Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

‘Game of Thrones’ VFX team shares its secrets in a behind-the-scenes video

Rising Sun Pictures Game of Thrones Season 6 VFX Breakdowns
HBO’s Game of Thrones has taken the world by storm like few television series have. A large part of this zealous fascination is owed to the incredible visuals the show captures and depicts in each and every episode.

Considering the show takes place in a massive land made up of seven kingdoms, it’s no surprise that much of the imagery is generated by computers. After all, who has room to build the entirety of King’s Landing, let alone the other scenes.

To show off just how much work goes into composing even the most mundane of clips from the show, the team behind Game of Thrones visual effects, Rising Sun Pictures, has shared a behind-the-scenes video.

Throughout the four-minute visual breakdown, Rising Sun Pictures shows just how much layering, compositing, and grading is needed to create the vast landscapes and ornate structures shown throughout George R.R. Martin’s world of ice and fire. It’s a visual feast for VFX junkies, whether or not you’re a fan of the show.

While much of Game of Thrones is filmed at Titanic Studios in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on-location footage has been shot in Croatia, Iceland, Malta, Morocco, Spain, Scotland, and the United States throughout its six seasons. We only see a small set of scenes in this particular video, but the sheer scale of the scenes shown is mesmerizing.

As a fair warning, much of the video contains scenes from the season-six finale, so if you’re working your way through the show, proceed with caution. If you don’t mind spoilers, or have already binged the entire series, carry on.

Season seven of Game of Thrones is still a year away, unfortunately, but if this video and previous seasons are anything to go by, it’ll be worth the wait. Every agonizing second.

Gannon Burgett
Former Digital Trends Contributor
7 most underrated Game of Thrones episodes ever
A woman stands across from a man in Game of Thrones.

Can you believe it's been four years since Game of Thrones concluded its legendary run? While we won't speak about the final season, Game of Thrones remains one of television's most successful shows, with a record 59 Primetime Emmy Awards. Game of Thrones was a "can't-miss" television show, meaning the audience had to tune into the live airing of an episode or risk seeing spoilers on the internet. In the social media age of television, it's rare for a show to have as much power and influence on pop culture as it did.

A select group is unequivocally regarded as the best episodes of Game of Thrones, including Blackwater, Hardhome, The Rains of Castamere (more commonly known as The Red Wedding episode), and The Winds of Winter. For this list, however, we selected the seven most underrated Game of Thrones episodes ever.
Lord Snow

Read more
The Red Wedding at 10: How the groundbreaking episode changed Game of Thrones forever
Robb Stark's body with his direwolf's head in Game of Thrones.

The so-called Golden Age of Television reached its undeniable zenith during the 2010s. Shows like Mad Men, Veep, Breaking Bad, and Stranger Things took TV to new and exciting levels of visual and narrative quality. However, no show had more influence or acclaim throughout the 2010s than Game of Thrones. The HBO juggernaut became synonymous with prestige television, delivering a perfect mix of political intrigue, high fantasy, and sex that became irresistible for critics and audiences.

Game of Thrones wasn't an instant success; it was only in season 3 that the show became the must-see show on television. Two events helped the show achieve this elusive reputation. The first was Daenerys' sacking of Astapor in the fourth episode, And Now His Watch Has Ended. The second is, of course, the Red Wedding. The episode it was featured in, The Rains of Castamere, changed the series' course, altering the fate of multiple characters and radically shifting the power balance between the noble houses of Westeros. The groundbreaking episode showcased Game of Thrones operating at full strength, and, as a result, allowed audiences to truly understand what kind of show they were watching.
Game of Thrones sends its regards

Read more
Video goes behind the scenes of The Last of Us episode 8
Joel and Ellie in The Last of Us episode 8.

Another week, another soul-draining episode of The Last of Us. Don't get us wrong, it's a great show. But it also makes The Walking Dead look like an episode of Frasier. By now, it shouldn't be surprising that the writing and acting is top-notch. This is an HBO series, after all. But it has to be said that the original video game is a masterpiece of storytelling all of its own. That's why it's so refreshing when the creative team behind this series shows a willingness to deviate from the source material.

The Last of Us | Inside the Episode - 8 | HBO

Read more