Next entry! Wow...eleven already! I wonder how many of these I will be able to do. Hopefully lots more! Eleven definitely does not even begin to explain the why I like this movie so much! Alright, this entry will once again be on the graphics and design of HTTYD rather than the heart and soul of the film. Still, as I have said before, the spectacular quality of the visuals was a HUGE aid in conveying the powerful story of the film!
This entry will be on texturing! Texturing in animation is just giving surfaces a, well, texture! It is also called surfacing, and it is one of the most critical things in an animated movie. Why? Surfacing is what gives a movie quite a lot of its realism. Along with lighting, texturing has a huge affect on what the audience sees the movie as. With a dramatic or thematic film, you can often have texturing and lighting that are not realistic, but they drive the point and the feel home to the audience. So what was the texturing of HTTYD?
How to Train your Dragon's graphics team strove for the absolute BEST texturing they could achieve. You can really tell! Some movies do not try and be hyper realistic with texture because it clashes with the feel of the film. Tangled would be a good example. The texturing in that film was intentionally a bit smooth and overly perfect because it was meant to be a gorgeous fairytale. HTTYD is NOT meant to be a fairytale! The surfacing is hyper realistic, and it is almost shockingly deep! Characters' skin will have scars, scuffs, and even dirt! Hair is not perfect. Vests and leather are scratched and worn. Wood is stained, and rock is smoothed by wear. The dragons' scales are gorgeous and yet the have little scuffs and scratches from a lifetime of battle. The film's texturing is gobsmackingly real! So what did this achieve?
For one, the "Impressive Factor" shot through the roof! People who watch the movie come away amazed at the technical artistry and beauty of such a realistic world. In a day where animated movies are all at each other's throats over who can come out with the most stunning visuals, HTTYD stands tall. It draws the viewers into a world of fantasy, but the world is so realistically lit and surfaced that it feels like you can walk right in! It is a POWERFUL way to connect with an audience. You want them to care about the hero, the problem, and the plot, so how do you make them? Well one way HTTYD did was by making them feel that this world was REAL. It is not a fairytale; it is not some children's fantasy. The movie lives and breaths like an action movie, and in doing so it puts itself on the level with AMAZING films, even LotR (please don't strangle me! It is just my opinion!)! Audiences find themselves wishing they could walk into this world because they feel so close to it already! They see how real it is, and it makes them feel that maybe, just maybe, all this could exist. THAT makes them care! Hiccup is no longer a cartoon, he is a person in a world that feels shockingly real and yet shockingly beautiful. The texture, lighting, and animation were extremely powerful tools in this film!
In the end, with all this texture, who wouldn't want to reach out and touch this world? Who wouldn't want to have a Forbidden Friendship with Toothless? Who wouldn't want to reach out, trust, and then suddenly feel that living, breathing, trusting, scaly snout pressing into your palm? That is the power of texture, lighting, animation, and PLOT!!
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