Kit Harrington portrays Jon Snow in the Game of Thrones TV series. Photo/supplied
A Tauranga man has snared one of the biggest awards in the visual effects industry for his work on Game of Thrones.
Caleb Thompson and three other people from Iloura Studios in Australia won the Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Episode category at the Visual Effect Societies Awards.
Their work featured in HBO's Game of Thrones episode Battle of the Bastards.
The 34-year-old said it was a surreal experience taking part in the awards at the Hilton in Beverly Hills on February 7.
"We had a good feeling we would get it but you just never know because all the other artists that are there are extremely talented and experienced guys as well," he told The Bay of Plenty Times.
Mr Thompson's work as a compositor involves blending images together to create a realistic scene.
The sequence he worked on, Retaking Winterfell, won an Emmy last year too.
Mr Thompson said art had been a part of him since he was a child.
"I went to art school for kids from a really young age. Even when my dad would take us out fishing, I would take my colouring books and colour on the boat instead. I love it."
He had been in the visual effects industry for 10 years.
He started his career with Bachelor of Media Arts in Hamilton before gaining
a postgraduate degree in the same field and getting a job with TVNZ doing motion graphics for Breakfast.
While there he began shooting his own visual effects.
He later worked on New Zealand movies including Under the Mountain. During the next few years Power Rangers was his "bread and butter" while he started to get bigger and better gigs.
These included Spartacus, The Hobbit, Mad Max Fury Road, John Wick, Underworld, Ghostbusters and Lion.
Mr Thompson said he had never watched Game of Thrones before working on the show, because he spent so much time at work looking at scenes and screens.
However, when he did "binge-watch" the show he found it to be "pretty addictive".
"I didn't know who Jon Snow was. I didn't know there was this whole hype behind him on whether he was going to die or not. But it was an awesome production to be a part of."
Mr Thompson was staying at his parents' place in Otumoetai before heading to Melbourne next month to work on a new project.
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