surely a knight stands for honour more than anything else, does he not?

If Season One has had one major theme, that theme has been honour, as best exemplified by Lord Eddard Stark.  A man as honourable as Ned Stark would recognise the greatness of another man’s honour, and if he counts Ser Barristan Selmy as bearing greater honour than himself, we ought to consider his evaluation to carry more merit than any judgment we might make about a knight’s character.

But Ned Stark is wrong.  He is wrong to the point of being chained in a dark, disease-infested dungeon, awaiting death.  All of us watching this scene tonight were wrong, no less than Ned Stark.  Ser Barristan Selmy did not hold honour as the highest of the virtues.  Ser Barristan is a representative of perfection, held up for us as an ideal.  But which ideal?  If he is not honour incarnate, which high trait of humanity does he exemplify?

Tonight’s episode was a rich feast of conflicting ideals, all of them higher than honour, all of them mightier than the sword.

What is the basis for any legitimate claim to the Iron Throne? 

Tonight we were offered no less than seven theses for kingship, imbued with the full authority of the most highly-placed lords of the realm.

Ser Vardis Egen fought with honour.  Prince Viserys Targaryen wore his golden crown with honour.  Theon Greyjoy urged Robb Stark to defend his house’s honour.  Honour was much in evidence tonight, and golden crowns were plentiful.  But in the end, it was the golden crown worn by a thirteen-year-old boy that mattered most—to the honour of a king, and to the honour of a Stark.
Only one crown matters, because there is but one god.  Is not the one who wears the crown empowered to call down this god?  Kings rule through wealth and fear, as Viserys pointed out, and who does not fear Syrio Forell’s one true god, Death?

A gifted actor who’s lately been turning heads on both sides of the Atlantic, Harry Lloyd landed the role of Viserys Targaryen, the exiled prince yearning to restore his family to the rule of the Seven Kingdoms. As Daenerys’s brother, he has been an antagonist who’s dominated her entire life… until she marries Khal Drogo, and among the Dothraki finds independence and courage she didn’t know she had before.

In the following interview, we discuss how Lloyd prepared for his role, the question he’d most like to ask author George R.R. Martin regarding the series, and more!

The question Bran Stark posed to Maester Luwin should have been on the lips of every character this evening.  If even a few high-born officials of the Seven Kingdoms had given consideration to proper allegiances, the continent might have had a chance to avoid war.  At least they might have taken the example of Sandor Clegane, the Hound, as a guide in their thinking:  The Hound got it right, even if the glory went to an unworthy knight.

The most powerful representatives of every house showed unswerving devotion to family, duty, and honour.  Even Jaime and Cersei, whose motivations are not entirely clear, demonstrated uprightness of purpose in their deeds.  If only they had thought out their priorities.  Family, Duty, Honour.  Is that the right order?

Of all the roles in Game of Thrones, Ser Jaime Lannister may be both the most popular and the most hated character in the novels at the very same time.

And why not, when he’s such a larger-than-life figure, an arrogant, swaggering swordsman caught up in an illicit relationship with his own sister and largely despised by all honorable men for a single act? The Kingslayer, as he’s called, seems driven by ego on the one hand and by family on the other ... and in between those two forces, there’s a hint that there may be more than meets the eye. So it was a pleasant surprise when we first learned that Nikolaj Coster-Waldau—a Danish actor who’s made a splash in the U.S. with rolls in some of Ridley Scott’s big recent films and the leading role in the New Amsterdam television series—landed the role, bringing to the part all the energy and confidence that fans could have hoped for.

Below, Nikolaj took time out of his schedule to answer a few of our questions about his role, the preparation for some of the scenes, how he sees Jaime’s relationship to his family, and more.

What is a bastard?  Lineage without title?  Innate ability denied social and creative outlet?

If Gendry the journeyman armourer does not know himself to be the son of King Robert, is he a bastard, or merely a talented young metalworker?  Can Tyrion, who says he is a “bastard in his father’s eyes,” but enjoys lineage, title, and innate ability, be considered truly a bastard?  Tonight we saw not fewer than seven bastards, each of them illegitimate in his own way.

Conan Stevens was one of the first actors that came to the attention of fans in association with the production, when it was simply still in development: he put out the word that he thought he’d make a fantastic Mountain that Rides.

Many months later—after a pilot was ordered, after it was considered, after a second season was green lit—he landed the part he set out to get. Below is our exclusive interview with Stevens, who discusses his early career, his views on the differences between Thai and American productions, and more.

Episode 3, “Lord Snow”, entered with the entrance of a character who is certainly a fan-favorite among fans: Syrio Forel, former First Sword of the Sealord of Braavos. Forel is a water dancer, a master of the bravo’s style of fighting, who Lord Eddard Stark hires to train his daughter Arya (to keep her out of trouble, one expects, as much as to give her something to do).

When Miltos Yerolemou was revealed to have won the role, there was a scramble for information about him. His show reels were examined, his credits considered. A gifted physical actor, Yerolemou has trained in a wide variety of acting disciplines, and seems to have found a particular knack for playing Shakespeare’s clowns, including having performed as a clown in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of Othello whose Desdemona happened to be played by none other than Natalia Tena, who plays Osha in Game of Thrones. With his extensive acting background, Miltos has brought boundless energy to his portrayal of Syrio Forel.

In the audio interview below, we discuss his entry into acting, the variety of training he’s had, his working with the legendary choreographer William Hobbs to develop the “water dance” style, his thoughts on young actress Maisie Williams, and more.