House of the Dragon
2021, Warner Bros, Leavesden

Production Title: House of the Dragon
Location: V Stage, Leavesden, UK
Studio: HBO, Warner Brothers
Production Budget: 100 Million+
Delivery Partners: Lux Machina
Our Service Delivery: MARS On Set
Date Delivered: 2021

Project Background
House of the Dragon is the highly anticipated prequel to the acclaimed fantasy drama series Game of Thrones, created by George R. R. Martin and Ryan Condal - produced for HBO.

What we did
Our team from our virtual production body MARS Volume collaborated with Lux Machina to provide Virtual Production expertise for the total 15 strong virtual production crew on set at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden V Stage, UK. The roles we provided included Unreal Engine supervisors, Unreal Engine artists, video engineers and camera tracking engineers, present on set for 8 months. House of the Dragon pushed the boundaries of virtual production, utilising real-time rendered Unreal Engine scenes running on the massive LED Volume using a matrix of more than 2,600 LED panels - one of the largest in the world at that time.

Our team were critical in supporting this ambitious production, with numerous scenes and shots requiring virtual production shooting. Key for the production was realistically recreating locations that were physically impossible to access or bring a film production crew to. Other examples of scenes included creating pickup-shots based on locations that proved challenging to shoot in in the real world. One such location was Monsanto, Portugal - a world heritage site, which proved to be difficult to shoot at due to bad weather conditions. Using HDRI captured imagery from Monsanto the team could therefore re-create the lighting of Monsanto and bring the scene to life in a virtual production environment inside the Volume. 

The result
To be part of such a prestigious and long-awaited project was an incredible opportunity and ensured a leveling up in the experience base of the team at MARS. It is this experience and Hollywood level expertise that we bring to the ongoing projects we deliver on various stages around Europe and at our permanent facility at MARS Volume.

Credits


Mobile AR
Al Wasl Dome, Dubai - 2024
Sonic DL
London - 2023
Al Wasl - The Interactive Experience
Dubai - 2022
Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony
Birmingham - 2022
Expo 2020 - Broadcast AR Closing Ceremony
Dubai - 2022
2022 Saudi Arabia Grand Prix
Jeddah - 2022
Expo 2020 - The Al Wasl Dome 
Dubai - 2021
House of the Dragon
Warner Bros, Leavesden - 2021
Masters of the Air
Aylesbury - 2021
VR Visualiser for Dubai Expo 2020
Dubai - 2021
Le Col x McLaren
London - 2021
McLaren Artura Launch
UK - 2021
Rina Sawayama - Lucid
MARS Volume - 2020
MTV European Music Awards
London - 2020
Masterpiece : Nighthawks
MARS Volume - 2020
Diriyah Gate
Riyadh - 2019
BMW 3-Series Launch
China - 2019
IICON
Glastonbury - 2019
PSL Opening Ceremony
Dubai - 2019
Bentley Centenary
Crewe - 2019
Candy Crush Saga
New York - 2018
Statue of Unity
India - 2018
Augmented Reality for Live Productions
London - 2018
MTV European Music Awards
London - 2017
Adobe Interactive Waterfall
London - 2017
Life of Galileo
London - 2017
Live Stage Augmented Reality
Gothenburg - 2016
Dex
Stockholm - 2016
Longleat Festival of Light
Longleat Safari Park - 2016
Beyoncé - Tidal X
New York - 2016
Jay Z x Hillary Clinton 
Cleveland - 2016
Cartier Magicien
Tokyo - 2016
Ed Sheeran Wembley Stadium
London - 2015
The Bomb
New York - 2016
Toruk, Cirque du Soleil
US Tour - 2015
Burberry Christmas Tree
London - 2015
Massive Attack
Worldwide Tours - 2014
Coldplay Sky Full Of Stars
London - 2014
Don Giovanni
London - 2014
HBMPSG Award Ceremony
Dubai - 2014
Eurovision Song Contest
Copenhagen - 2014
Volvo XC90 Launch
Stockholm - 2014
One Direction
London - 2014
Kasabian 48:13 Tour
UK - 2014