The vision and triumph of christopher paolini

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WETA Digital animation supervisior David Clayton, working with WETA visualeffects supervisors George Murphy and Guy Williams, made additional characterrefinements, especially for the climactic battle scene in which Saphira becomes like asleek and powerful jet fighter.Saphira’s complexity of character and design stemmed from an “evolutionary”process – from the stylized artwork that adorned the book’s cover to the first moviecharacter sketches to the final imagery we see on film. “The big question we faced,” saysILM’s Samir Hoon, “was, ‘How do we make a dragon that the audience has never beforeseen and still be consistent with Christopher Paolini’s vision of the character?’Saphira’s design evolved as we discovered the character through the color of herwings, the size of her head, and the length of her neck. We see her emerge from the eggas being ten-inches tall. By the end of the film, she stands fifteen feet, with a wing spanof 20-30 feet, length of 32 feet – and weighing about four tons.”After many renderings and tests, the visual effects artists gave Saphira a slim,graceful look, adhering to the character’s feminine and regal qualities. “She moves andwalks like a lion, with front legs almost equal in length to her back legs,” says McIntosh,who notes that he and the ILM animators spent time studying lion movement.The design of Saphira’s wings evolved into that resembling eagle wings. Butinstead of the more classic look of feathers, Saphira’s wings are a combination of scalesand feathers, which the ILM team dubbed “scethers.”Saphira begins life as a hatchling, which the filmmakers endeavored to make asendearing as possible. To that end, Hoon and his team studied wildebeest cubs, lioncubs, and wolf cubs.THE BATTLE OF FARTHEN DÛRERAGON has many grand set pieces, but none as big as The Battle of FarthenDûr, where Urgals and Galbatorix’s elite army attack the Varden stronghold. The battlemarks the end of Eragon’s journey and the climax of the story.As the battle opens, Eragon and Saphira are helping fight off the king’s invadingtroops – leading to an aerial battle between Eragon and Durza, with Eragon atop Saphira,and Durza riding an enormous beast conjured from the dead soldiers on the ground8
elow. The ground battle, involving hundreds of extras and stunt people captured on filmduring principal photography, as well as the CG extensions added during postproduction,provides a backdrop for the aerial conflict – all under a dramatic moonlit sky.As the massive conflict unfolds, Farthen Dûr becomes nothing less than a vast theater ofdestruction.As described in the story, the Varden stronghold is constructed in the crater of anextinct volcano. Against the cliff face are the remnants of an eroded white marble city,stoic ruins of a time past, built into the volcano wall, stretching and twisting a mile high.Under the supervision of production designer Wolf Kroeger, the filmmakers builtone of the biggest practical sets in motion picture history. The set was too spectacular toerect on a soundstage, so the production, after conducting several scouting expeditions,found an abandoned rock quarry and crater at a volcano in Hungary, near the Austriaborder. “That location worked out very well,” says Kroeger, since it’s written in thescript that Farthen Dûr is in a volcanic area.”Before construction could begin on this massive set, the filmmakers had to buildan access road to get to the top of the crater. It took 16 weeks of planning, building andlandscaping to create the set from an empty quarry into a lived-in community.Peter MacDonald, one of the industry’s top second unit directors and actionspecialists – he worked on two “Superman” films, two “Batman” pictures and four“Harry Potter” blockbusters – collaborated with Stefen Fangmeier to bring the epic battleto life. “We wanted to give the sequence an edgy, combat-like feel,” notes MacDonald, adirector in his own right.To capture the action, MacDonald worked with 450 extras and stunt people, 10hours each night – often during frigid conditions (it was winter) – for several weeks.The sequence involves Urgals (who are uncommonly tall) and elves; many of the “Urgal”extras were 6’6” or taller, with those playing elves 5’0” or less.The decision to shoot at night presented challenges to director of photographyHugh Johnson. “The location was a vast area with terraces and it was very difficult to getany lights up there,” says Johnson, whose department went to elaborate lengths to rig thevolcanic crater’s vast and treacherous spaces – employing a team of Russianmountaineers to haul the equipment.9
Page 1 and 2: ERAGON, a fantasy adventure for you
Page 3 and 4: would look at me in terms of the vi
Page 5 and 6: what was happening on camera. “Je
Page 7: SAPHIRAERAGON’s distinguished cas
Page 11 and 12: “We developed Saphira in a physic
Page 13 and 14: ERAGON CHARACTER PROFILESERAGONErag
Page 15 and 16: ABOUT THE CASTED SPELEERS (Eragon),
Page 17 and 18: SIENNA GUILLORY (Arya) is best know
Page 19 and 20: He then landed a starring role oppo
Page 21 and 22: (2000), “The Loner” (2001), “
Page 23 and 24: Among Davis’ other major theatric
Page 25 and 26: typesetting the manuscript, and cre
Page 27 and 28: In the past decade Kroeger designed

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