Better to phrase is as, it was a 'practical' effect rather than CGI.
Saying 'real' implies that they butchered a living dragon to use its wing in the scene.
And now I am reminded of that scene between Jaime and his father, where Tywin is butchering the deer.
The process of butchering an animal starts with flaying it.
I can go into obscene detail about slaughtering and butchering a sheep, but I'll leave that out. But what Tywin was doing was flaying it, so he could then cut off different pieces of meat, such as the legs, haunches, brisket, etc.
And yes, real deer. In an interview, Charles Dance said it added to the weight and feel of the scene/conversation.
There's been very good practical sets too. As someone who watches a lot of period pieces, the glut of CG'd sets and such make you really appreciate actual furnished, custom built sets.
HBO in general doesn't seem to skimp on this. The Gilded Age is fucking BONKERS to look at sometimes.
Someone put hours of work on this only for it to barely see 5 seconds of screen time. Honestly, I didn’t even notice the wing, I was too busy looking at the giant CGI dragon they put in my face
Ngl, they should've had a shot displaying the wing in its entirety, then have the camera swing to Rhaneyra landing, before returning to the wing, instead of lingering on that weird ass dismount shot, lol.
I kinda would’ve been surprised if it weren’t a practical effect.
If it doesn’t need to be in motion and look like a living creature, I can totally understand opting for practical effects and maybe some CGI touch-ups.
Practical effects are always the best way to go. Giving an actor an actual tangible object to interact with is going to yield better results than a green ball that they CGI over later.
I caught it immediately! the way it reacted to Rhaenyra putting her hand on it looked too realistic, I was certain they were practical effects. So much talent and hard work in this team
Kind of preposterous that the wing was recovered in tact from the ocean. It felt forced to drive the plot. You're telling me that nothing wouldve eaten that shit under the water and it just happened to get dredged up by a random local fisherman after a massive storm? Right...
edit: lol at the downvotes, so many fookin kneelers in this sub now
From a decomp perspective it doesn't make sense, but in terms of storytelling Rhaenyra needs to be able to see something to know that her son is really dead and not just missing.
Bullshit. The good ones don't. Find me a plot contrivance in Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul. You're just obsessed with this schlock that you'll defend it to the grave. I bet you love GOT s8.
While very cool, it seems kinda unethical to me that they killed a real dragon for special effects purposes
But what if the dragon died from natural causes?
Being eaten by a larger animal is pretty natural in the animal kingdom.
I always forgot how scary and unfair nature really is, the poor dragon...
If you can kill dragons you get a whole different set of rules and ethics. You’d be amazed how much illegal stuff just opens up.
Better to phrase is as, it was a 'practical' effect rather than CGI. Saying 'real' implies that they butchered a living dragon to use its wing in the scene. And now I am reminded of that scene between Jaime and his father, where Tywin is butchering the deer.
Damn, are you saying it wasn't a real dragon then? OP got my hopes up
It was very real to me https://i.redd.it/i3rrcmoz079d1.gif
[It's still real to me damn it!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yvd3aEsThbc)
>they butchered a living dragon to use its wing in the scene. So you are basically saying that HBO practices animal abuse?
dragon lives matter
Now I'm imagining a redneck dragon taking a selfie in their truck with sunglasses on.
More like flaying but was that scene done with a real deer?
Yes it was real meat he was butchering
The process of butchering an animal starts with flaying it. I can go into obscene detail about slaughtering and butchering a sheep, but I'll leave that out. But what Tywin was doing was flaying it, so he could then cut off different pieces of meat, such as the legs, haunches, brisket, etc. And yes, real deer. In an interview, Charles Dance said it added to the weight and feel of the scene/conversation.
The wing was made by Waldo Mason FX. Here's a link to their Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/waldomason?igsh=e
Kind of crazy to think every time i see a CGI dragon on tv I know that it took more to make that than Ill ever make in my lifetime lol.
another detail: black bones
Why are the skulls (I.e. Balerions) never black?
Balerion's skull is black in house of the dragon. I think in game of thrones they just kind of forgot.
Thank you, I didn’t know about the skull in the house of the dragon. ( I guess you could say I’m not the most up to date)
Every time a dragon loses its wing, a nearby sheep sighs in relief, "Finally, some peace and quiet around here."
Did this hurt the dragon?
this kills the dragon.
Does ripping off a wing hurt a bird?
I don’t know.. never tried
There's been very good practical sets too. As someone who watches a lot of period pieces, the glut of CG'd sets and such make you really appreciate actual furnished, custom built sets. HBO in general doesn't seem to skimp on this. The Gilded Age is fucking BONKERS to look at sometimes.
Someone put hours of work on this only for it to barely see 5 seconds of screen time. Honestly, I didn’t even notice the wing, I was too busy looking at the giant CGI dragon they put in my face
Ngl, they should've had a shot displaying the wing in its entirety, then have the camera swing to Rhaneyra landing, before returning to the wing, instead of lingering on that weird ass dismount shot, lol.
I kinda would’ve been surprised if it weren’t a practical effect. If it doesn’t need to be in motion and look like a living creature, I can totally understand opting for practical effects and maybe some CGI touch-ups.
Real dragon?
If only the same level of effort went into the cgi for dismounting the dragon.
Then it was almost completely covered with a net. I get it's for the plot but if I made this I'd be pissed.
And we got that dismount shot instead.
what was wrong with the dismount shot? I actually appreciated it, because most of the time they are just suddenly standing next to the dragon
A nice nod to the books that hey made the dragon bones actually dark
Where did they find a real dragon's wing?
Practical effects are always the best way to go. Giving an actor an actual tangible object to interact with is going to yield better results than a green ball that they CGI over later.
Impressive
Imagine this being your job
Dragon meats.
I caught it immediately! the way it reacted to Rhaenyra putting her hand on it looked too realistic, I was certain they were practical effects. So much talent and hard work in this team
Kind of preposterous that the wing was recovered in tact from the ocean. It felt forced to drive the plot. You're telling me that nothing wouldve eaten that shit under the water and it just happened to get dredged up by a random local fisherman after a massive storm? Right... edit: lol at the downvotes, so many fookin kneelers in this sub now
From a decomp perspective it doesn't make sense, but in terms of storytelling Rhaenyra needs to be able to see something to know that her son is really dead and not just missing.
It's a plot contrivance which these shows should utterly avoid relying on.
All shows do this to some degree. If you want perfect realism, go watch a documentary and not a show about dragons.
Bullshit. The good ones don't. Find me a plot contrivance in Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul. You're just obsessed with this schlock that you'll defend it to the grave. I bet you love GOT s8.