{"id":15196,"date":"2014-07-09T11:58:48","date_gmt":"2014-07-09T11:58:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/?p=15196"},"modified":"2017-03-06T22:57:40","modified_gmt":"2017-03-06T22:57:40","slug":"lightbox-dragon2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-dragon2\/","title":{"rendered":"Lightbox: &#8216;How To Train Your Dragon 2&#8217; director Dean DeBlois"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"620\" height=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Pt93erFKvy0?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-GB&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>In the latest episode of our video series <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PL-0qdHF_aune0e5I9HLJ_iy14qMqu-fi9\" target=\"_blank\">Lightbox<\/a> Dean DeBlois, co-director of <em>Lilo &amp; Stitch<\/em> and <em>How To Train Your Dragon<\/em>, talks to Skwigly about his role as writer and sole director on the highly-anticipated sequel <a href=\"http:\/\/howtotrainyourdragon.com\" target=\"_blank\"><em>How To Train Your Dragon 2<\/em><\/a>, released in UK cinemas this week.<br \/>\nThe film carries on the adventures of Hiccup, his newly reunited family and his fellow dragon riders as they fight the malevolent Drago Bludvist to maintain the peace established between Viking and dragon.<\/p>\n<p>Look out for more Skwigly <em>Dragon 2<\/em> coverage over the coming days!<\/p>\n<p>Presented and edited by Ben Mitchell<br \/>\nFootage courtesy of Dreamworks Animation SKG<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the latest episode of our video series Lightbox Dean DeBlois, co-director of Lilo &amp; Stitch and How To Train Your Dragon, talks to Skwigly about his role as writer and sole director on the highly-anticipated sequel How To Train Your Dragon 2, released in UK cinemas this week. The film carries on the adventures [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[247,755],"tags":[781,2004,120,1549,1548,42,1802,2005,1196],"class_list":["post-15196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-interviews","tag-behind-the-scenes","tag-dean-deblois","tag-dreamworks","tag-how-to-train-your-dragon","tag-how-to-train-your-dragon-2","tag-interview","tag-lightbox","tag-sequel","tag-video"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lightbox: &#039;How To Train Your Dragon 2&#039; director Dean DeBlois - Skwigly Animation Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Pt93erFKvy0 In the latest episode of our video series Lightbox Dean DeBlois, co-director of Lilo &amp; Stitch and How To\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-dragon2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lightbox: &#039;How To Train Your Dragon 2&#039; director Dean DeBlois - Skwigly Animation Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Pt93erFKvy0 In the latest episode of our video series Lightbox Dean DeBlois, co-director of Lilo &amp; Stitch and How To\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-dragon2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Skwigly Animation Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SkwiglyMagazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/benmitchellcreative\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-09T11:58:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-03-06T22:57:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ben Mitchell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@benlmitchell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@skwigly\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ben Mitchell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-dragon2\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-dragon2\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ben Mitchell\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e6e798460447114f19c1571ef3acb08\"},\"headline\":\"Lightbox: &#8216;How To Train Your Dragon 2&#8217; director Dean DeBlois\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-09T11:58:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-06T22:57:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-dragon2\/\"},\"wordCount\":121,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Behind the Scenes\",\"Dean DeBlois\",\"DreamWorks\",\"How to Train Your Dragon\",\"How to Train Your Dragon 2\",\"interview\",\"Lightbox\",\"sequel\",\"video\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Featured\",\"Interviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-dragon2\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-dragon2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-dragon2\/\",\"name\":\"Lightbox: 'How To Train Your Dragon 2' director Dean DeBlois - Skwigly Animation Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-09T11:58:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-06T22:57:40+00:00\",\"description\":\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Pt93erFKvy0 In the latest episode of our video series Lightbox Dean DeBlois, co-director of Lilo &amp; Stitch and How To\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-dragon2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-dragon2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-dragon2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lightbox: &#8216;How To Train Your Dragon 2&#8217; director Dean DeBlois\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"Skwigly Animation Magazine\",\"description\":\"Online Animation Magazine\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Skwigly Animation Magazine\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/facebook-thumb-skwigly.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/facebook-thumb-skwigly.jpg\",\"width\":250,\"height\":250,\"caption\":\"Skwigly Animation Magazine\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SkwiglyMagazine\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/skwigly\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/skwiglyanimation\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e6e798460447114f19c1571ef3acb08\",\"name\":\"Ben Mitchell\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Ben-Mitchell_avatar_1466682328-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Ben-Mitchell_avatar_1466682328-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Ben Mitchell\"},\"description\":\"Ben Mitchell is an animator, motion designer, composer, award-winning independent filmmaker and writer\/researcher. As a freelancer he has produced work for WildBrain, CBeebies, Channel 4, Shy Guys, Plymptoons, Animortal, Wonky Films, A Productions, Slurpy Studios and Rumpus to name a few. As an independent director he has produced six multi-award-winning short animated films that have been showcased at over 200 international film and animation festivals including Clermont-Ferrand, BFI London Film Festival, ITFS Stuttgart, Encounters, London International Animation Festival, Pictoplasma, London Short Film Festival and Anima Mundi. Alongside his work in animation production he is an active writer and researcher on the industry through such avenues as the leading UK animation resource Skwigly, for which he is Editor in Chief, and his books 'Independent Animation: Developing, Producing and Distributing Your Animated Films' (2016, second edition published April 2023) and 'Intimate Animation' (2025, co-written with Dr. Laura-Beth Cowley). As an educator he has lectured and tutored at AUB Bournemouth, University of the West of England, University of Gloucestershire and UAL Central Saint Martins. He has also been actively involved in a variety of capacities spanning curation, programming, awards jurying, hosting and panel moderation for such international events as Animafest Zagreb, ITFS Stuttgart, Encounters Film Festival, the British Animation Awards, Manchester Animation Festival, Cardiff Animation Festival, Big Cartoon Festival and Dublin Animation Film Festival.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/benmitchellblog.blogspot.com\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/benmitchellcreative\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/benlmitchell\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/benlmitchell\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/author\/ben\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lightbox: 'How To Train Your Dragon 2' director Dean DeBlois - Skwigly Animation Magazine","description":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Pt93erFKvy0 In the latest episode of our video series Lightbox Dean DeBlois, co-director of Lilo &amp; Stitch and How To","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-dragon2\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lightbox: 'How To Train Your Dragon 2' director Dean DeBlois - Skwigly Animation Magazine","og_description":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Pt93erFKvy0 In the latest episode of our video series Lightbox Dean DeBlois, co-director of Lilo &amp; Stitch and How To","og_url":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-dragon2\/","og_site_name":"Skwigly Animation Magazine","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SkwiglyMagazine","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/benmitchellcreative","article_published_time":"2014-07-09T11:58:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-03-06T22:57:40+00:00","author":"Ben Mitchell","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@benlmitchell","twitter_site":"@skwigly","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ben Mitchell","Estimated reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-dragon2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-dragon2\/"},"author":{"name":"Ben Mitchell","@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e6e798460447114f19c1571ef3acb08"},"headline":"Lightbox: &#8216;How To Train Your Dragon 2&#8217; director Dean DeBlois","datePublished":"2014-07-09T11:58:48+00:00","dateModified":"2017-03-06T22:57:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-dragon2\/"},"wordCount":121,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#organization"},"keywords":["Behind the Scenes","Dean DeBlois","DreamWorks","How to Train Your Dragon","How to Train Your Dragon 2","interview","Lightbox","sequel","video"],"articleSection":["Featured","Interviews"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-dragon2\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-dragon2\/","url":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-dragon2\/","name":"Lightbox: 'How To Train Your Dragon 2' director Dean DeBlois - Skwigly Animation Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-07-09T11:58:48+00:00","dateModified":"2017-03-06T22:57:40+00:00","description":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Pt93erFKvy0 In the latest episode of our video series Lightbox Dean DeBlois, co-director of Lilo &amp; Stitch and How To","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-dragon2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-dragon2\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/lightbox-dragon2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lightbox: &#8216;How To Train Your Dragon 2&#8217; director Dean DeBlois"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/","name":"Skwigly Animation Magazine","description":"Online Animation Magazine","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#organization","name":"Skwigly Animation Magazine","url":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/facebook-thumb-skwigly.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/facebook-thumb-skwigly.jpg","width":250,"height":250,"caption":"Skwigly Animation Magazine"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SkwiglyMagazine","https:\/\/x.com\/skwigly","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/skwiglyanimation\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e6e798460447114f19c1571ef3acb08","name":"Ben Mitchell","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Ben-Mitchell_avatar_1466682328-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Ben-Mitchell_avatar_1466682328-96x96.jpg","caption":"Ben Mitchell"},"description":"Ben Mitchell is an animator, motion designer, composer, award-winning independent filmmaker and writer\/researcher. As a freelancer he has produced work for WildBrain, CBeebies, Channel 4, Shy Guys, Plymptoons, Animortal, Wonky Films, A Productions, Slurpy Studios and Rumpus to name a few. As an independent director he has produced six multi-award-winning short animated films that have been showcased at over 200 international film and animation festivals including Clermont-Ferrand, BFI London Film Festival, ITFS Stuttgart, Encounters, London International Animation Festival, Pictoplasma, London Short Film Festival and Anima Mundi. Alongside his work in animation production he is an active writer and researcher on the industry through such avenues as the leading UK animation resource Skwigly, for which he is Editor in Chief, and his books 'Independent Animation: Developing, Producing and Distributing Your Animated Films' (2016, second edition published April 2023) and 'Intimate Animation' (2025, co-written with Dr. Laura-Beth Cowley). As an educator he has lectured and tutored at AUB Bournemouth, University of the West of England, University of Gloucestershire and UAL Central Saint Martins. He has also been actively involved in a variety of capacities spanning curation, programming, awards jurying, hosting and panel moderation for such international events as Animafest Zagreb, ITFS Stuttgart, Encounters Film Festival, the British Animation Awards, Manchester Animation Festival, Cardiff Animation Festival, Big Cartoon Festival and Dublin Animation Film Festival.","sameAs":["http:\/\/benmitchellblog.blogspot.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/benmitchellcreative","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/benlmitchell\/","https:\/\/x.com\/benlmitchell"],"url":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/author\/ben\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1DH8N-3X6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15196\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skwigly.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}