#HTE

360 Video of Game of Thrones’ Title Sequence

Game of Thrones’ title sequence depicts a wonderful, whimsical world of shape-shifting structures and gloriously winding mechanical gears. That it then leads into some truly horrifying tales of murder, rape, incest, violence and betrayal is not the point. How about those nifty little buildings! The modelers among you are undoubtedly curious to take a closer look at them, and now you can—sort of.

HBO has released a 360 video of the sequence, and while you can rotate the camera and hit the pause button, you don’t have any actual control over where the camera travels, only its angle. Still, it’s kinda neat:

I found it a little difficult to navigate (haven’t had the morning coffee yet) and often found myself inadvertently rotating the camera straight up. Including when the camera sweeps under the skirt-wearing “Colossus of Rhodes”-style statue spanning the bay entrance. I actually caught a glimpse of the statue’s junk.

I was also interested to see that the continents are laid out inside of a globe, rather than on flat land. Modelers among you, do you suppose they did it that way purely for economy of motion on the camera’s part?