TV Series
House of the Dragon - S2 - Battle at Rook's Rest
Pixomondo
PXO’s work had a particular focus on the epic battle at Rook’s Rest which is often called the ‘Dance of the Dragons’ and the centerpiece of the second season, featuring extensive ground and aerial action sequences. The Visual Effects team was responsible for creating large parts of the battlefield, armies, and the three fighting dragons. A location shoot provided the foundation for ground-based action, but digital extensions for the landscape and battle forces were needed to convey the battle’s scale and include landmarks like Rook’s Rest castle. To realize the complex aerial choreography, mostly full CG environments were used. The entire sequence was previsualized by PXO, with many of the animators that would continue to work on final shots in post-production. The unique flying and fighting styles of each dragon could therefore be explored and defined early in the process, and refined and enhanced with subtle facial performances to make the audience connect. For shots of the dragon riders, the actors sat on a motorized buck and were filmed with a motion control camera, both of which were driven by the motion data from the previz. PXO devised a new system that allowed for live comps of those buck-plates over the previz on set so the filmmakers could get a better sense of what the final shot will look like while shooting. The combination of extensive previs, planning and technical execution, merging on-set special effects with digital effects, and delicate character animation made this sequence truly unforgettable.
CREW
Daði Einarsson – HBO VFX Supervisor
Tom Horton – HBO VFX Producer
Sven Martin – PXO VFX Supervisor
Mark Spindler - PXO VFX Supervisor
Fausto Tejeda - PXO VFX Supervisor
James Thompson – Virtual Production Supervisor
Matt Perrin – Visualization Supervisor
SOFTWARE
VFX - Maya with Arnold, Nuke, Houdini, Unreal Engine, zBrush