Game Of Thrones Opening

One of my favorite animations is the title sequence to Game of Thrones (which just so happens to be one of my favorite shows, too).

The idea of the title sequence was to make it easier for viewers to tell where everything happens in the show and the distance between places in the fictional continent of Westeros. There's a map in the Game of Thrones which makes it easier for readers to know where they are, but the TV show jumps between a fair few different places each episode and with such a large cast, it's sure to get confusing easily.
Keeping the title sequence confined to just the part of the map the show deals with would be hard to do as a flat image - it would always give us the question of 'what's beyond the map? What's that part over there that we aren't seeing?' The solution to this was to make the map into a sphere, which also gives it more of a globe-like feel. This helped with the decision of how to light it - from above, as if there was an actual sun shining down on the country.

After the shape is decided on, the concept art starts for each of the key places feature in the opening, and after that's finished, the designs are given to the model makers working in Maya. They added objects and small designs of their own to flesh it out even more.

"Was there ever any talk about the characters being the focal point of the title sequence?

I think it’s the job of the show to do that. You have 90 seconds with the title sequence… so why not do something that the show can’t do? If the production is done well, which this one is, you get all the character development from watching the show." - Angus Wall, Creative Director of the GoT Opening.

The only way actual events of the show are told is by the reliefs above, showing the history of Westeros leading to the episodes we are watching now. I really love the idea of this, because some casual viewers would probably feel bogged down if the show explained a lot more of the history (as the books do), but these reliefs give you a simpler version, using the house sigils (stag, lion, wolves, dragons etc) to explain.

I think that this opening works extremely well for the show, informing viewers as much as the need, while using beautiful graphics and music.