"Game of Thrones" fans would give their right hand (à la Jaime Lannister) to be on set, watching Jon Snow battle a White Walker or Tyrion Lannister banter with friends and foes. One woman is lucky enough to watch the series unfold in real time with a front-row seat, camera in hand.
Helen Sloan spends a majority of each year on location in Northern Ireland working as the principal set photographer for "Game of Thrones." From day one of filming for the pilot episode, Sloan was on hand to document the international phenomenon that is now the network's most popular series.
From shooting unit stills — the photos fans see in articles or episode reviews — to promo portraits of characters or the inside of the costume tent, Sloan is responsible for nearly every "Game of Thrones" related image you’ve seen.
In an interview with Tech Insider just weeks ahead of the season six premiere, Sloan told us more about her role on set and how she landed the job of a lifetime.
“I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t the one who took photos,” Sloan said. Given her first camera at age 11, Sloan quickly settled into her "fly on the wall" personality, capturing memories of life around her. Later in life, she landed among a group of circus performers, where she says her "technical mind and non-intrusive type of photography" lent itself well to capturing juggling patterns for circus publicity shots.
Sloan’s ability to blend into her surroundings and stay far enough back from the action — while still nailing the perfect shot — prepped her for a job she had no idea would land in her lap.
A series of melancholy portraits Sloan took for the circus performers caught the attention of a movie producer who invited her to work on the set of his horror movie. Sloan landed a series of jobs on movie sets for the next three years.
“[Working in the film industry] was something I always wanted to do but I thought only people in America did that, not people from a small town in Ireland,” she said.
But "Game of Thrones" came right to her doorstep.
Mark Huffam, that first producer who took a chance on her, wound up being a producer for season one of "Game of Thrones" when filming began in 2011. Sloan recalled the conversation that led her into her role now: “[Huffam] said ‘Look, HBO is rolling into town, it’s a huge production. This the pilot that I’m gonna help produce and I think you should put in your portfolio.’”
Neither Huffam or Sloan were confident she would land the gig. “He said ‘I don’t think you’ll get it because we’ll have 20 photographers already up for the job, but I would like to put you in because I want to show them that we have people here who are worth considering,’” Sloan remembers.
HBO went for the local talent, and signed Sloan on as the exclusive set photographer for the series.
Sloan humbly chalks her involvement with the series up to "pure accident and luck," but her experience and style are the real factors she should give credit. "I guess my style really suited the dark, murdery, incesty, battle-y, creepy ‘Game of Thrones’ vibe," Sloan admits.
And the match with "Game of Thrones" is prevalent in more than just her photography style. We asked if Sloan knew about the original book series — George R.R. Martin’s "A Song of Ice and Fire" — before signing onto the show.
"Well I’m a little bit of a nerd," Sloan admitted, laughing over the phone. "I had heard of [‘A Song of Ice and Fire’] but I had not read the books." Her first look into the series came from the pilot episode script, "Winter is Coming."
“I read the script for the pilot, and the bit with Bran and the window and I was like ‘Ahhh! Oh my god! That’s amazing, I want to know what happens next!’” But Sloan refrained from exploring more. For her, it was easier to shoot the scenes as they unfolded in front of her without knowing where the characters end up in the future.
"I wanted it to be a representation of them there at that point in their journey," Sloan explained. For example, if she had known Ned Stark’s fate from the beginning, it may have colored the way she captured his scenes earlier in the season. "I wanted to be current rather than be ten steps ahead and know what happens at the end," Sloan said.
Even though Sloan is entering her seventh year of working on the show, the job hasn’t become predictable or routine. Depending on the planned shoots for the day, Helen is on set from around 8 a.m. until 6 p.m., sometimes driving as far as an hour to get to a location.
She almost never knows how low-key the scheduled scenes on any day will be, though. "A typical day can be shooting everybody drinking wine around a table and having a nice chat, or we’re setting fire to some stunt men and throwing them off the side of a boat."
Clearly the process of creating “Game of Thrones” is just as unpredictable as the shocking plot twists. “You just have to be prepared for anything,” she explained. "I’ve gone from being in torrential rain, a foot deep in mud somewhere around Castle Black, to going to a studio and it’s Dany in Meereen and it’s nice and dry and there’s a huge light pretending to be the sun.”
“So I’ll walk in — soggy and muddy and a little bit sad — onto a set where everyone’s in T-shirts and shorts and has like cappuccinos,” Sloan said.
But she’s ready for it all. Her car is permanently packed with gear suited for blazing sunshine, pelting rain, muddy treks, and indoor studio time. Plus, she’s retro-fitted a dog trailer with all-terrain wheels so she can trek through the landscape of Northern Ireland with all her gear. Sloan carries at least three camera bodies, plus multiple lenses for each, in addition to a small point-and-shoot camera she keeps around her neck. “I think there’s no other job I’ve been on where I have to be prepared for so many eventualities,” Sloan said.
Sloan estimates having captured nearly 750,000 photos on set to date. HBO recently brought on a second photographer, Macall D. Polay, for shooting on some of the locations outside of Ireland, but Sloan guesses she's still responsible for 85% of the series' documentation.
After around 10 hours on set, Sloan backs up the day’s photos on three separate hard drives, which are then placed into different safes. "At some point, I’m the only person that has photographic evidence of what’s happening in the season," Sloan explains. "I’m never not fearful of that."
In addition to being on set for many spoiler-filled scenes, Sloan is one of the few crew members who receives scripts for all ten episodes of the season and was told code names for certain characters in season six. “You have to really hide it from everyone,” she said. “You’re surrounded by extras or there are certain crew members who aren’t necessarily in on what’s happening, so you’ve got to be extra vigilant because spoilers ruin it for everyone.”
Since season six is entering uncharted territory for book readers, the need for secrecy is greater than ever. Not even those closest to Sloan get to learn the contents of upcoming seasons. "I didn’t even talk to my partner about what was happening," she said. "When I would be editing photographs [at home], I would hide the computer screen because I was like 'You can’t see anything in case YOU let it slip!'"
Without giving away details, Sloan was able to tease a bit of what’s to come. "Every episode is going to be amazing this season," she said. "Reading the scripts I was like ‘la da da’ we’re going along, and then BOOM and I’m like ‘WHAT!’ Like every single episode there’s something where I thought ‘Uh, really guys? You’re going to give me a stress migraine here.'"
And it wasn’t just the scripts that made this season so intense. Many of the filming sequences were physically challenging. When we asked Sloan to describe one of the tougher shoot days, she said: "Just intense. A lot of it, especially in Ireland, has to do with the weather. I can’t really say anything without giving something away, but just intense, really intense."
Sloan spoke about similar challenges presented during season five, during the epic "Hardhome" massacre scene with Jon Snow, the White Walkers, and many wildlings. "It was all tough," Sloan explained. "You’ve got a crane and three camera operators, and we’re all running with cameras in front of our faces ... then we’re trying to not bump into each other, we’re trying to not get in the actors' way, we’re trying to not get hit by swords that stuntmen are flying around."
Despite the challenges presented, "Hardhome" is remembered by fans as one of the greatest action sequences the series has ever brought to life. The hard work paid off. "It was really, really difficult and when we got to the end of it we were all just so proud," Sloan remembered. "We hadn’t seen it yet but we knew it was going to be good."
Sloan hinted at another epic sequence we'll see soon. “This season, we’re going to top [Hardhome],” she said. “I can’t tell you why, but I can tell you that there was another equally as hard period of work that we did this season.” This battle is likely the Boltons vs. wildlings (and loyal northern houses?) fight we've seen hinted at in the season six trailers.
It sounds like this huge battle sequence the producers have been teasing will be just as fantastic as promised. With these grand scenes happening at a larger scale, “Game of Thrones” is now being produced on a budget larger than some blockbuster movies. With costs averaging $100 million for this season alone, the visual effects, built sets, and added locations are growing in size year-over-year.
The increased size means more work, but you won’t hear the cast and crew complaining. “It’s such a great job,” Sloan said. “You never begrudge it, even though you’re tired. You’re going into work and looking at art on an industrial scale … it’s a dream job.”
But the dream will come to an end, eventually. The series is currently planned for seven seasons, if not eight. “Everyone asks me ‘What are you going to do when [the show] is over?’” Sloan said. “Sleep ... for like, three months.”
After the lengthy rest? Sloan isn’t sure what may come after “Game of Thrones.”
“I think I have peaked,” she said through laughter. “I don’t think it’s going to get any better than ‘Game of Thrones.’ For me, at the moment, this is the dream job.”
