Game Of Thrones Studio Tour

[Shireblogger]

I've just returned from a great holiday in Northern Ireland. One of the highlights was the 5 hours we spent at the newly opened Game Of Thrones Studio Tour.

It is located at Linen Mill Studios, just outside Banbridge, about 30 minutes south west of Belfast. Linen Mill Studios was one of the sites used to film the HBO series. The studios have been converted into a museum with interactive experiences, and almost everything there is a genuine set, costume or prop used during the filming.

I enjoyed Game Of Thrones, but I wouldn't describe myself as a fan - I watched it once only, and haven't read the books. But the GOT Studio Tour is absolutely brilliant, and gives a fascinating view behind the scenes.

Over the next week I'll post some of the photos I took. But I won't include two spoilers - the entrance into the exhibition, or the final room.

[Shireblogger]

There are many sets on show. Here are a couple from King's Landing.


1. The Red Keep Small Council Chamber





2. Tommen's Chamber in the Red Keep

[greendemon]

Very cool!

Although I've complained (loudly and often ) about the ending of the show, I was a huge fan and would love to go to this if I'm ever in Northern Ireland. Looking forward to your photos SB

[Shireblogger]

3. The Great Hall at Winterfell




4. Dragonstone

[o]

Sounds great!
I remember watching the documentary on GoT after rewatching all the series again back to back and thoroughly enjoying it, and the ending which made perfect sense, and the sets they built were incredible. All of King's Landing was built there as was Winterfell, and it was fascinating watching them film scenes you'd seen on the show. Think I will give the prequel a go seeing as I have sky atlantic, and Westworld will be finished by then

[S1m]

Oh awesome, thanks!

We went to Belfast for two nights after Easter and didn't have time to factor this in (plus my hubby is tolerant enough to enjoy the outdoor locations we explored on the way up to Giant's Causeway, but would have been stretched a little doing the sets, especially after doing Doctor Who and Harry Potter experiences with me!).

[Shireblogger]

Prosthetics & Costumes


5. The Night King





6. Wun Wun

[Smurfie]

This looks a fantastic experience Shireblogger - thank you for sharing!

[Shireblogger]

More Costumes.

There were two Costume departments. The first made them. The second was called Costume Breakdown. This made them looked lived in, by adding sweat patches and dirt, ripping seams and re-stitching them untidily, bending bits of armour, etc.



7. Arya Stark




8. Joffrey Baratheon

[greendemon]

I didn't know that about the two costume teams! There's a YouTuber and costume historian called Bernadette Banner who did a brilliant video recently analysing and explaining exactly why Game of Thrones' costumes - despite being for a fantasy show - are the most historically accurate she's ever seen. Maybe a bit of a niche interest but I love this stuff

[popchartfreak]

one of my 3 all-time fave drama shows, and would def love to see the tour. I flew over Girona In Spain in 2020 on my way on to land at the deserted airport on a deserted plane, and they filmed a lot of the exterior shots for King's Landing there. One day I'll do a tour there too on my way to barcelona or Sitges or salou or tarragona! 

[Shireblogger]

Props


9. The Hand of the King Pin





10. A full-size dead Jaime Lannister - remarkably life-like (if you see what I mean)

[Shireblogger]

Weapons

Obviously, integral to the story. The GoT studios had their own weapons workshop, which made several thousand swords, knives, spears, crossbows, catapults and so on. Some had to be realistically heavy, but unrealistically safe for the actors to use. Others just needed to look right, so many of the arrows were made of rubber.


11. Euron Greyjoy's axe




12. The Catspaw Dagger, made from Valyrian steel

[Shireblogger]

13. Map / War Games Chessboard. For me, any half decent fantasy needs a map of some description, whether it be Discworld, Middle-Earth or The Known World. However, if you make a film or tv series then you have to be loyal to the map. GoT annoyed me on this front, as the travel distances between difference places seemed to vary inconsistently. Nonetheless, here's another nice prop.




14. Baby Dragon. Properly realistic.

[greendemon]

Totally agree re. the distances! I won't get into another 'sEaSoN 8 wAs tHe wOrSt!!' rant here but I think even those who were sold on it could spot the inconsistencies in the final two seasons.

One of the things I've always loved about Game of Thrones (and Martin's 'A Song of Ice and Fire' novels) is the iconography of the different houses, with their heraldic colours and animals. It's rooted in medieval heraldry, but is done in a much more clear-cut way (so you don't have to remember which house has a lion rampant and which has a lion passant, etc). That was always shown really nicely on the chessboard where you could see the little wolf- and lion-headed pieces and know exactly which army was meant.

[Shireblogger]

15. The word "iconic" is absurdly overused. But if there is an iconic feature of GoT it is surely The Iron Throne.

It is made of real steel swords. The GoT weapons department first cast all the swords, and then welded them together to make the throne. It took a team of people six weeks.

[Shireblogger]

Behind The Scenes

If you don't want some of the secrets revealed, then ignore this post and the next few.


16. The prop builders only made one full-size ship to film GoT. It is sitting around the back of the Linen Mill Studio, sadly hidden from public view. But they made lots of different polystyrene figure heads, sails, shields and other decorations, so that the same ship could then be used, in front of a green screen, for every navy that featured in the series.

[Bluewhalesroxs007]

Jul 25, 2022 18:50:27 GMT 1 Shireblogger said:

There are many sets on show. Here are a couple from King's Landing.


1. The Red Keep Small Council Chamber





2. Tommen's Chamber in the Red Keep

awsom pics dude
Love em only seen som never red books
Dude how you post pic s
Thanks 🤔🤔🤔😳👍🏼👊🏻😂
Holllaa
Uppp

[Shireblogger]

17. Green screen is also how they created white walkers with missing body parts.





18. And this is how dragon riding is filmed.

[Shireblogger]

Once a big budget fantasy television series has been given the green light, the first department to form is design. This group works on the look of the show, enabling locations to be scouted, costumes and scenery production to begin, and the directors and actors to start visualising how shots will work.

The Linen Mill Studios tour includes many original artworks and cardboard models, including (19) The Wall and (20) The Sept Of Baelor.