MAKING IT FLY : SPECIAL-EFFECTS WIZARDS BREATHE FIRE INTO TALE OF A GUY AND HIS DRAGON.

Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Writer

While he was filming the medieval fantasy epic ``Dragonheart'' two years ago, Dennis Quaid's constant co-star was a stick with two tennis balls attached.

``Let me tell you, I've gotten less from a lot of actors I've worked with,'' Quaid quipped. But indeed, the actor had a much better time playing to a nonexistent, 43-foot fire-breathing lizard than he ever did in such special-effects extravaganzas as ``Dreamscape'' and ``Innerspace.''

At least the dragon was the only thing missing.

The latest step in the evolution of computer-generated images (CGI), ``Dragonheart'' could not have been made five years ago, when most special-effects shots required actors to pantomime against nothing but a blank blue screen. Heck, it couldn't even have been made three years ago, when the semi-CGI'd dinosaurs of ``Jurassic Park'' were wowing the world.

``We've got three times the number of shots they had on `Jurassic Park,' 23 minutes' worth of on-screen time that you're seeing the dragon,'' explained Industrial Light and Magic visual effects supervisor Scott Squires, a veteran of ``The Mask'' and ``Who Framed Roger Rabbit,'' among many others. ``But, of course, the main difference with this is that we're bringing the character to life, not just as an animal but as a complete character on the screen.''

A character that bears an unusual but unmistakable resemblance to Sean Connery, no less. Connery voices Draco, the last dragon, who, in cahoots with Quaid's cynical knight Bowen operates a dragon-slaying scam in a kingdom ruled by the despotic Einon (``Naked's'' David Thewlis).

Connery and Quaid recorded their voice tracks together in a Bahamas studio. Then Connery went home while Quaid, director Rob Cohen (``Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story'') and a crew from 23 countries descended on the Eastern European nation of Slovakia for the arduous shoot.

Meanwhile, video footage of the recording session, as well as tapes of Connery's movies, were being studied by the animation team at Industrial Light and Magic's Marin County headquarters. The idea was to make the wise, wily and ultimately noble Draco as Seanish as possible.

``He's a great character, and I adored the script,'' not to mention the light workload, Connery said. ``The idea of the story is so human in its way, that the dragon was the original intelligence and that man destroyed them because they were sufficiently arrogant to think that they had learned everything.''

While special-effects experts have learned a lot about computers' capabilities in recent years, no one was arrogant enough, at least at the start, to imagine they had the ``Dragonheart'' assignment licked.

``There was no assurance that this dragon could ever be made to act and be real,'' Cohen said. ``When we started it, there was technology to make him walk, there was technology to - maybe - make him fly, and there was some indication that we could make him talk. But we didn't know if we could make him talk with perfect, lip-sync diction. We even had to capture Connery's lateral lisp with the tongue.

``But I had faith, I just wanted to tell the story,'' Cohen continued. ``So you jump in the deep end of the pool with a combination of boldness and aggression, and also realizing what you've taken on. If you're stupid, you'll fail. You have to go at this with a certain humility, because you're in front of a process that can crush you and betray you at any moment.''

Cohen began that process with some 880 storyboards - basically, shot-by-shot drawings of the whole movie. In Slovakia, Quaid and the rest of the cast (which included rarely seen screen legend Julie Christie) acted against impressive castles, caves and water features - and to large empty spaces where the dragon was supposed to be.

They had the playback of Connery's voice track, but it soon became clear that a live voice was required.

``We had Sean's tape as a guide, but when it came down to doing it on the set, there was no way I could use that,'' Quaid explained. ``I'd say a line and somebody would have to hit the `play' button; there'd be no spontaneity. Rob hired a Scottish actor to read lines back to me - which, God bless him, is a thankless job. He didn't have the passion for it, but Rob did. So I set him up with a speaker and said, `You're gonna be my Draco.' ''

Like Cohen didn't have anything else to do.

``There were many, many, many, many rehearsals before we started shooting,'' the director explained. ``We would have all the sticks and markers set, so if the dragon was resting on the ground we would know that his eyes were at 6 feet, then he rises up to 18 feet, you come under him and now you're looking at a different angle. Then he comes back down because he wants to relate to you - and you've got to watch him come all that way to you.

``Then, after rehearsing all that, you take the sticks away and rehearse it. Then the camera operator's got to follow the sequence, because if it's misframed they won't be able to animate Draco in properly. Finally, when we're shooting, everyone's professionalism really came into play. Fluidity would start to happen, and I think, for everybody, there were moments when it was sort of real.''

The film's real moments were completed and cut together more than a year ago. Then the live-action segments were shipped to ILM, and in April 1995 the 12-month task of bringing Draco to life commenced. A team of approximately 25 animators and more than 20 technical directors labored to make the monstrous, multisurfaced creature convincing.

``You're seeing him a lot more, and in daylight a lot more, than any creature we've ever done,'' said ILM's Squires, who also accompanied the Slovakian shoot, where he made thousands of meticulous measurements.

``And most of those scenes are fairly long. Then there were all the different textures of Draco. He's got horns, he's got gold scales, he's got all these different types of skin materials. Plus, he has wings, so he has to be able to fly. So there were quite a number of different step-ups from `Jurassic.' ''

And one other high-tech similarity. Just as Steven Spielberg supervised the CGI animation of ``Jurassic Park'' via satellite link while he was shooting ``Schindler's List'' in Poland, Cohen and producer Raffaella De Laurentiis checked on Draco from Rome, where they were filming the Sylvester Stallone disaster movie ``Daylight.''

``Every Tuesday, I'd say goodnight to Sly, change clothes, run up to the satellite console, see all the ILM folks on the screen and then watch the shots come on,'' Cohen recalled. ``I'd critique Draco, and it was spooky at first because Draco was real, but he wasn't really real. He wasn't really acting, he was like Abe Lincoln at Disneyland.

``But then they started writing eye-blink and eye-scan programs, and ultimately got very sophisticated with micro-animation programs for his diaphragm, little shoulder twitches and things like that. They completely rewrote software codes for the hands and wings, worked out shadings and shadows ...

``All those things would go on day after day, broadcast after broadcast, month after month,'' Cohen continued. ``But every little improvement was like watching your child grow. When they'd get the diaphragm moving, or the eyes to scan properly, or his mouth would finally form the `t' in the word `knight,' we'd all cheer. It just became life, like giving life and getting life back from it. It was a great joy.''But a joy Cohen isn't exactly anxious to relive.

``There's a part of me that's exhausted and a part of me that's very excited about having lived through that experience and come out the other side with something you're proud of,'' Cohen said. ``But it's been an adventure, and not one I'd care to repeat. But I also think that if you don't tackle certain things when you're at the age when you can do them, they just pass you by, and this was a really delicious opportunity.''

Spoken like a true Dragonheart.

CAPTION(S):

7 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) Enter the dragon

Dennis Quaid,right, and Sean Connery star in the special-effects giant `Dragonheart'

(2--Color) That's Dennis Quaid at left, playing opposite a lot of sophisticated computer-generated imagery in ``Dragonheart.''

(3--Color) Scenes were meticulously planned and rehearsed so that Quaid could move and react to the yet-to-be computer-generated dragon.

(4--5) ``The idea of the story is so human in its way, that the dragon was the original intelligence and that man destroyed them because they were sufficiently arrogant to think that they had learned everything.''

Sean Connery, left

who supplies the voice of Draco

(6) Pete Postlethwaite, left, Dina Meyer and Dennis Quaid portray flesh-and-blood counterparts of a computer-generated dragon in ``Dragonheart.''

(7) The crumbling castles of Slovakia provided a backdrop for the film's scenes, including this one featuring Julie Christie and Quaid.