Surfs Up: The Making of an Animated Documentary
Yesterday morning three of us hit the Surfs Up: The Making of an Animated Documentary. I have to admit…I haven’t seen this flick yet. But I’m dying to see it now after listing to the panel talk about thier motivations and the processes behind this film. The panel pointed out that they saw this as “a chance to go outside the norm.”
They first discussed the research process, talking about a few of the surfer movies they studied; Second Thoughts and Step into the Liquid. Rob Bredow even spent some time assisting the producer of Step into the Liquid with a new production. The whole crew also spent a day surfing and hit the Penguin Encounter at Sea World.
They then discussed some of processes they focused on to recreate the look of a documentary in an animated feature. They worked specifically on time manipulation through recreating high speed photography, step printing, and ramped speed.
Next they developed a new process of filming involving a live action camera. It was basically a motion capture of the camera, they created the 3D enviroments with characters then “filmed” it by wiring a system into a real camera. A cameraman stood in the middle of a room and watched the scene through the viewfinder and filmed it like it was a real live set. It was an awesome process to watch and added a lot to the film.
They also discussed how they used stock from Spider-Man 3 to recreate that grainy film look. And they discussed the produciton cycle (60 animators divided into four teams), talked about how all the characters share the same topology, about how all the voice actors where recorded together and about the animation process.
The animation process, specifically in regards to the waves, dominated the rest of the production. They talked about how the waves where created essentialyl using a character rig, and about how much research and effort went into creating these waves. It was a daunting process and the panel admitted there where some concerns over whether wave recreation could be done to the standard they where reaching for. But they more than pulled it off.
It was a great panel, well worth half a day. Oh and when you watch Surfs Up, keep an eye out for the hidden flying saucers in the background.
Later!
