Westeros

Continuing my Belfast trip report. Here’s Part 1.

At breakfast, we met none other than Isaac Hempstead-Wright, the younger actor playing Bran Stark. It seemed he had just wrapped filming at Castle Ward and was to head back home, though his mother, Helen—who was absolutely lovely to speak with—said she thought he had two or three scenes left to do for the series. Isaac was incredibly sweet and polite, making a point of getting my name exactly right and using it. They left us to get ready to go, and not long after Parris departed to layer up for the Paint Hall and Magheramorne visits. George and I discussed the world book (during which I learned something about one of the characters who’ll appear in the three Dornish chapters he’s moved to The Winds of Winter) for a few more minutes before moving on ourselves, and I went downstairs to wait for them and our transportation. Fortunately, Isaac and his mother were also in the lobby, waiting for their pick-up, and I had a great conversation with them.

I was off in Belfast when this report came in from a Russian fan who happened to be in Malta when filming of Dothraki scenes were taking place. 7kingdoms.ru shares the report, with Westeros.ru providing Westeros.ru the English translation. It’s a terrific piece of reporting as they paid close attention to some of the details we’re all eager to know about, such as weapons and clothing. Regarding their description of the arakh, I believe we’ve glimpsed one previously.

Funnily enough, Linda sent me a text message about this report while I was visiting with Bryan Cogman, and I told him about it. He confirmed that they had been filming the wedding scene around that time, though on that particular day (Thursday) they had moved on to something else.

One last detail I should note is I have a separate report in from someone who was at the Azure Window who confirmed that they were, indeed, shooting right down by the shore.

I had originally planned to write this rather backwards, starting with the Moot and then going back, but as I sat down to write all of this, it just seemed easier to start from the beginning. I hope to get parts out every few days, depending on whether I need to run it by HBO to make sure any details I post are okay to share or not. But this first post is, I think, unobjectionable since it covers the time from my arrival in Belfast to my time prior to reaching Paint Hall.

Many, many terrific photos from the Moot that happened last night. None taken by me, alas, as my phone camera lacked a flash, but here’s a few examples and links to the galleries where they’ve been posted:

Wyvernwoodhas some of the best shots I’ve seen so far. Here’s one with myself and George chatting with Finn Jones, and Mark Addy’s in the shot:

DrNickVC has posted several terrific pictures. I particularly like this one, featuring (from left to right) Gethin Anthony (Lord Renly), Eugene Simon (Lancel), Joseph Altin (Pypar), DrNick himself, Luke McEwan (Rast), Mark Addy (King Robert), and Finn Jones (Ser Loras):

DocFourFour (aka Rimshot) has a great series of photos he took through the night, including many of the raffle drawings.

I’m sure there are more out there, but these are a great start. Hope to have my own Moot report, with some details I picked up from the actors, later in the evening. Still recovering from the whirlwind trip!

The focus group announced last week is now closed. Here’s the message from the market research company running this focus group:

Before I can get to posting about the Moot (and, yes, everything else I saw earlier that day), I want to spread the word that, unfortunately, some personal property belonging to Parris was taken from the event and it is very desperately desired to be returned. There were several banners that were used to decorate the venue, and one in particular is a one-of-the-kind. If you read this, and you know who has possession of it, please direct them to this post from Parris about the possible repercussions for such events in the future if this problem is not corrected as soon as possible.

If you have it, or know who has it, please do the right thing.

A wonderful new addition to the Artisian video series from the Making Game of Thrones site, this time featuring Michele Clapton, the costume designer. It’s great timing, as yesterday I was able to see at first hand some of the costuming and armor that is featured in this video. Clapton makes particularly mention of a cape for Jaime, which is interesting because I did spot a very handsome red, fur-lined cloak labelled “Jaime Lannister” on a rack among other “hero” costumes (including several Ned items, Tyrion’s leather jerkin, Catelyn’s gown(s), and more). I hope to be able to write some more soon, but suffice it to say, I was very impressed with what I saw at first hand.

That embroidered direwolf we briefly see near the beginning? It adorns the sleeve of the rain jackets David and Dan (and maybe some others of the production team) were wearing.

Despite my best efforts to procrastinate and lead to a fait accompli preventing me from attending (yes, I leave everything to the last minute!), it seems that I shall in fact be heading to Belfast in a few hours, to attend the Belfast Moot which GRRM and a host of fans (including some extras from the production) will be attending tomorrow evening. Reporting through Friday will be light, though I’m hopeful I’ll have opportunity to write up a couple of reports both pre- and post-moot.

Looking forward to meeting many new faces among the Brotherhood without Banners!

Some interesting HBO-related items today. First, word from GRRM and Parris is that HBO is considering sending the documentary team they have on-hand to prepare promotional and DVD extra material for Game of Thrones to the moot in Belfast on Thursday (note: registration to take part has now been closed, as the party has met the limit placed on them for the venue), to record the goings-on for a segment. It’s terrific that the production is embracing the fans even more clearly!

Also, the Making Game of Thrones site has been updated with a quote from Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister) regarding his character’s relationship to his sister, Queen Cersei (played by Lena Headey). Noting that he and Headey are good friends, he notes his sadness that they have very few scenes this season, a lament I believe we’ve heard from Headey herself. Hopefully the second season (*knock on wood*) will more than amply address that concern!

We noticed that the item was posted in the name of Steve Marzolf, a journalist who also writes copy for HBO,producing “core site content (episode guides, character bios, etc.)” and also conducting interviews for Behind the Scenes features such as those we’ve been seeing in the Artisan series. It seems like he’s already been at work covering the production.

HBO’s production has added an additional director of photography going into the final months of filming for the first season of Game of Thrones. According to Variety, cinematographer Matt Jensen has joined the team. Jensen is a veteran of HBO’s original programming, having acted as director of photography on a number of True Blood episodes.

Suvudu’s running another cage match (after their previous, massively-popular one in which Jaime Lannister narrowly lost to Rand al’Thor), and this time the representative for A Song of Ice and Fire is none other than Ser Gregor Clegane, the Mountain that Rides. He’s been pitted against Dracula, and could use your support to put an end to the undead vampire count.

Really, I think old Vlad would turn tail and flap his bat wings away if he came face to face with this monstroous knight.

A tweet led us to take a look at the Game of Thrones IMDB page, to see if there had been any changes in the visual effects lineup ... and it looks like there is. Once the pilot was shot, the search for a long-term arrangement in terms of visual effects started, and it appears that a newer, London-based VFX company by the name of BlueBolt will be in charge of coordinating the visual effects work for the production.

Though new, BlueBolt has some very impressive credits via its founders, with their showreel featuring visual effects scenes from Troy, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Poseidon, The Quantum of Solace, and many more. Their new company is credited with providing special effects for Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and Sherlock Holmes.

The new VFX producer specifically for the production seems to be Paddy Kelly, whose credits include Avatar, The Golden Compass, and several of the Harry Potter films. It looks like Kelly himself may be based at BlueBolt’s Dublin facility. BlueBolt co-founder Angela Barson appears to be the VFX supervisor for at least one episode.

We announced yesterday that Academy Award-winning composer Stephen Warbeck had been selected to score HBO’s Game of Thrones. We’ve now been tipped to the that at the Ghent Film Festival this past week, Warbeck was featured in a film composition seminar and a panel with other noted composers, including Angelo Badalamenti and Howard Shore.

While no video of that seminar did exist, it did lead us to find a terrific one-on-one video interview with the composer posted just three days ago, created by CuttingEdge.be (who have a number of good interviews with filmmakers on Youtube). The interview covers everything from Warbeck’s home life (he lives on a farm) to his work process, his good (and bad) experiences, and ... his upcoming projects, including a film with Kenneth Brannagh and “a 10-part thing” for HBO. Wonder what that could be…. ? ;) We’ll start the video at that point (the 19:30 mark or so), but the whole thing’s worth listening to.

As additional material, here’s another interview conducted some time after the release of the soundtrack for the film Proof, which probably means it’s a few years old.

HBO has kindly allowed us to break the word on one of the last major crew announcements for its production of Game of Thrones. They have informed us that Stephen Warbeck, has been selected to score the series. Warbeck’s best known for producing the soundtrack to Shakespeare in Love, for which he received the Academy Award. He has a long list of credits, including award-nominated films such as Billy Elliot and Proof, as well as other notable Hollywood productions such as Quills, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Charlotte Grey, and last year’s Princess Kaiulani.

Rather than leaving you with a sample of his Shakespeare in Love work, here’s a video for the soundtrack for Charlotte Grey which shows a nice range—7:40 in has an atmospheric, staccato piece of music that creates a great sense of tension and could almost fit right into the series as I envision it:

But just in case you want your memory refreshed… here’s a sampling of his Shakespeare in Love work:

Brilliant,memorable scores, to say the least, but bear in mind that Warbeck’s compositions may well be radically different (and influenced by things such as medieval music) compared to his previous work. Regardless, Warbeck’s a highlight in an already-amazing collection of cast and crew members.

UPDATE:

Here’s a remark that Miltos Yerolemou, who plays Syrio Forel, left in response to trolling at Winter is Coming’s post on this topic:

Valyrian Steel has now reported that Ice will go on pre-order at noon Eastern Time tomorrow (Saturday the 23rd). They include a lovely picture of a part of the hilt, featuring gold and silver ornamentation, and they note that the white hilt was George R.R. Martin’s own conception of how the weapon should look. No full-length photos of the finished product have been shown, but here is their post from almost exactly a year ago in which they show the approved design.