It’s the time of the year again, the post-Game of Thrones season time when VFX reels start cropping up. The first video we have this season comes courtesy of Iloura, who handled much of the VFX for “Battle of the Bastards.” As you can see in the reel below, Iloura are responsible for a great deal of the effects-generated action involving the troops, arrows, and horses from the epic ninth episode.
Check it out:
While we knew there were only 70 horses and a few hundred extras, when you see it broken down like this, the show’s technical achievement in creating “Battle of the Bastards” is that much more impressive.
No More Hodoring…
Amazing work congratulations. All so natural. The even had a stund for Kit and CGI his face on. Nobody noticed that.!! The horses so real!! Great work.
Amazing they deserve an emmy for their work.
Really made the battle seem real, bloody and how costly it was to both sides.
Every year I am amazed at what they are able to produce within roughly a years timeframe. The best production crew ever!
If this episode doesn’t win in all the technical Emmy categories, I’m gonna break things xD And an Emmy for Kit please. Thank you.
So impressive!!!
Not on topic, but anyone find out what happened to Sibel Kekilli scene for this season, if she really was in costume?
Cutting room floor would be no surprise.
Was it just a fluke?
I never would have guessed that so much of it was CGI. Truly outstanding – for a tv show, no less! A lot of cinema blockbusters have much more noticeable special effects.
Now, about those direwolves…
These VFX things are always so awesome.
ps. If somebody knows the song please do let me know.
Boojam,
What???????
sorry, i don’t remember where i read it, but i read very late in the season (around episode 7 or 8) that she had only been visiting the set and saying hi to old friends while filming an entirely different show/film in the same area. how true this is, your guess is as good as mine.
What is that music! I must know. Amazing work. Nothing like it.
I was somewhat disturbed that Kit Harrington performed his “horse stunt” in a t-shirt…
Boojam,
They were trolling
Boojam,
I read somewhere that she was just visiting. I guess they wanted to confuse the fans?
Jesus.
I can’t even begin to imagine the number of billable hours 🙂
She was in a costume of a poor meereenese woman. And Conleth and Peter was in costume that’s in 601. I guess she’s among the extras that stand and watch that priest preaching anti-Mhysa stuff.
Wow! Just wow. Kudos to the tech team. Just give them all the awards now.
p.s. The music used in this video made it even better.
A simple distraction,same as the Walker dummy in a window in King’s Landing.She just visited.
On a podcast I will eventually finish editing, I complained that the layering on the in-the-battle Jon perspective “single-take” sequence was off. And this video shows me exactly why. Still, it’s impressive as hell that a TV show is pulling this off… even if there are clear problems. I’ve seen several movies in the past year that didn’t look this impressive… and they had $100 million plus as a budget.
Just incredible what these VFX guys can do these days. Kudos to them 🙂
Amazes me how they can do it within the time restrictions imposed before the new season is aired.
As I was watching it I had a feeling that they had lots of fun doing this. I know if I had the skill I’d enjoy setting the whole thing up. But yeah so incredibly impressive. Furious, Im with you – it outshines some things Ive seen on the big screen Just fantastic
I’d like to see more how they made the giant and how it moved but suspect they showed that during the CB battle
Boojam,
They were trolling. It happened right after Kit was photographed on set iirc, so they wanted to make people doubt Jon was coming back.
These are always so mesmerizing to watch. The music they added to that video was also pretty cool. You know, one of my favorite things in that battle scene wasn’t actually a visual effect. Every time Kit fights they always manage to capture the flowing movement of his cloak or armor. It’s a little thing but I love watching that and he’s very good at being fluid when he’s fighting. That battle was freaking amazing and it’s so incredible how real they make those effects look… could watch it 100 times and still see something new in there.
I wanted to see the dragons ??
Aryamad,
I also love how they highlight Kit’s unique fighting style — graceful and deadly at the same time. The rehearsal video of the fight choreography really showed his natural talent and his hard work.
The VFX people, Miguel, the horse wrangler, crew, and cast truly earned any awards they get this year! Fabulous.
The horse skeletons (before they finished filling in the skin and fur) running through the battlefield was creepy as heck. They should use that effect for some of the white walker horses in future battles.
I absolutely love this episode so I hate to nitpick a little thing but I was bothered by one moment that seemed to be a cgi fail. When the Knights of the Vale crash into one side of the semi-circle barrier Ramsay’s troops have formed it seems like the men on the other side would break formation and try and face the attackers to defend themselves. But they don’t move and get run over as the Knights continue to swing around them. Not a big deal but just seemed off to me.
Yes, please!!! 🙂
Just imagine the insane amount of effort that must’ve gone into animating every single one of those cgi horses…
this explains the one big battle per season. I can’t begin to understand how this is done. I couldn’t tell the real from the fake. What an art form