Michele Clapton on Sansa’s costume makeover and the Sand Snakes’ season 5 look

Sand Snakes armor

No, the Sand Snakes’ armor wasn’t supposed to be nippled, says Game of Thrones‘s Emmy-winning costume-designer Michele Clapton.

That info and more was shared this week after Clapton appeared at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a Spark Talk on the show’s costuming and armor. The designer shared additional thoughts with NYMag’s The Cut, offering insights into Sansa’s style transformation and Arya’s new look for season 5.

As for the much-debated armor of Oberyn Martell’s daughters, Clapton explains to The Cut that “It certainly wasn’t my intention” to have nippled armor and that she’s “not terribly keen on it.” Clapton says that the nippled look was an error, that it happened because of the structured molds used to create the Sand Snakes’ scaled armor.

“They sand it off to an extent, but they didn’t do it as much as I wanted them to.[…] The Cut reports that the rushed production of GoT is the reason why she didn’t notice the insufficient sanding until it was too late.

Sansa StarkA look from last season that made a huge splash was Sansa’s switch from demure King’s Landing gowns to a dark and dramatic costume crafted by the character. Clapton’s view on creating Sansa’s new style is that it’s centered around using found materials since Sansa sews her own dresses. Sansa’s spiked necklace is a reference to Arya’s Needle- this is Sansa’s Needle, the designer has explained.

“We’ve always known that Sansa makes her own clothes, so it was a very deliberate decision of hers, to change and say, ‘I’m not going to be pushed around. I’m going to take charge. […] It’s her chance to take control,” Clapton tells The Cut.

As for Sansa’s sister Arya, Clapton confirms the character will have a few new costumes in season 5, and that she’ll be leaving behind the clothes Arya’s worn for years now. “She’ll never go back to it,” Clapton says. “[Maisie Williams] was like, ‘I want to set fire to it! I want to throw it in the water!’”

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Head on over to The Cut for the full article, with more details of the costume design of the show.

 

Sue the Fury
Susan Miller, Editor in Chief of WatchersOnTheWall.com

106 Comments

  1. Sean C.,

    It was mentioned in the very first episode. Cersei requests one, in fact. That’s like winning an episode of Project Runway right there.

  2. I’m so happy Arya’s finally getting new costumes! And it’s more than just one! It’s about time. I’m with Maisie. They need to set fire to those old rags she was going around in and send the ashes to the bottom of the ocean.

  3. Sean C.,

    Yes, we have. It’s been referenced a number of times, particularly in the first season if I remember correctly.

    I’m not too bothered about the supposed breast-nipples. As she said, the effect is mostly because of the lighting; it’s not even noticeable in some of the pictures, so it won’t be so bad in the actual show with deliberate lighting.

    They are just conical breastplates. There are no nipples designed into the armor. I still don’t like them very much, but they are not the herald of the apocalypse. That is, I don’t take the unfortunately ugly design to mean they’ll all be pretty much the same character / overly-sexualized / the doom of the Dorne storyline.

  4. Arkash,

    Should it be “directed obviously”? I don’t want obvious directing. It’s a nice detail if you’re paying attention to what she’s actually doing while talking to Littlefinger about protecting him; if you wonder where she got the dress, you can rewatch it and discover it. Most people won’t probably wonder, and likewise they won’t notice she’s making the dress in the previous scene. And that’s fine.

  5. Luka Nieto: overly-sexualized / the doom of the Dorne storyline.

    Wait, don’t “overly sexualized” and “Dorne” go together like Tyrion and drool witticisms? Or Bender and Beer?

  6. Stacy: I’m so happy Arya’s finally getting new costumes!

    Indeed, by this time, Nymeria wouldn’t need a mind link to sense Mistress! (Of course, in that world, “smelly” would be the norm; I’ve often wished that my local Renaissance Faire would have one weekend of “Realistic Odor” just to let people know what it was like: but, then, that would pretty much kill all of the food sales!)

  7. Hmm…the circular shape of the necklace is the same configuration as the dead bodies left by the Others in Season 1, Ep 1. It is also echoed in the font HBO uses in the GoT logo. Did I miss the significance of this symbol? Has it appeared anywhere else? Or is it simply subliminal marketing?

  8. Michelle Fairley

    pretty much confirms she’s not in season 5 in a Cinemania interview for the “Resurrection” finale. I guess that’s the end of that. She also reminisces GOT a bit.

    EN: How did you react to fans’ answers to the absence of Lady Stoneheart in season 4?
    MF: I didn’t because I didn’t see them. I found out from journalists, actually. It was insane, yeah.
    EN: Did you enjoy playing Catelyn on the show?
    MF: I loved every second of it. From the cast to the crew, everyone who works on it does a terrific job. It’s something really special.
    EN: Can you confirm you are not in the upcoming season either?
    MF: Catelyn is dead. It’s all I can say. I can’t really talk about future seasons.
    EN: So we shouldn’t expect a return any time soon?
    MF: Yeah. Exactly. I guess you’ll know when you’ll know!
  9. Mia,

    Great find!

    Maria V,

    And she’s vague as ever. The press ought to stop hounding her about it. Obviously she isn’t supposed to give a straight answer on the subject and yet they keep asking and asking as if they’ll finally get a different response.

  10. This was the bit that really intrigued me:

    And while the White Walkers have an armor of sorts, Clapton told us that it’s all found materials, “part of sculptures and architectures that they reused as armor,” nothing they made themselves. “The idea was that they maybe discovered an ancient society that was actually very sophisticated, but the leather bits were all kind of eaten away. That wouldn’t have survived.”

    Is this just some ‘generic’ society, or a specific very sophisticated ancient society? And if the latter, what society was it, and when did it exist, and where in Planetos? Any thoughts?

  11. Bufferzone,

    You know, the World of Ice and Fire has some intriguing hints. Haven’t finished reading all of it but I skipped to some of the latter sections. The descriptions of the lower section of the Hightower in Oldtown, plus the Five Forts east of the Dothraki plains, as well as the entire city of Asshai sound like they were made by the same lost civilization. I have no idea who it might be, could even be aliens for all we know. The maesters speculate Hightower was made by Valyrians but acknowledge the timing is way off for that, but the rock of the tower is all like smooth, black, greasy stone all one piece like it was melted by dragonfire. Also the Seastone Chair on Pyke. Maybe a race of beings who rode dragons before humans did? Or aliens — it’s always gotta be aliens.

  12. By and large the costumes for the show have been right on the mark and have looked great. And they prepare them well,eg they look authentic and not your usual tacky run-of-the-mill fantasy show stuff

    Only slight issue I have is the Ironborn, in them selves their armour actually looks great, but may have been suited to a Landborne army, eg they look far too complete and heavy for what is essentially an army of medieval marines. Given most of their fighting would presumably be jumping around ships and tight spaces And involve the need to swim I would have thought they’d want lighter more nimble armour? Eg dress them more like Vikings…

    That said I guess the counter argument they used to have large land holdings in the Riverlands and some coastal sections of the north makes sense so they need a military designed for holding Forts

  13. spacechampion,

    Interesting – thanks! From some of the placenames (Leng, K’dath)- not to mention the Drowned God and his Cthulhu-lite creed – it seems to me as though Lovecraft’s Old Ones might have a hand in Planetos’ pre-history.

  14. Those nipples look so stupid! According to Michelle Clapton they’re not as obtrusive on screen. I really hope that’s true or I’ll have trouble to buy as fierce warriors a bunch of women who look like a teenage boy’s comic fantasy…Well her and her team have always done such a great job, I’ll trust them again!
    They must have had so much fun creating Darth Sansa! Wonder if that Needle is going through Littlefinger’s eye one day he leans in too close…

  15. Maria V,

    Super vague answers from

    MichelleFairley again, it even feels like she’s hinting at an appearance after all with the “you’ll know when you’ll know” line. I stand by what I said in LSH discussion thread, if she were cut Michelle wouldn’t answer so vaguely and D&D would have confirmed it a long time ago like they did with Strong Belwas.
  16. Maria V,

    It’s pretty funny how they never, ever confirm the character is cut. It’s always done in vague wording, or just no comment. At this point I’ll be surprised if she’s in, but still… Why not just say it and move on? There were many opportunities to do that

  17. Ghost’s Lunch,

    IDK if you have read the books but there the ironborn’s whole schtick is how they are not afraid to fight naval battles in super heavy armour cause ironborn are not afraid of drowning, what is dead may never die, they will be welcome in the Drowned God’s watery halls yadda yadda

  18. So Joel Schumacher made these outfits? First nips on the batsuit and now the sand snakes eh…. fookin cunts!!!

  19. A Girl Will Obey: I’ll have trouble to buy as fierce warriors a bunch of women who look like a teenage boy’s comic fantasy

    In other parts of the book, at least one of them is wearing gowns so diaphanous that they leave nothing to the imagination. The POV recalls at a similar point that he had initially found all Dornish women to be lewd and wanton when first he arrived. And as we have seen, the Dornish do not get as hung up about marriage as other Westerosians do. Quite frankly, nipples on mail would seem to be very much in keeping with the characters and culture that Martin developed.

  20. Nipples or not, they are still pretty dull and uniformed. Do think it’s a little suspect that she claims they were a mistake. I think it’s more the reaction isn’t what they expected so back peddling has ensued! Either way, it’s a pretty minimal thing to concern ourselves with. If the nipple plates are the worst thing about the Bland Snakes then I’ll be happy!
    Still no entirely sure why Tyene (what little that defined her) has been changed almost completely?

  21. TheTouchOfFrost: I think it’s more the reaction isn’t what they expected so back peddling has ensued!

    I doubt that they are very aware of fan reaction, or that they would care about it. After all, the one lesson of past fantasy adaptations is that it is a good thing when fans have negative reactions.

    Indeed, I only half joke when I say that if I were adapting a major fantasy series, then I would plant fake “hardcore fans” to make big fusses about details and alterations that I knew would not concern the general audiences. That would let me plant comparisons to Lord of the Rings and the good Harry Potter movies in the minds of the general public!

    That might seem jaded, but I do honestly think that the lesson that the general public learned from those films over 10 years ago is that good adaptations will anger the anoraks. (The Hobbit probably has only fed that: it’s pretty well known that they added a ton of Tolkien material that only fans would recognize to those films, and those films have suffered badly from too much stuff.)

  22. I wonder when they planned those personality changes of Sand Snakes and when was decided Arrianne was going to be cut. Because they already used their personalities in the show long time ago.

    Arianne = Margaery – older and more obviously political then in the books. Arianne would be her southern clone if she was cast
    Nymeria = Talisa – a noblewoman from Volantis looking very similary to how Nymeria was described
    Tyene = Myranda – a duplicitous lunatic trained as septa (Violet said that during seduction of Theon)

    So i guess D+D changed Nymeria origin to be more eastern because of it and decided to give Tyene more pleasant personality for the show since majority of viewers hate Myranda.

  23. Maria V: pretty much confirms she’s not in season 5 in a Cinemania interview for the “Resurrection” finale.I guess that’s the end of that. She also reminisces GOT a bit.

    She doesn’t confirm or deny anything in that interview.

  24. Luka Nieto:
    Arkash,

    Should it be “directed obviously”? I don’t want obvious directing. It’s a nice detail if you’re paying attention to what she’s actually doing while talking to Littlefinger about protecting him; if you wonder where she got the dress, you can rewatch it and discover it. Most people won’t probably wonder, and likewise they won’t notice she’s making the dress in the previous scene. And that’s fine.

    I loved that scene – a rare example of the show being subtle about something (although the following Sansa scene is far from subtle).

    If people didn’t realize she was sewing in that scene, they weren’t paying any attention. And where did they think she got her dress from?

    However, I do remember one article where the author said that she was wearing Lysa’s dress, which was a strange conclusion to come to and proves that a lot of people did not pay attention. (Apart from the fact that we never saw Lysa wearing anything like that, the idea makes very little sense – it’s really unclear what purpose would be in wearing Lysa’s dress and why Sansa would want that, especially considering the fact that she was about to go on a tour of the Vale, and something like that wouldn’t look good to the people of the Vale and they’d not be commenting favorably on LF’s niece wearing the late lady’s clothes. )

  25. The semantics thing that Fairley uses is really funny. “Catelyn Stark is definitely dead.” is a weird way to answer a question about whether Lady Stoneheart will make an appearance or not. She’s very specifically used that wording on multiple occasions now.

    My educated guess is that she’s been told by D&D that Lady Stoneheart wouldn’t be used at this time but they reserve the right to introduce her at a later point if it made sense so she shouldn’t answer any questions definitively because that aspect of the story is still up in the air.

  26. From the article: “Sansa’s makeover at the end of season four was also about using found materials — in her case, feathers from message-bearing ravens, to deliver her own message about a change in personality. ”

    Did Clapton confirm that the feathers were supposed to be from ravens/represent ravens, or was that just the author’s conclusion? It’s not clear from the article.

    Since Sansa is presumably going to be wearing that dress during the tour of the Vale, it would make a lot more sense to have her dress have motives of a mockingbird, as LF’s supposed niece, or maybe falcon, as an homage to the Arryns. I’m not sure what message she would be sending to the people of the Vale by wearing raven’s feathers. That she’s a… messenger of something or other?

  27. A couple more thoughts on Sansa’s new look…

    a. It brings some glamour back into the show. The Lannister’s have been looking kind of grubby lately (which fits thematically,) but it’s good to see a little majesty *somewhere*

    b. I wonder if subconsciously Sansa wasn’t styling herself after the Crows at the Wall a bit-all black, the use of raven’s feathers which are similar to that of actual crows etc. Some book readers think she modeled “Alayne” a bit on Jon. It would be interesting if that were the case.

  28. jentario,

    Still find the battlewear a bit uninspiring. Then again, I largely dislike the characters so the more they stay in the background and the more their dress helps that then I’m fine with!

    Wimsey,

    Just seems very odd that a costume department that has produced such intricate and detailed costumes in previous seasons forgot to sand the nipples off breastplates. It’s not consistent!

  29. Annara Snow:
    Did Clapton confirm that the feathers were supposed to be from ravens/represent ravens, or was that just the author’s conclusion? It’s not clear from the article.

    Since Sansa is presumably going to be wearing that dress during the tour of the Vale, it would make a lot more sense to have her dress have motives of a mockingbird, as LF’s supposed niece, or maybe falcon, as an homage to the Arryns. I’m not sure what message she would be sending to the people of the Vale by wearing raven’s feathers. That she’s a… messenger of something or other?

    I think the meaning of the sentence is just that the feathers themselves are from ravens, since the Eyrie would have a bunch of messenger birds that Sansa could get them from. They’re presumably meant to represent a mockingbird, but it’s doubtful Lysa kept a bunch of them around.

  30. It’s a bit off-topic but I really feel the need for some S5 footage, I really hate this time of year. When can we expect HBO to release their Year Ender Video? We got like 6 secs of S4 footage last year, if we get just as much this year, I’ll be happy.

  31. GaiusB: Arianne = Margaery – older and more obviously political then in the books. Arianne would be her southern clone if she was cast

    Hmm, you might be on to something. Moreover, they really have elevated Margaery to a secondary protagonists, which is all the Arianne is in the books. Now, there is still a big difference: Arianne’s particular contribution to the story is the “little Princess” trying to step up to Eminence Gris Queenmaker; Margaery wants to be the Queen. Still, there are really close parallels: both are going from the same state to being someone. Moreover, Margaery would be Queen in title rather than in power: so, the best she can hope for also is to be the power-behind-the-throne.

    That written, I think that they will transfer Arianne’s particular storyline to Trystane: that is, he will be the one trying to “Kill the Little Prince, become the Eminence Gris Queenmaker.” (That basically melds Arianne’s and Quentyn’ story lines: particularly if they make the Little Prince some sort of Frog!)

    Still, Margaery might well get the narrative presence that Arianne had in the books: and, why not? It would be a shame to waste an actress of Natalie Dormer’s talents, and there is a lot more that could be done with the character than Martin was able to do. Moreover, given that this year’s story really demands dynamic development, it will help to have an already developed character.

    GaiusB: Tyene = Myranda – a duplicitous lunatic trained as septa (Violet said that during seduction of Theon)…. since majority of viewers hate Myranda.

    Actually, the majority of the audience will not really remember Myranda: she’s appeared twice in two years. That’s not to say that they won’t remember her with a quick “Previously on Game of Thrones” opening flashback: but they won’t remember that she had been a Septa or even know what a Septa is. (Septa don’t exist in the real world, after all.) Moreover, this audience is savvy enough to realize that Ramsay’s tools are, well, tools in as much danger as are Ramsay’s victims: indeed, we’ve seen at least twice that being his tool is the first step towards becoming his victim (and vice-versa).

    TheTouchOfFrost: Just seems very odd that a costume department that has produced such intricate and detailed costumes in previous seasons forgot to sand the nipples off breastplates. It’s not consistent!

    They didn’t forget: they didn’t sand them down completely enough for them to be invisible in all lightings. One huge trick to costumes, makeup, etc., is that they will look different on different sets: indeed, often they will use two costumes in obvious cases of color when they know that they’ll be using (say) bright white lights in one scene, but cool blue lights in another. It is very possible that they looked acceptable where they finished them, only to find that they didn’t look fine later. Given how rushed the filmmaking schedule is for these sorts of TV series, that’s not too surprising.

    Quite frankly, I don’t understand why this bothers book-readers. This is about as Dornish as I can imagine given how Martin presents Dornish culture (and women in Dornish culture) in the text. (Doubly so for the daughters of Oberyn!) Yes, it would be completely inappropriate for women from (say) the Westerlands or the Riverlands; it might be less so for women from the Reach audacious enough to wear armor, but clearly even there the idea of women wearing armor would be considered degenerate. Dorne is different: and the Dornish are aware of those differences and seem to know to use them to their advantage.

  32. Balerion The Cat,

    If HBO is doing a Year Ender/Looking Forward video this year, then we can probably expect to see it relatively soon. For what it’s worth, the high quality copy of the 2012 video was posted on YouTube by a user on December 3, 2012, and the high quality copy of the 2013 video was posted to YouTube by a different user on December 15, 2013. (The 2011 video was uploaded by December 20, 2011, but that one didn’t feature any new Game of Thrones footage). That means that all of those videos were probably shown on HBO a few days before. We’re right in that window now – so maybe we could hope to see it as soon as this weekend? I won’t hold my breath, but I will keep my eyes peeled.

    https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hbo+year+ender)
    (I’m not linking both videos at once because that would likely send my comment into moderation, but if you follow that link or type “HBO year ender” into the search bar, then click on the top two videos and check the descriptions, you can see the dates that they were uploaded).

    On a related note, I’m mildly surprised that we haven’t gotten another video from “The Sight” yet. The original sign-up message said to expect 4 messages per month, and I took that to mean we could expect one video every 7-10 days or so. We’re nearing the end of the first week of December now, so hopefully we’ll get another one soon.

  33. Jared,

    Thanks for the links.
    Yeah, I was also expecting a new video this week. What I hoped they’d do is release one #TheSight video for all the main characters every week (Arya, Jon, Sansa, Daenerys, Cersei, Tyrion, some Dorne stuff + maybe other characters) and once we get small glimpses off all of them we’d get the full Sight => Season 5 trailer (hopefully sometime in January).

  34. Bufferzone,

    Yes, there are maybe a dozen Lovecraftian type references in WOIAF, and very specifically the term “Old Ones” is used in Sothoryos, Leng, the Thousand Isles – all over the world.

  35. Sean C.: I think the meaning of the sentence is just that the feathers themselves are from ravens, since the Eyrie would have a bunch of messenger birds that Sansa could get them from.They’re presumably meant to represent a mockingbird, but it’s doubtful Lysa kept a bunch of them around.

    That’s a good point. Anyway, I asked that in the comments to the article and got and answer from the author:

    ” Sorry if it was not clear, Clapton confirmed that the feathers are from ravens and crows — “

  36. Jared:
    Balerion The Cat,

    On a related note, I’m mildly surprised that we haven’t gotten another video from “The Sight” yet. The original sign-up message said to expect 4 messages per month, and I took that to mean we could expect one video every 7-10 days or so. We’re nearing the end of the first week of December now, so hopefully we’ll get another one soon.

    Is shooting finished this weekend or next?
    Seemingly production has been more intense than in the last 3 years , so things may be running behind.

  37. Urban Bran,

    Why does she say she can’t talk about future seasons? I’m pretty sure she would know nothing about future seasons if she was no longer part of the show in the first place. Really fishy answers.

  38. deepwood,

    It’s the standard thing all cast and crew (past and present) give. When they say “future seasons”, they mean stuff from the books that’s yet to be adapted. They aren’t allowed to talk about unfilmed (or stuff that won’t ever be filmed) book stuff in interviews as it relates to the show.

  39. King Tommen,

    Still, I’m pretty sure that Sean Bean or even Richard Madden wouldn’t say stuff like “I can’t talk about future seasons”. That’d be downright dumb.

  40. deepwood,

    Well they aren’t being asked about stuff from future seasons most likely like Michelle Fairley is. It’s the same as Joe Dempsie getting asked about Gendry coming back based on what happens to the character in the book. His standard response is that he can’t talk about stuff that happens later (or if he’s even returning or not).

  41. Nippled Armour? Jesus Christ did nobody learn from Batman & Robin? Season 5 is going to be one gigantic clusterfu..

  42. Boojam,

    Judging by the anecdotal evidence that we’ve gathered from the Twitter accounts of various cast and crew members, it seems like principal photography for Season 5 is due to wrap at some point later next week. December 12 has been cited as a likely candidate for the final day of shooting. That’s a bit later than things went last year, but many of the cast members have now wrapped their scenes. It seems like it’s primarily the people who are involved in the Northern storyline who will be filming until the very end.

    If the first video from #TheSight is indicative of what’s to come, they’ll all be comprised mostly of old footage with a bit of spoilery-but-static imagery slotted in at the end. Those shouldn’t be affected at all by any production delays, and I remain optimistic that we’ll get one of those in the next few days.

    We may have to wait until later in the month for HBO Year Ender video, but I don’t think that the extended production cycle would explain why that hasn’t been released yet. Game of Thrones has been shooting since the summer, and I’m sure that some of the footage that they shot early on (and that doesn’t require much post-production VFX work) is ready for HBO’s promotional department to use. They only need about 6 seconds worth.

  43. Al Swearengen: Jesus Christ did nobody learn from Batman & Robin?

    Indeed! Take away those nipples, and all the plot holes go away AND the movie would have an actual story instead just being just a bunch of arbitrary stuff happening!

    (Actually, I am pretty sure that Batman had nippled armor in the 1989 film: and that was a damn good movie! Tell a story well, and nobody will care about these things.)

  44. Jared: Judging by the anecdotal evidence that we’ve gathered from the Twitter accounts of various cast and crew members, it seems like principal photography for Season 5 is due to wrap at some point later next week.

    Out of curiosity, does anybody here know how much time they spend on pickup shots, and when they do that?

  45. Arkash:
    I wished the show had put more emphasis on Sansa sewing her dress. It’s not directed obviously.

    I wish the show put more emphasis on important shit like Jon Snow’s relationship with Arya and their bond… which plays a HUGE FUCKIN’ PART IN THE STORY… well, in the books.

  46. GeekFurious,

    Don’t they have TWO perfect upcoming chances to do that when somebody

    had conflict when she gets rid of Needle, and somebody tries to rescue fArya?

    I mean I’m pretty sure at least one of those things is going to happen…

  47. GeekFurious: which plays a HUGE FUCKIN’ PART IN THE STORY… well, in the books.

    Actually, it plays a fairly small part in Thrones (which was covered), and another fairly small part in Dragons (which has not been shown yet and which might be shown for all we know). It’s pretty much a non-factor in Storm, Clash and Crows. It really does not strongly affect the storyline or plot line of either character. Some people think that it presents an oblique clue about Jon’s mother: but the “official” story explains the details just as well.

  48. Jared,

    I just hope that the longer shooting period won’t screw up the marketing for season 5. I really liked how they handled season 4, with a trailer in january and from then on we got something new every week. On the other hand, I didn’t like how they handled season 3, we only got a trailer at the end of february, I still remember how painfull it was to wait that much.

    And since they filmed most of the Northen storylines in December, I hope they’ll finally start showing that winter is indeed coming! I mean come on, there was (a lot) more snow in season 1 than in season 4…

  49. GeekFurious: which plays a HUGE FUCKIN’ PART IN THE STORY… well, in the books.

    Actually, it plays a fairly small part in Thrones (which was covered), and another fairly small part in Dragons (which has not been shown yet and which might be shown for all we know). It’s pretty much a non-factor in Storm, Clash and Crows. It really does not strongly affect the storyline or plot line of either character. Some people think that it presents an oblique clue about Jon’s mother: but the “official” story explains the details just as well.

    Lady Wolfsbane:
    GeekFurious,
    Don’t they have TWO perfect upcoming chances to do that when somebody

    The latter is a good opportunity to do that, the former less so. The latter in particular would be because it forces Jon to discuss things and to make some serious choices. Moreover, it’s quite possible that they could do this pretty easily by:

    having Mel. see the upcoming marriage in her fires; given the vagaries of what she sees, it could easily be mistaken for what is coming. (I forget: did Melissandre realize who Arya was when they met? Of course, it doesn’t matter much: Arya is at an age where people change rapidly, Mel. did not know her well, and the visions in the fires are not easy to read.

    At any rate, I am curious to see what will be done there: if Sam and Davos do stay at the wall, then there is more opportunity for something like this to be made an issue. If nothing else, then both excel at being “shoulder angels” for other characters, and for the characters that would be deciding the issues. (The good thing is that it could really feed story, too: what the boy would do and what the man should do are two different things.)

    The problem with the latter is that Arya wouldn’t have the opportunity to really talk about it with anyone, and there is no situation where other people might try to convince her to do one thing or another because of a connection to Jon. A one-off line of

    my brother Jon gave it to me

    wouldn’t leave much of an impact.

  50. Wimsey: Out of curiosity, does anybody here know how much time they spend on pickup shots, and when they do that?

    They don’t do pick-up shots. This is not a Peter Jackson movie: once principal photography is over, it’s over. As far as I know, the only shooting they did after principal photography was the stuff with the real bear in season 3.

  51. TheTouchOfFrost,

    Again, it wouldn’t necessarily be a question of slacking. You do things until they seem to be done. This is the sort of thing where they aren’t focused on a single detail: remember, the whole costume is important, and that one piece looks to be pretty complicated with all of the scales and what almost certainly is a difficult set of compromises between comfort and look.

    Now, sometimes they can recognize things in different lights pretty quickly. A good case that comes to mind is Ian McKellan’s prosthetic nose in Lord of the Rings: it turned black in some of the blue lights that they used, so they quickly had to alter the lighting that they were using as well as apply some different makeup to the prosthetic. However, that was immediately obvious: a guy that looks like his nose is rotting jumps out the immediate footage!

    My guess is that in the scenes where it was obvious, the people who cared were not present (they would be working on other costumes all the time) and the people who noticed didn’t care. In a big production like this, that is going to happen. Moreover, it seems appropriate: why would the people who noticed think that it wasn’t supposed to be there?

    At any rate, I still don’t get why anybody is objecting. This screams “DORNE!!!!” Indeed, something this lascivious will be particularly good for reminding the audience of the Sand Snake’s father: he might be absent, but a reminder of him is. (Of course, a big chunk of the audience probably won’t notice: the people who are prone to notice will be paying much more attention to the scenes where one or more of the Sand Snakes is not hiding anything at all!)

  52. oier: They don’t do pick-up shots. This is not a Peter Jackson movie: once principal photography is over, it’s over.As far as I know, the only shooting they did after principal photography was the stuff with the real bear in season 3.

    Pretty much true. They do the normal post-production stuff with some actors like ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement) but that’s all part of the editing and mixing that happens after the principal shooting has finished.

    They don’t have time to do pick-ups as they barely have time to squeeze in what they need given the shooting schedule.

    This is why they couldn’t do some of the stuff they wanted in previous seasons because of the weather (the stuff in Renly’s camp and the Stannis parlay comes to mind). You have your 4 days or whatever is to get what you need and then you have to move on. They had the luxury in the pilot to go back and re-shoot a bunch of stuff but that was a one-time deal since they weren’t really on the clock for that. TV pilots are much more like movies in that way.

  53. We’ll probably get the first glimpses of Season 5 next week with the HBO yearender thingy. GET HYPE

  54. Wimsey,

    In all honesty, I don’t care a massive amount as with all things Sand Snake related. Just so bored of no news coming in I’ve resorted to talking about nipples on plate armour.

  55. I am still interested on who is behind Ms. Sellers, she is not Ms. Hughes as there is another pic out there taken at same time which has Ms Hughes and that actor is still in the shots. All the pics avoid taking a clear shot of her face or even a profile, while the stunt double appears full frontal (no pun intended). Furthermore she is not a stunt double because her armor does not match the fine details of the others, she wields a sword and wears a shoulder buckler for it. She has a much darker skin tone and her height is between Sellers and Henwick. I am wondering if D&D have a surprise in store for us, besides the costume and weapon differences, there is the fact that all the pictures release from this set sequence avoid showing the face of the mysterious Snake, wonder who could it be?

  56. The Hound:
    We’ll probably get the first glimpses of Season 5 next week with the HBO yearender thingy.
    GET HYPE

    Next week would be so great!

  57. I thought the Sand Snakes were supposed to be somewhat good looking? I’m just not seeing it…

  58. Hodor H’ghar,

    Eh? Because of one picture of Jessica Henwick squinting and of her stunt double, in which none of the other Snakes faces are visible? I’d say that Ms. Henwick, Keisha Castle-Hughes and in particular Rosabell Laurenti-Sellers are more than “somewhat good-looking”.

    (Of course Obara isn’t ACTUALLY supposed to be good-looking, at least in the books, but that didn’t stop them from giving the gig to KCH).

  59. oier: They don’t do pick-up shots.

    heh, PJ is hardly the only person to do that! (Although the directors’ commentary made it seem like every scene was a pickup shot in Rings….)

    Thanks, though. I would have thought that they’d wind up doing some after realizing that they needed to condense things in the editing stage, but I guess that they work around that.

    Greenjones: (Of course Obara isn’t ACTUALLY supposed to be good-looking, at least in the books, but that didn’t stop them from giving the gig to KCH).

    That is called Hollywood Ugly. It is not to be confused with actual Ugly. (Or even actual Below Average Looking.)

  60. Greenjones,

    I am talking about the one behind Ms. Seller’s with the sword and buckler not the one directly behind Ms Henwick. To stress my point further, Ms. Hughes (Obara) uses a spear, and does not wear a buckler, so she is not her double. Ms Henwick’s double has a whip, Ms. Hughes uses a spear and Ms Seller’s two daggers. So who is the mystery Snake with the sword and buckler, that’s my question.

  61. The Hound,

    Think that last year HBO just used gussied up footage from the previous season – hope they actually give us something new on the New Year blurb!

  62. Patchy Face,

    We got four new shots last year IIRC. Jaime with the White Book (debuting his haircut), the Champion of Meereen charging, Sansa in the snow and I’m pretty sure a glimpse of the PW too.

  63. Wimsey: Actually, it plays a fairly small part in Thrones (which was covered), and another fairly small part in Dragons (which has not been shown yet and which might be shown for all we know).It’s pretty much a non-factor in Storm, Clash and Crows.It really does not strongly affect the storyline or plot line of either character.Some people think that it presents an oblique clue about Jon’s mother: but the “official” story explains the details just as well.

    This is beyond ridiculous and shows you don’t understand the books. Is this one of the D’s?

  64. Greenjones:
    Patchy Face,

    We got four new shots last year IIRC. Jaime with the White Book (debuting his haircut), the Champion of Meereen charging, Sansa in the snow and I’m pretty sure a glimpse of the PW too.

    We got a shot of Tyrion before the trial instead of the PW.

  65. Jon Dayne of Starfall,

    Untrue. Wic posted a different and much less informative interview.

    I know that because I’d read wicnet’s post and was the person to link the particular interview linked in THIS article to the WOTW comments. If you read them both you’d know that they’re not the same interviews and this one is plainly better/more interesting since it actually touches upon s5.

  66. OT, but since we’re anticipating a trailer in the next couple months, anyone want to speculate what kind of music they’ll use? Personally, I’m placing bets at least one of the trailers will feature a new London Grammar song. Seems like an obvious choice based on their past pattern. (EDIT – I just realized they already did last year – whoops!)

    OK, who else has that ‘sound’ they tend to stick with for the trailers they haven’t used yet?

  67. GeekFurious,
    Seems to me Wimsey has a pretty good handle on what happens in the books and the show. Although I do disagree with them vehemently on something I’ve already forgotten about.

    Get a grip.

  68. GeekFurious,

    You are confusing story with character. Arya thinks a lot about Jon, which is something that’s unfortunately missed in TV (and it’d be rather difficult to include, with no narration.) But that doesn’t affect the plot except when she tries to go to the Wall and in another couple places. Wimsey is right.

  69. Greenjones,

    Ms Hughes is to her right, or in Ms Hughes case to her left, Seller’s is blocking her from view. This is why I call her mystery Snake, because she is being blocked (purposely?) out from the photos by the actresses, or since these are OFFICIAL behind the scenes shots, D&D wouldn’t allow any photo’s that show who she is to be released. In other words, we have plenty of shots of the stunt double with the whip, why keep the other Snake hidden?

  70. Honestly I could totally see the Dornishwomen wear this armour… but so far it just looks hilarious to the point of break in immersion

  71. tyjon,

    From the other pics it looks like Obara’s or tyene’s double. It’s hard to distinguish because their skirt-things are of a similar shade, but I am pretty sure it is just a stunt double. Afterall oberyn also had a sword, wich, if i recall correctly, appeared onscreen but he never used. And I don’t think these are official pics, just some snaps someone managed to take.

  72. Honestly I’m just posting to tick the “notify me of new posts by e-mail” box since I havent been getting them lately, but could anyone tell me which sandsnake the Whalerider girl is playing?

  73. Fingers crossed for Year End video footage any day now.

    Greenjones,

    Don’t sweat it. JonDayne’s just a commenter who’s banned (finding ways around it though, as you see) and bitter, and trying desperately to troll.

  74. Jon Dayne of Starfall,

    Eugh. You again? You only seem to pop up to run the site down. If you’re happy with WiC then by all means go and stay there. Don’t worry about us. We’ll be absolutely fine without you.

  75. GeekFurious: This is beyond ridiculous and shows you don’t understand the books. Is this one of the D’s?

    It’s hardly ridiculous. When does it ever affect either Arya’s or Jon’s contribution to the actual story or plot in the first three stories? (It does affect the plot and Jon’s contribution to the story in Dragons: but we cannot complain about that, as it hasn’t been shown yet.) You claimed that it was hugely important: yet when Jon or Arya are sorting through conflicted values (Story 1), conflicted loyalties (Story 2) or conflicted love-hate (Story 3), when is the other one relevant? When does it at least affect the plots pushing those stories along?

    Now, if part of the reason why Arya rejected the role of women that society is trying to force on her had to do with Jon, or if Jon was some sort of inspiration (“what would Jon do?”) when Arya works out solutions to the different challenges in front of her, then it would be hugely important. However, that is not the case. If Arya was part of the reason why Jon’s struggle so to overcome the stigma of bastardy or if she affected how he did that, then it would be hugely important. However, that is not the case, either.

    OR……

    Luka Nieto: Arya thinks a lot about Jon, which is something that’s unfortunately missed in TV (and it’d be rather difficult to include, with no narration.)

    … what Luka wrote more succinctly than I did! Now, this is true: after Robb, Arya is probably the sibling about whom Jon thinks the most. After Sansa, Jon is the sibling about whom Arya probably thinks the most. But you (Luka) really hammer one nail on the head: one huge difference between the written and cinematic media is that the written medium allows objective description of the POV characters’ (usually protagonists’) thoughts as things happen. Those thoughts might be incorrect because of their subjectivity (e.g., the molehill/mountain difference between what Jaime and Catelyn think of Jeyne Westerling’s hips, or Cersei’s interpretations of, well, just about everyones reactions to her “bold and decisive” actions), but it is “true” that this is what the character is thinking/feeling at the time.

    Because cinema and plays cannot do this without spoken narrative (and even those can be done only at “breaks” rather than continuously as written or spoken storytelling can: and I have never seen it done with more than two protagonists!), basically every scene is “third person”: we have to interpret the actions/behaviors of every character in the way that the POV character and reader do in the books.

  76. Tomigreyjoy,

    I think that’s just the actor talking between takes. You’ll notice also he’s comforting the baby, which he probably had to do to keep it from freaking out!

  77. Greenjones:
    Tomigreyjoy,

    I think that’s just the actor talking between takes. You’ll notice also he’s comforting the baby, which he probably had to do to keep it from freaking out!

    Was thinking the same thing. Must have been quite something for the baby ! ^^

    I must say I wasnt convinced by the Night King’s design. The crown/horns, imo, looked out of context and the whole make-up had too much of a plastic feel that pushed me a little back from the scene. I hope we’ll see him again this season and we can watch him from other angles to judge better.

  78. Arkash,

    Wouldn’t it be funny if the baby’s first words were uttered while being held by the NK? “Mama?”

    I actually thought Michele talked up the CotF costume better than they came across on film. Her “old children” and “leafy” description got it exactly right, but in the end Octavia came across as a child in a Halloween trick-or-treat costume. I was hoping for so much more. One of the few missteps in an otherwise wonderful display of creativity.

  79. Tomigreyjoy,

    I dunno but I doubt the NK was intended to say anything in the scene. The only audio that might have been recorded was the baby’s noises, though that could’ve been put in in post-production too.

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