Dragon design and realisation Dragonslayer

according barwood, dragon s basic body plan based on of jurassic pterosaur rhamphorhynchus

twenty-five percent of film s budget went special effects bring dragon life. graphic artist david bunnet assigned design of dragon, , fed ideas on mechanics on how dragon move, , rendered concepts on paper. decided on in production film s important sequence have been final battle, deemed necessary design dragon emphasis on flying abilities. bunnet designed dragon have degree of personality, deliberately trying avoid creating titular creature alien, believed hideous @ .

ken ralston s flying model of dragon, vermithrax pejorative

after bunnet handed storyboard panels film crew, decided dragon have realized wide variety of techniques: resulting dragon on film composite of several different models. phil tippett of ilm finalized dragon s design, , sculpted reference model danny lee of disney studios closely followed in constructing larger dragon props closeup shots. 2 months later, lee s team finished building sixteen-foot head , neck assembly, twenty-foot tail, thighs , legs, claws capable of grabbing man, , 30-foot-wide (9.1 m) wing section. parts flown pinewood studios outside london in cargo hold of boeing 747.

brian johnson hired supervise special effects, , began planning both on , off-set effects various special effects specialists. dennis muren, effects cameraman, stated, knew dragon had lot more importance film of incidental things appeared in few shots in star wars or empire strikes back. dragon had presented in way audience absolutely stunned.

after completion of principal shooting, special effects team of eighty people @ ilm studios in northern california worked 8 months in producing 160 composite shots of dragon. chris walas sculpted , operated dragon head used close-up shots. model animated combination of radio controls, cable controls, air bladders, levers , hand, giving illusion of coordinated face wide range of expression. real ww2 era flamethrowers used dragons fire breathing effects.

phil tippett built model scenes in dragon required walk. tippett did not want use standard stop motion animation techniques, , had team build dragon model move during each exposure rather in between once standard. process, named go motion tippett, recorded creature s movements in motion real animal move, , removed jerkiness common in prior stop motion films.

ken ralston assigned flying scenes. built model articulated aluminium skeleton in order give wide range of motion. ralston shot films of birds flying in order incorporate movements model. walking dragon, flying model filmed using go-motion techniques. camera programmed tilt , move @ various angles in order convey sensation of flight.