I directed the animated scenes in the action packed documentary "World Debut" about how surfing, skateboarding and climbing got into the Olympics.
Video below: a collection of animated scenes from the documentary
Many key moments in the documentary did not have archival footage so we leaned heavily into an animation style that became a strong tone for the entire film.
This Behance page is a detailed breakdown of the thinking behind the project!
The Characters
Fernando Aguerre is the President of the International Surfing Association. He's also a larger than life character who speaks expressively and (in my animation) is always surfing-- even when indoors.
Gary Ream is the chair of USA Skateboarding. He appears multiple times throughout the animation, mostly on his trusty paper plane.
`
Marco Scolaris is the President of International Federation of Sport Climbing. He's tall, smooth and charismatic. Oh, and Italian,
Designing the Olympics Officials was an interesting challenge too! Originally I was hoping to get option #2 approved - where the officials appear as abstactified-olympics-ring-heads. But the production opted for Direction #1, where every character is a fun geometric human!
Mystery Wrestler is an anonymous man we designed to signify the wrestling federation without pointing to a specific official. Wrestling is kicked out of the Olympics to make way for another sport, only to come back and fight for their place.
Tony Hawk, a man who needs no introduction
Animated Overlays
We wanted to have moments of animation peppered over footage throughout the film, some examples below!
Transitions - Footage to Animation
Whenever an interviewee began telling a story, animation came into play. I figured that the best way to transition between footage and animation is to literally sketch over the establishing shot and then continue into the surreal animation.
Process
This project was done completely remotely and the team was scattered around the world. We brought on two animators to bring my drawings to life - Arthur Guttilla (based in Brazil) and Hao Li (based in NY).
Working remotely means I have to be very specific when directing an animated scene, and simply sending the animators written notes just won't do. I'll often record a few video references of myself and send them to the animators. An example below!
I also use references when illustrating the scene and figuring out the key character poses.
Here's how I planned out a scene featuring Tony Hawk:
Graphics Package
The film also needed a ton of GFX (infographics, animated timelines, data visuals, newspaper highlights, titles, interview cards, locator cards, lower thirds). Elena Chudoba stepped in to design most of the graphics you see in the video below, working in an illustrative style that fits the grunge-y subject matter of the film.
Locators and Lower Thirds
ANIMATION CREDITS
Direction and design: Yuval Haker
GFX Designer: Elena Chudoba
Animation by Hao Li, Arthur Guttilla
Compositing: Alon Sivan
FILM CREDITS
Directed: Cole Sax & Galen Knowles
Supervising Producer: Phil Hessler
Story Producer: Douglas Kerr
Producer: Kip Perry
Executive Producer: Tony Hawk, Andrew Fried, Dane Lillegard, Jordan Wynn, Phil Hessler, Cole Sax, Galen Knowles, Greg Groggel, Jeff Tahler, Shawn Sachs
Line Producers: Angela Matthes, Maria Bohe, Rebecca Altenhoffen
Field Producer: Aly Kazikova
Associate Producers: Lauren Steele, Walter Wood
Unit Production Manager: Chris Nielsen
Director of Photography: Chris Naum & Jacob Callaghan
Camera Operators: Chris Gregson, Dylan Wineland, Loren Hamilton
Underwater Camera Op: Darren Crawford
Photographers: Nico Marks, Adam Moran, Luke Webster
Drone Op: Elan Bentov
Assistant Camera: Colin Becker
Audio Mixers: Connery Johnson, Eddie Johnson, Cindy Takera, Jeff Adelman
Hair & Makeup: KT Chandler
Production Assistants: Alexandra Azzam, Constantine Samios, Jay Shevket, Ramiro Acuna
Featuring: Tony Hawk, Fernando Aguerre, Gary Ream, Marco Scolaris, Selema Masekela, David Goldblatt, Thomas Bach, Christophe Dubi, Kit McConnell, Emily Harrington, Sofia Mulanovich, Kyra Condie, Mami Tezuka
Art Director: Yuval Haker
Lead Editor: Brett Thomas
Editors: Loren James Creer, Barry Mottier, Jack Hessler, Alex Hadden
Assistant Editor: Josh M Steele
Designer: Elena Chudoba
Animators: Arthur Gutilla, Alon Sivan, Hao Li
Archival Producer: Brent Lovell
Researcher: William Triplett
Music Supervisor: Marielle Jade Te Erik Sutch
Online Editors: Bari Goodis, Viktor Metelev
Colorist: Bari Goodis
