evilwriter37:

forythetilly:

kingofthewilderwest:

I know this might sound a little weird, but I really like the breathing in How to Train Your Dragon 2.

I mean, the animators and audio editors actually considered the little realistic involuntary body actions like Hiccup giving a large exhale and nervous swallow at the end of the movie when he’s officially marked chief, or characters’ breathing rates increasing and slowing based on circumstance.

Hiccup breathes heavily and a bit raggedly after being trapped in the Bewilderbeast’s ice – as anyone would after losing their access to air for that amount of time.

You see him take in a big breath before he steps forward and says “A Chief protects his own” at the Stoick’s Ship scene. It’s Hiccup steeling himself, trying to motivate himself to step forward to prevent worse calamities from happening.

I could talk about these stupid little observations for a long time.

What especially gets me every time is how characters breathe during “Stoick Saves Hiccup.”

Immediately after the plasma blast, Hiccup is on his knees, panting, staring at the ground in his shock as he simply breathes. It’s the effect of an adrenaline rush. It shows how completely frightened he is, body trying to handle the shock of his best friend advancing against him, and he being heavily flung out of the way by Stoick, but still almost hit by a deadly blast. And though he has to take the time to gasp, crouched, stunned… before he even fully recovers his breath he’s staggering to his feet and rushing to his father’s side. You hear him breathing raggedly, the combined effects of fear and the physical assertion of running, as he begins to pull off the ice chunks from Stoick’s body.

Even Toothless, recovering from the Bewilderbeast’s control, is seen breathing heavily from the exertion of the event.

You likewise hear Valka’s breathing increase as she, likewise alarmed, run up to Stoick. Her chest heaves quite a bit as she places her ear against Stoick’s chest and listens for a heartbeat. As soon as she realizes there is nothing, she releases a long exhale with a quiet involuntary whimper.

Hiccup responds by breathing increasingly, increasingly quicker as that meaning takes effect in his mind and his breaths shift to shoulder-heaving sobs.

And right before Hiccup collapses onto his knees, having just chased Toothless off, he takes in an enormous inhale, his disbelief and depression so very much evident in a single body gesture.  He collapses back into sobs.

Then we can just keep talking about how he breathes when he tries to rush after Toothless when he sees Drago on his back, and has to be restrained by Valka.

How the scene ends with his crying starting up yet again, making his inhales more irregular.

It’s all so detailed. And I didn’t consciously recognize it the first few times in the theatre, either. But even if I and other audience members did not explicitly notice this, it still so importantly contributes to the realism of that and other scenes. It throws us into the moment. Gives us the body cues to understand the characters’ physical and mental reactions. Provides yet more reason that the events of the movie are so powerful and memorable in our minds.

Because it’s just so real.

ANIMATION!!! DETAILGASM!!! WOOOO

@thestolentardis61