{"id":185262,"date":"2025-06-15T02:33:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-15T02:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/185262\/"},"modified":"2025-06-15T02:33:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-15T02:33:11","slug":"how-to-train-your-dragon-used-sheep-fur-and-bagpipes-to-bring-remake-to-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/185262\/","title":{"rendered":"‘How to Train Your Dragon’ Used Sheep Fur and Bagpipes to Bring Remake to Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWhen Dreamworks released the animated feature \u201cHow to Train Your Dragon<\/a>\u201d in 2010, it seemed almost inevitable that a live-action feature would come along.<\/p>\n

\n\tCinematographer Roger Deakins gave the feature a stunning cinematic style that felt almost live-action, and composer John Powell<\/a> added a sweeping score to the narrative.<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector Dean DeBlois heard a live-action movie was in the works<\/a>, and he called Powell. The animated feature was not only beloved, but it had also become part of pop culture history. His first call asked Powell, \u201cShould we do a live-action?\u201d Powell says, DeBlois next said, \u201cWell, if I do it, would you do it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPowell said yes. After spending over a decade scoring all three films in the animated feature trilogy, Powell felt a sense of responsibility to the music of the franchise. And who better to do it than he to breathe new life into a beloved score?<\/p>\n

\n\tThe new film follows Hiccup (Mason Thames), a young and scrawny Viking boy who refuses to follow his tribe\u2019s tradition of hunting dragons. This is much to the chagrin of his proudly traditional father, Stoick (Gerard Butler), who happens to be the village leader and a legendary dragon slayer.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film also stars Nico Parker as Astrid, Julian Dennison as Fishlegs, Gabriel Howell as Snotlout, Bronwyn James as Ruffnut, Harry Trevaldwyn as Tuffnut and Nick Frost as Gobber.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn his approach to breathing new life into the live-action score, Powell looked to make subtle changes in tempo, density and clarity. He says, \u201cThere\u2019s some stuff that was made to be very much the same, and there are not many changes for 20-30 seconds, and then suddenly you might see something shift.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOne noticeable change in scoring the live-action was the use of bagpipes. This time around, Powell was able to use a real bagpipe player, Lorne MacDougall, founder of the Red Hot Chili Pipers.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith DeBlois expanding the story, Powell relied on the familiar, but he also found room to expand his score. In the father-son relationship between Stoick and Hiccup, Powell says that the theme did a lot of the heavy lifting. \u201cWe called it \u2018He\u2019s Not That Boy,\u2019 which is funny because Marc Platt also produced this and \u2018Wicked.\u2019 During the end title, we have a song that is sung by a choir, and I said to Dean, \u2018Do you want to write some words?\u2019 and he did. It became this whole tune that threads through the movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCostume designer Lindsay Pugh wanted to keep the essence of the characters that had been established through the animation and be respectful of that. Still, she also needed to find a characterization that would work in real life. Says Pugh, \u201cIt was trying to find that balance, but being respectful to what everybody wants to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPugh maintained Hiccup\u2019s calmness from the original. \u201cI didn\u2019t want him to be very colorful,\u201d she says behind her decision to anchor his palette in natural tones and green. \u201cIt\u2019s very calming and a very gentle color.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHelen Sloan<\/p>\n

\n\tHowever, she wanted to give his outfit texture, and so she took a dive into historical references of embroidery, needlework and weaving techniques. \u201cWe found all of these different textures that we could use, and we wove all of the embroidery. So it gives us visual interest in what, from a distance, would be quite a simple garment,\u201d but on closer inspection, that fine detail would reveal itself.<\/p>\n

\n\tPugh also paid attention to Viking culture. Since DeBlois was extending this universe, Pugh\u2019s designs were \u201cspecifically Viking, as we would automatically imagine, because that\u2019s sort of what the world was.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe draped them in sheepskin and explained, \u201cOne of the very first scenes in the movie was the dragons going down and stealing or trying to steal these poor decoy sheep, so it\u2019s a really perfect setup of having that.\u201d The film has environmental goals, and aside from using sustainable materials where possible, any fur was made from sheepskin. She adds, \u201cThey have great fur, great wool and skins on that. Ecologically, they were not something that is as detrimental to the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tButler has previously joked <\/a>that his outfit weighed over 90 pounds. Pugh\u2019s response is, \u201cI just want to say Gerry, it was with the helmet, the cape, the sword and the shield.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe notes she wanted to give him weight and a foundation so he could push against it. \u201cWe have Gerry on the inside, and then all of these layers. We have leather and layer upon layer of natural fabrics,\u201d explains Pugh, who used 3D printing wherever she could; it wasn\u2019t always possible. \u201cThe intricacy of the work in everything adds a little bit of weight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto Credit: Universal Pictures<\/p>\n

\n\tProduction designer Dominic Watkins wanted to make the world of dragons feel plausible. Watkins says, the world building was \u201cvery challenging and we wanted to make it feel real so that people believed that these were characters involved with dragons.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring a location scout, Watkins felt the geography of the Faroe Islands lent itself how Berk should look. \u201cThere was one island on the Faroe Islands that we decided we were going to mold the village on, and that was going to be the epicenter of all the action,\u201d Watkins explains. That became the center point of where the dragons and the rest of the world were. He saw the colors of the building and was inspired by what palette to choose from. \u201cThe rust, corn colors and greens were very specific, and we took that palette from there and brought that to the village.\u201d He adds, \u201cA lot of the medieval stuff in reality was quite grim, so we wanted to make it more colorful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOther real-world locations included Ireland and Scotland. Watkins also utilized the Belfast Titanic studios where he built out the rest of Berk on backlots and sounstages. \u201cWe built the center of Berk, but it was extended from ther. We built 16 houses around the center square.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tElsewhere, he wanted to give the Vikings believability. Their purpose was to slay dragons, so Watkins carried that lore into his designs. \u201cWe had lots of carvings of dragons and motifs on the pinnacles of the and the eaves of the houses to just show there was a hatred of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t(from left) Snotlout (Gabriel Howell), Tuffnut (Harry Trevaldwyn), Astrid (Nico Parker), Ruffntut (Bronwyn James), Fishlegs (Julian Dennison) and Gobber (Nick Frost) in Universal Pictures\u2019 live-action How to Train Your Dragon, written and directed by Dean DeBlois.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto Credit: Universal Pictures<\/p>\n

\n\tAs for the film\u2019s dragon arena, Watkins built a chain dome, but needed beams to hold it upright. \u201cWe found these ironwood beams that had sunk in Belfast harbor over 100 years ago, and coincidentally, they were pulling these 3040 foot beams out of Belfast Harbor. Our construction manager knew about them, and somehow he managed to get his hands on them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe beams had become fossilized after being in the water for so long and needed heavy cranes to be moved. \u201cWe were now repurposing them and putting in the arena, and it was pretty incredible.\u201d Watkins adds, \u201cWe used them in a few other places, but that was predominantly where all the spiked beams were in the set. They were beautifully aged, beautifully tarnished, and they worked out.\u201d<\/p>\n

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