{"id":6309,"date":"2024-08-04T07:55:24","date_gmt":"2024-08-04T07:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/its-huge-to-be-dressing-the-dragon\/"},"modified":"2024-08-04T07:55:24","modified_gmt":"2024-08-04T07:55:24","slug":"its-huge-to-be-dressing-the-dragon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/its-huge-to-be-dressing-the-dragon\/","title":{"rendered":"‘It’s huge to be dressing the Dragon’"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\"HBOHBO<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The season two finale of House of the Dragon airs on Sunday<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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\u201cHopefully the fans will be happy because we\u2019re trying to be as loyal to the source material as we can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

The season finale of House of the Dragon, a prequel to Game of Thrones, airs on Sunday, with millions of fantasy fanatics expected to tune in.<\/p>\n

Based on George RR Martin’s novel, A Song of Ice and Fire, the HBO drama sees fiery beasts, battles and family feuds take centre stage.<\/p>\n

Behind the photo-realistic visual effects and intricate plots lies an immense effort in production with the show’s costumes captivating audiences and critics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Costume designer Caroline McCall joined the show for season two<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Emmy award-winning designer Caroline McCall from Portadown in County Armagh joined the show for its second season and plays a crucial role in bringing the fictional kingdom of Westeros to life.<\/p>\n

Fresh from her work on the BBC and HBO’s fantasy drama His Dark Materials<\/a>, Caroline said she was \u201creally excited to try to get my teeth stuck into another one\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was excited by the scale of it, and slightly apprehensive when I got the job… [House of the Dragon] is a huge show with an amazing scope of design as a costume designer,\u201d she told BBC News NI.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very excited to get the opportunity to pitch for the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caroline was hired to replace renowned designer Jany Temime – best known for her work on the Harry Potter film series – who she said built a strong foundation for the series.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had the benefit that there was already a really great costume team on board,” she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the team already knew the workings of the show, so that was really helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Dragon is set 200 years before Game Of Thrones, and follows the fortunes of a family with the power to control dragons<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Born in County Armagh, Caroline found early inspiration at Belfast’s Grand Opera House where theatre productions sparked her interest in costume design from a young age.<\/p>\n

After studying a foundation course at Ulster University, she then embarked on a three-year costume degree at Wimbledon School of Art in London.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Caroline McCall accepts the award for Outstanding Period\/Fantasy Television Series onstage during the 15th Annual Costume Designers Guild Awards<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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She then trained with the BBC, climbing her way up the industry before winning an Emmy in 2011<\/a> for her work on period drama Downton Abbey.<\/p>\n

This summer, she is celebrating her 25th year in the film industry, during which she has witnessed significant changes back home.<\/p>\n

Game of Thrones was primarily filmed on location in Northern Ireland and has sparked a film boom there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m rather jealous that there\u2019s an industry now,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s fantastic that it\u2019s so well established. I have several team members from Northern Ireland who trained on Thrones.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

‘The fans have got very firm ideas’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe scope of the show really broadens in season two, there\u2019s lots of people and places to design for so it\u2019s really exciting.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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House of the Dragon is set 200 years before Game Of Thrones, and follows the fortunes of the Targaryens – a noble family with the power to control dragons.<\/p>\n

With hundreds of costumes to oversee, where does a designer begin?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The costumes were inspired by “thousands of years of history”<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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\u201cIt\u2019s huge,\u201d Caroline said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fans of the show, and particularly those who have read the books, have got very firm ideas of how things should be.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe politics and the economics of these places have changed between our show and Game Of Thrones.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo dress people accordingly, basically in a redefined Westeros, was quite something to get my head around.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Caroline and her team spent five months designing the looks for season two<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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In season two, the houses have separated, \u201cso there\u2019s a natural reason to redesign quite a lot of the principle characters\u201d, Caroline explained.<\/p>\n

Her research spanned \u201cthousands of years of history\u201d as she drew inspiration from cultures including the Roman and Byzantine Empires and the Mayans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI took all this reference and sort of divvied it up in to what aesthetically worked for each house,” she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, the Targaryen look, it\u2019s sort of brutalist in style, in terms of it’s adornment and embroidery, it\u2019s more abstract, whereas the folks at Kings Landing are more naturalistic.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a team of up to 300 people, costumes are painstakingly dyed, printed and decorated, often taking months to complete.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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House of the Dragon is known for its moody cinematography <\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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The first series of House of the Dragon, much like its predecessor, faced some criticism for its dark cinematography, something that showrunner Ryan Condal has acknowledged and adjusted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went into season two very conscious of that feedback,\u201d he told The Hollywood Reporter.<\/p>\n

The cinematography is something Caroline was very aware of as she produced her garments.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tried before filming to look at colours on camera and in the environments that they would be in, to sort of make sure the greens were reading green or the blues were reading blue,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the sets are really dark, and they should be, Dragonstone and Harrenhal don\u2019t have a lot of natural light coming in.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The show has been well received by both Game of Thrones fans and critics<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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House of the Dragon was one of the few US productions that continued to shoot during the Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes.<\/a><\/p>\n

For almost three months in 2023, industry writers and actors walked out in a dispute over fair pay and the use of artificial intelligence in the industry.<\/p>\n

But the House of the Dragon cast did not take part because the show was mainly filmed in the UK under contracts overseen by British union Equity, rather than its striking US counterpart the Screen Actors Guild.<\/p>\n

The show’s writer Ryan Condal previously told the BBC it was a “fraught period”, but a “great privilege” to keep the cast and crew employed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A suit of armour can take up more than 20 weeks to produce, Caroline says<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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So what\u2019s next for the designer, and the House of the Dragon?<\/p>\n

With details on season three kept tight-lipped, Caroline revealed that she will once again be working on the show, which she said will be her main focus for the next 14 months – albeit with a brief break for award season next year, one would assume.<\/p>\n

Could the show repeat previous successes at the Baftas, Golden Globes or Costume Designers Guild Awards? It\u2019s not something the designer has given much thought.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just have to do your best work and it all depends on what other productions are out\u2026there\u2019s an awful lot of fantasy and science fiction shows out this year,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n

House of the Dragon’s season two finale is available on Sky and NOW in the UK from 5 August.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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