So as it stands there is only the standalone eps for season 8 that I can find- no blu ray details yet or deleted scenes.
What I am working with is the episodes themselves and then i’ve split out the 5.1 audio and rebounced as two tracks: one with everything except the dialogue and one that is dialogue only - just makes it a bit easier to do more seamless/convincing transitions especially during action sequences.
I like staying close to the source material as well, there are plenty of crazy things you could attempt, but I kind of want to show the show telling the story it had but more convincingly and powerfully.
You are right with regards to The Bells - it should be harrowing to see Dany go over the line, GOT was always great at having that feeling of dread and inevitability when things go bad for someone in a typically good role. Oberyn is a perfect example: it’s unexpected and horrific but you can kind of feel it moving in slow motion. One of the highlights of Danys turn for me, was following Jon as he realizes, like Ned, the horror of what they are doing. We should be with Jon emotionally at this point.
Wherever you land on the episode critically, I think everyone agrees that it just didn’t feel quite as earned and I feel its more a symptom of having the whole season feel so rushed that something like that, that you really want to digest, is swept up among all the other developments - having some audio clips playing at key points would be a really neat way to weave in a bit more development without being too ham-handed.
There are plenty of scenes where she is speaking to one person or her advisers in the non-action portions, in particular scenes where she is dwelling or thinking. Maybe we hear her remembering people from throughout her life, just the odd quote here and there and then she is snapped out of it when Tyrion or Jon or someone enters to speak to her.
In terms of audio I do also have all the Histories and Lore from all the old blu-rays which are a goldmine for getting audio of the cast, in character - but not doing lines from the show. I have a few really good ones earmarked for later use (Bran talking about the history of warging/greenseeing, Jamie talking about being the Kingslayer etc) which I think, if they can be worked in elegantly, could do some real work in bolstering characters we wanted more time with.
I think your right that it shouldn’t be too telegraphed either, which is why I like moving Rhaegals death to this episode - it serves as a catalyzing event that brings you with her and lends more believability to her ignoring the surrender. She has only minutes ago had one of her children killed and NOW they surrender? Was it for nothing? It sells that impulsive loss of control way better for me. Its a two for one as well as it removed a highly criticized point in ep 4.
I thought it would be a massive chore to move that event and edit all the mentions of it successively, but it only took a couple of nights. Rhaegals death is mentioned about five times after it happens, each case was a throw-away line that took no real effort to remove. Beyond that we don’t get any real reaction from Dany either, so having it happen in The Bells covers us not seeing her grieve.
Right now i’m using a free version of some editing software, so there is a large obnoxious banner over clips I export (i’ll just pay the 40 bucks for the software if I get to a final edit I want to export) but here a couple of clips of some scenes i’ve been working on, the pw is ‘fanedit’ for all of these:
Alt Into to The Long Night: https://vimeo.com/341071202
Euron Ambush Without Dany: https://vimeo.com/341068472
Rhaegals Death In The Bells: https://vimeo.com/341070921
These are still a bit rough but i’ll put some more up tomorrow if I can
Poppasketti, I liked your version of that scene in the last ep too, I still think there could be a few changes but it just tightens up the whole flow of that part really well - that kind of approach could do a lot for all of S8 I think.