How to Train Your Dragon | Taking Flight

Perfecting the film's iconic flight sequences was key to bringing How to Train Your Dragon to life. 

Director Dean DeBlois saw them as an opportunity to dial up the story's immersive qualities, and tap into the audience's sense of wish fulfilment. 

Exhilarating helicopter recces around the Faroe Islands helped inform the look and feel of Berk, but also the thrilling, seat-of-the-pants rush of flying at speed through jagged, imposing cliffscapes. 

Believably placing Hiccup, Astrid and co atop their dragons and sending them hurtling through the sky then demanded a brain trust of animators, visualisation pros, VFX artists, special effects legends and expert prop makers who worked in unison to capture and amplify the cast's brilliant on set performances, seamlessly blending digital and practical crafts for those breathtaking final results.