The vision and triumph of christopher paolini

For this sequence, Kym Barrett designed non-traditional costumes, this time of“armor.” “I thought of what armor would be like in this particular world,” says Barrett.“In this scene, Eragon rides Saphira and fights the invading forces, and he couldn’t belugging around 25 pounds of armor plating. I also didn’t want the characters to look likethey were wearing big, clunky suits of armor. I wanted it to be more streamlined, so Iused leather for the armor.” Barrett called in noted London couture leather makers tomanufacture the unique pieces.The completion of the second unit work in Hungary marked only the first step inthe scene’s creation. Fangmeier, MacDonald and crew then moved to Pinewood Studiosin England, where they shot blue screen work of Ed Speleers “riding” Saphira, battlingRobert Carlyle’s Durza who is astride his own flying Beast. The filmmakers wanted topush these flying scenes to get, as MacDonald says, “the most dynamic sensationpossible. It’s a real roller-coaster ride.”The actors were placed on computer-controlled rigs on hydraulics, upon whichsaddles were mounted. All the dragon’s movements – flying, gliding, banks-and-turns –could be experienced by Ed Speleers as Eragon. “Ed was a natural,” says MacDonald.“He loved flying, and really wanted to get things right.” Before Speleers began work onthe motion rig, the filmmakers screened for him the pre-visualization footage as areference for his “flying” maneuvers.“ERAGON is the first film to really show the experience of flying on a dragon,”says Fangmeier. “It was a lot of fun to create the flying sequences. We were challengedto maintain a physical reality but also have an element of the fantastical. We wanteddragon riding to feel like being on a jet fighter – with lots of ‘Wow’ moments.”Many of these “wow” moments were realized by New Zealand-based visualeffects house WETA Digital, whose many credits include the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy,“King Kong” and “I, Robot.” For the climactic Battle of Farthen Dûr sequence, WETAworked on giving Saphira a more aggressive “performance.” “She’s taking on a moremature air at this point; she’s come of age,” says WETA visual effects supervisor GeorgeMurphy. “We gave Saphira an additional sense of command, presence and agility thatwould get her through the battle.”10