Game of Thrones really upped its visual effects game this past year. The Massacre at Hardhome alone probably had as many effects as the entire first season of the show, and Daenerys Targaryen’s dragons were bigger, badder, and more visually complicated than they’d ever been before.
According to a few reports, an Indian VFX studio, a subsidiary of Los Angeles based animation company Prana Studios, was told to create those creatures that were to look “realistic and engaging”.
Prana Studios had the honor of bringing the dragons to life, and most of that work was handed off to the 800 plus special effects professionals at the company’s Mumbai-based subsidiary.
Unsurprisingly, the Pit scene was the most involved scene Prana Studios worked on in Season 5, which looked very life-like. In addition to animating the flaming ball of molten violence that was Drogon, the effects workers also created the set and crowd extensions for the season, something it accomplished in conjunction with American visual animation studio Rhythm and Hues.
In addition to working on Game of Thrones, Prana Studios has also worked on Bollywood films like Detective Byomkesh Bakshi and Bombay Velvet. Having such a strong base in India, Prana is obviously well-placed to work on these kinds of movies.
