How the New ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ Made Berk Feel Real

io9 recently caught up with filmmaker Dean DeBlois, the creative force behind both the DreamWorks animated franchise and Universal Pictures’ upcoming live-action adaptation of How to Train Your Dragon. DeBlois discussed the process to bring the Viking world of Berk to life, emphasizing the vital role of practical effects in capturing the experience of interacting and riding dragons for his actors. That was key in making big moments feel real, particularly when Hiccup (Mason Thames) meets his future Nightfury friend. “Toothless in those scenes was a foam head,” DeBlois said. Animatronics were used during all the flight sequences. “We had to capture convincing movement from our actors when they were riding dragons rather than just having them sit in a box and be moved around,” he said. “And that meant that we built these giant gimbals that were about eight or 10 feet tall that could move in six different axes.” Each dragon in the film had its own animatronic model to assist the actors ... Read full article.