In a movie like this one, there's a LOT of green screen. More than we've ever worked with before and I'm way excited. The biggest challenge is going to be Toothless, our dragon: filming the actors interacting with him, talking to him, RIDING him. It's going to be a feat, but an awfully fun one.
Mason (Hiccup himself) thought through the dragon riding scenes and what kind of equipment we would need. He and I brainstormed and looked at pictures of our CGI Toothless model and talked shots and scenes and camera angles. He took all the ideas home and, a few weeks later, brought back this:
We are proudly calling it the Dragon Stand, but it's a homemade, round-top box on a seesaw base designed to mimic Toothless's back. We will drape it in green screen and He and Miriam (Astrid) will sit on it in front the green screen drape while we film.
Here's Nelson (Hockskull) taking it for a spin.
The detachable pole out the front allows someone to tilt the stand so that it can appear as if Toothless is diving or even rising. In the initial designs, the pole didn't lock into place and Creed and Carter, who worked with Mason on this project, had a pretty nasty fall. But now the pole can lock in place and will not jerk out of the stand by mistake.
The stand can also be taken off the see-saw base and placed alone. This is something Mason thought of and it's going to make filming so much easier because there are a lot of shots where he and Astrid are just talking and Toothless is basically level. Now, with the stand off the base, Hiccup and Astrid can sit with it perfectly still.
How nice for all of us!
Wow! Mason you are amazing! Thank you to you, Carter and Creed and anyone else who helped with this stand. It is more than I ever hoped for. I am so excited to hang some green screen and film some screen tests. In fact I think that I will tomorrow.
Stay tuned!
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