SURF'S UP Revisited

Last week, a special screening of Surf's Up and Q and A was held as part of Sony Pictures Animation's 10th Anniversary celebration at the animation campus in Culver City for ASIFA members. (top photo, l-r): Armand Serrano - visual development, Rob Bredow- vfx supervisor, Chris Jenkins - producer, Ash Brannon - director, Chris Buck - director, Charles Solomon - moderator. Ash is now consulting and an independent director, Chris J is with Dreamworks, Chris B is back at Disney, and Rob is CTO of Sony Imageworks. Fun night to reconnect with these guys. Be sure to watch the short video presentation of this event including our interviews from Sony.

Surf's Up was one of the most beautiful animated film ever made and one of the most challenging but satisfying production I ever been involved with. The team collaboration with artists of such caliber was a rewarding experience. I strongly suggest to watch it if you hadn't seen the movie yet. I'm pleased to share here some of the fond memories I had in this film. Enjoy.

Image above is the design concept that started it all! The squid on the stick on the left was a signature I placed on many of my earliest designs that carried over to the big screen.

The waterfalls after the glow worm cave sequence.

Above is a perfect example of team collaboration that so evident in the film. Characters are done by Sylvain DeBoissy. Foreground elements are painted by Paul Lasaine. The rest are done by me.

Japan beat.

Glow worm cave.

Originally, Geek's house and the board shack are in the same location. Here's an early concept. Notice the squid on a stick? :)

These two above are initial iconic designs that were approved.

Board Shack shape studies. I knew early on that the tree is bent. Its just a matter of how much. Then Marcelo Vignali came to me one morning with a fantastic photo of a palm that bends to the water then peeks up. That's the inspiration for the last image above that we all agreed on to be the final shape.

The Board Shack final design. A collaborative piece with my good friend Marcelo.

Story change pushed Geek's house inland.

My "Poly-pocket" view of Geek's house interior.

Geek's house entrance. Again there's the squid on a stick!

The lava tube entrance. This layout ended up on the screen.

More lava tube concepts.

Geek's house on the beach. Sunny Apinchapong has a painted version and can be viewed on his website.

I based Pengu Island north shore, where Geek lives, from the beaches of Palawan, Philippines and Phuket, Thailand.

Then the south shore, where the Competition Beach is located, was based from the Seychelles Beach in South Africa and Hawaii.

The Competition Beach final design. Another collaborative piece with Marcelo Vignali.

Original story calls for a penguin rodeo (with dolphins).

These Big Z memorial early designs carried over to the screen. I admire such decisive moves by directors that when they see early designs they like and its working, why change it. 

On an early version of the film, promoter Reggie throws a party the night before the competition. Above is the main banquet table. What a hoot to think like a penguin and what would I love to eat if I'm one! :) ... and lotsa squids on sticks!

The "sexy" trophies. These are actual names of our female co-workers :)

Early concepts for the Whaleway station in Shiverpool.

For finale, I did this just for kicks! A some sort of "Where's Waldo"-type piece depicting Pengu Island carnival which was included in the early version of the story. 

Can you find the directors and producer checking in on me during our drive-by?

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Photos are ©Armand Serrano. Artworks are ©Sony Pictures Animation

The Shark Bar

©Sony Pictures Animation.
One of the fun designs I did on a sequence that "almost" made it into the film. It's a bar for the penguin luau. This is the final design. The rough sketch can be seen on the Surf's Up book.

Surf's Up - Designing Big Z Beach

All Images ©Sony Pictures Animation.
Designing Surf's Up's "North" beach where Big Z lives was one of earliest tasks I had to undertake in the film and evolved through different designs. Here are some of them. Above is the approved sequence illustration for the "feel" on how Cody sees the place for the very first time. Cody character on the foreground was done by Sylvain DeBoissy.

Here's one of my favorite shots in the film. I designed the extreme down shot from Cody's POV on the cliff before he went down to the beach.

Now this one is the earliest aerial shot I did in order to map out the beach based from different story beats. The tall waterfalls on the left was supposed to be a sacred pond where Cody has to do his "karate kid" moment with Big Z and climbs to the top. Also if you notice right on the middle is a bluff where big Z does his beach chanting and be "one" with the waves. On top of a hill are two openings on the ground with smoke coming out which are the lava tube entrances. Towards the right is the main beach where Big Z's house (the huge banyan tree) and boardshack (bent palm) are located. Lastly, at the very tip of the island on the right is a surfboard shaped rock where Big Z is supposed to reveal himself to Cody.



Above are very early design explorations for his beach. Notice Big Z's pad and boardshack on the first two images. The third one are thumbnails to find the right shapes.





These last five images are the final approved design for the beach. Notice the sacred pond is still there. It was taken out later in production. Last two are elevations showing how rocks at the north shore used to form one huge monolith and eroded through the years. Enjoy.