Game, set and Thrones … it doesn’t get any bigger

SINCE its premiere in April 2011, fantasy drama Game of Thrones has become the world’s most popular television show. But while millions of fans sit back and enjoy 10 one-hour episodes each season (unless they are among the 86,000 who apply to be one of 5,000 background extras), the show’s creators spend the rest of the year bringing it all to life.

HBO, the American cable network responsible for this and other hit shows including Boardwalk Empire and True Detective, created a special half-hour documentary to highlight three locations of the latest season: Dubrovnik (Croatia), Seville (Spain) and Belfast (Northern Ireland).

"Although this is TV, it’s TV on a scale that is beyond anything else," said Duncan Muggoch, a line producer for Croatia and Spain (what they call the "southern locations" for Game of Thrones season five).

"And even though last year was big, this one’s even bigger."

Of course, working with 166 cast members and more than 1,000 crew members on 151 sets presents challenges.

"Dubrovnik is understandably a big tourist attraction, so you’re normally fighting through the crowds," said Muggoch, working on the show for the second time after starting in Croatia for the previous season. "That’s been a difficulty on the sets."

For Muggoch, one of the logistical problems of Dubrovnik is that it’s such a tight space with narrow streets. "You can’t take vehicles within the old walls, so everything has to get taken by Sherpas up to a location which is probably one of the furthest and trickiest you could get to in the whole city," he said. "A little rule that I have for myself on location is never go up empty-handed or come down empty-handed."

Altogether, the latest season filmed for 120 days. But, because they shoot two units simultaneously, they effectively double that to get 240 days. "I think we’re the only ones in the world that shoot with two units at the same time all season long," said production manager Bernie Caulfield. "(But) if one of those spokes in the wheel is missing, it’s going to collapse."

...

SHOOTING in different locations requires constant communication between each country. It also presents challenges of continuity so that, for example, things like wigs and costumes are a perfect match from one place to the next.

"I’d be lying if I said the stress level is not increasing, because obviously this is very important for all of us," said Spanish line producer Peter Welter Soler. "Doing it for the first time, we want to please everybody. We want to do a great job. This is maybe not the calm before the storm. It is the rehearsal before the show … the first day of shooting is always crucial to us because it shows us if everything we did in order to prepare it was the right thing."

One of the new filming locations for season five is the Alcázar of Seville. Registered as a Unesco (UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) World Heritage site in 1987, this palace is one of the most visited monuments in Spain. (Members of the royal family still use the upper levels as their official Seville residence.)

Now, more than 50 years after it was used as a set for the film Lawrence of Arabia, the palace will act as the water gardens of Dorne, a location introduced in the fourth season but not seen until now.

"It is difficult to shoot in a place like that because it was obviously not built as a set, but built for a different purpose than ours," Soler said. "Some of the places — the balcony, for instance — you can’t possibly get some of the gear up there because the staircase is too narrow. So we have to get a crane in to haul that material up there. It’s tricky, you know? It’s not like a back lot studio shoot."

Another complication is the fact that the palace has about 8,000 tourists a day. But Soler considers it a privilege that the location was locked off for the show’s exclusive use. "Wherever you go, there’s always going to be a challenge because you’re in a new place both culturally and logistically," he said. "We’ll have to find a compromise where we can work together with the palace.

"We’re the foreigners coming into their country, trying to put this project together. So we need to make sure that our crew are very careful in this delicate location."

...

CONTRASTED to the logistical trickiness of Croatia and Spain is Northern Ireland. Belfast remains the heart of the show and, being a major city, it has all the things a big film crew needs.

Yet a 20-minute drive out of the city brings you to the heart of the countryside.

"It helps with the ancient feel of the show that the landscape has a feeling of being old," said producer Chris Newman. "It’s been worn down and eroded. And everything has that ancient feel to it no matter where you go. The woods feel old, the cliff tops feel old and the moorlands certainly look old."

After 40 years in the film business, Newman’s learned to take the ups and downs in his stride. He’s also learned to play whatever hand he’s dealt.

"Game of Thrones is a big event, and what you mustn’t do is get put off by the bigness of it," he said. "The thing to do is to come in and say, ‘All I’ve got to worry about is the 16x9: what’s in that frame.’ It must be like parachuting. Don’t worry about the height you’re jumping; just make sure the parachute works."

• The fifth season of Game of Thrones begins airing in the US on Sunday. SA is among 170 countries where the series will be simulcast, with episodes set to air at 3am on Monday April 13 on M-Net Edge (DSTV Channel 102).