25 years' most memorable moments: Game of Thrones

GAME OF THRONES (SEASON 6) - WITH DAN WILLS

What did RSP do on Game of Thrones (Season 6)?
For the finale of season six of HBO’s smash hit Game of Thrones¸ Rising Sun Pictures faced a formidable challenge: replicating the sprawling city of King’s Landing and its central shrine, the Great Sept of Baelor; then burning them to the ground in a magical, green-hued inferno.

What was your role in this film?
I was Effects Technical Director and did a variety of effects tasks including making the trees interact with the wildfire green-flame blast. I also assisted with other environment effects passes for wide shots, and generally helped out the Effects department.

What was your most memorable moment working on this film?
My colleague, Timmy Lundin, worked on the shot where the priest gets blown away by the green flame. The shot was originally a bit longer (so the effect happened slower) and the setup he made was really good but was very brutal and graphic. It was shortened and so there was less graphic content, but it was great to see it develop as is the process of VFX. I was glad to get the trees in there too - it's been a bit of a funny tradition for me to always get a couple of trees to work on in projects at RSP.

How long did you work at RSP?
18 years.

What is your most memorable moment working at RSP?
So many VFX challenges surmounted: Spiderweb dynamics on Charlotte's Web, Goblet flames for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Abeforth Dumbledore's giant patronus spell in Harry Potter 7. It's always hugely satisfying to see the final product of all our work in the cinema.

There's generally no WOW moment with pipeline development, but I am very proud of the contributions I have made to our pipeline and increasing our scalability and bringing new capabilities too.

Heading to Siggraph Asia 2019 was a big thrill, I presented a talk at Houdini Hive and gave an interview in the Demoscene section.

What do you enjoy the most about working at RSP?
RSP brings a continuous stream of diverse and complex problems to solve, has great staff and culture, and pretty good work-life-balance as well.