Doggone Invisible: VFX of Lords of Dogtown
Seasoned visual effects supervisor Gray Marshall and co-founder of Gray Matter FX in Venice, California, is elated when moviegoers can’t tell the difference between his subtle touches and what’s shot in-camera. In fact, he was heartened to learn that this reporter mistakenly assumed the stylish close-ups of urethane skateboard wheels in motion and handcrafted surfboards tossed from a roof for violent shattering onto the street below were manipulated images on Lords of Dogtown.
The film, directed by Catherine Hardwicke, which opens nationwide on June 3, traces the true story of a scrappy surfing and skateboarding trio with daredevil aspirations. They included Tony Alva, Jay Adams and Stacy Peralta, each a member of the famous Zephyr Shop-sponsored team. Their story is based on Peralta’s 2002 award-winning documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys.
It’s no wonder that Gray Matter’s approach to vfx has often been called invisible. “We like working on films where our effects support the story, director’s vision and acting just as the costuming, set design and cinematography,” Marshall explains. “No one is going to come away from this movie thinking, ‘Those were great visual effects.’ They’re not going to even question it, and that’s the compliment we’re going for.”
Dangerous Playground Known to locals simply as the POP, it burned to the ground and was demolished in the winter of 1973-74. Its demise forced these surfers to seek their fun elsewhere, later spawning a serious skateboarding revival that would last to this day.
Marshall and his team were able to expertly dissect video camera footage shot in pre-production by Hardwicke, whose directorial debut was on the critically acclaimed Thirteen. The approach enabled him to suggest which effects shots would be costly and how many of them were feasible under her budget.
Director David Fincher, who was initially attached to the project, wanted to spend $18 million to re-create the pier. “Ultimately,” Marshall says, “his vision of what the movie should be and the cost wasn’t in alignment with the studio, whose budget was about $25 million, along with overages, and the effects budget was an appropriate portion of that amount.”
The lion’s share of Gray Matter’s Lords of Dogtown workload involved a harrowing opening sequence meant to show how the defunct Pacific Ocean Park in the Venice Beach section of Los Angeles served as a dangerous playground for surfers. The tough street kids from broken homes who were later credited with pioneering the extreme-sports movement had sought solace and a physical challenge in dodging wooden pylons, twisted metal and floating debris after the dilapidated attraction closed to the public.
Hitting the Books “We had a truly brilliant team of talented and committed people on this project,” Cripps crows. He singles out Lynnes, a longtime Venice Beach resident, for adeptly using Maya software to digitally recreate in unbelievable detail the POP pier and credits the work of digital effects producer Diana Giorgiutti and Messrob Torikian, whom he describes as “our tracking king.”
“We collected a lot of research material and had the distinct advantage of working in Venice, so it was all on our doorstep when we made numerous trips to the Santa Monica Library to collect old photos, books and Super 8 film,” Cripps reports. “It soon became clear how it all used to look and what we needed to do.”
His next step was to compile a sketchbook of the shots that had to be made and determine which ones would involve a 3D approach vs. matte paintings and straight composites. “I graded the plate of the opening shot of the POP to a dawn sunrise and it had to have a gritty, edgy feel,” he recalls. “So it wasn’t a beautiful, yellow-orange sunrise. It was more of a grungy and overcast empty coastline.” The pier sequence, shot over the course of a week, included a variety of weather from sun to fog, as well as morning and afternoon light.
From a compositing point of view, Cripps says everything had to look real and the effects had to blend into this environment with the help of a fluid teamwork process. “We worked incredible detail right down to the barnacles on the wooden posts of the pier,” he adds.
The Gray Matter team immersed itself in homework and drew inspiration from the local environment. “As far as the research goes, my entire team got very involved and did a tremendous amount of work on their own,” Marshall reports. For example, compositor Stuart Cripps played an instrumental role in the design work early on, while 3D supervisor Tom Lynnes rented movies that featured the POP.
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