How does directing GoT work?

[AntonyF]

I was thinking about this... I noticed the episodes I was less keen on this year were directed by David Petrarca, the ones I really enjoyed Alan Taylor (which hopefully bodes well for the latest!)

But does direction work this way? I can't see them going between four or five countries for the one episode. I wondered if the directors split their time between the different story strands. So one does all Jon Snow for example...

I also assumed stories like Daenerys are shot in one go... she's not coming back in after a week's gap or whatever.

Anyone have any knowledge of how it is all done?

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

They have two filming units on Game of Thrones, named Dragon and Wolf, that are often at work simultaneously. For the second season one unit was in Northern Ireland while the other was in Croatia (in the first season they were split between Northern Ireland and Malta). The Croatian unit shot all of Dany's scenes (all of her scenes were shot in Malta in the first season) and many of the King's Landing exterior shots. The shoot in Iceland was done after all other shooting was complete and lasted for 18 days.

The credited director of any given episode shot the scenes in Northern Ireland. Alan Taylor was on hand as director in Iceland and probably directed all of those scenes. He was also on location in Croatia, although I'm not sure if he directed all scenes there or if various directors flew in.

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ I must admit, I was wondering the same question myself.

I note that they particularly hired Neil Marshall for next week's climactic show because of his proven ability to do big action sequences on a shoestring budget.

 

[Gaith]

How does directing GoT work?


Carefully.

 

[sidious618]

The directing is definitely more involved as it's why there can't be more than 10 episodes due to how long it takes to make them.

 

[pork3]

The directing is definitely more involved as it's why there can't be more than 10 episodes due to how long it takes to make them.

I actually prefer a restricted number of episodes as their quality tends to remain consistent with little if any filler.

I was opposed to the increased number of episodes for nuBSG in the latter seasons, as one could argue the overall quality of the show resultantly suffered. Oh, and the last season was an abomination.

-Jamman