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《滑浪奇兵》
８月２日

故事大綱：

《滑浪奇兵》絕對是今年暑假其中一部最令人期待的電影，因為它是今年暑假唯一一部集動作與喜劇於一身亦富教育意義的動畫。

《滑浪奇兵》創新地以拍攝幕後花絮的紀錄片形式帶觀眾走進充滿動感和刺激的滑浪世界。故事環繞少年企鵝馬高�Y參加他企鵝生涯中第一次的職業滑浪比賽的經過，而全個過程都由攝錄機拍下。

一日，高�Y決定離開自己的家鄉打冷鎮去到企吾島，參加一年一度的「大海之師挑戰賽」。途中高�Y遇上了不少新朋友：來自密西根湖的雞仔祖、有名的滑浪宣傳能手古烈治、專門發掘滑浪新星的麥國基和美艷動人、生氣勃勃的靚女企鵝救生員伶俐，他們每個都覺得高�Y很有滑浪潛質，只是他有些時候被誤導了……高�Y相信勝利能為他帶來期待得到的讚美與尊敬，但一次機緣巧合，高�Y遇上了一位滑浪老手；自此，高�Y慢慢找到自己的路，更明白到勝利的真正意義……

關於製作

創新動畫形式

《滑浪奇兵》是一部概念新鮮亦充滿喜劇元素的動畫，它將會帶觀眾走進一個奇妙的企鵝滑浪世界。對監製基斯贊堅斯來說，「懂滑浪的企鵝」這個題材已是很特別的開始，因為從未有過這樣的一部動畫：「『能滑浪的企鵝』想起來已覺興奮，如果這部動畫並不是如平常那些沉悶的動畫般平鋪直敘，而是利用一部假扮的攝錄機，全程跟著主角，到處拍攝，到處訪問，全無對白本，任由被攝者即場爆肚，究竟這些懂滑浪的企鵝會告訴我們些甚麼呢？就是從這個概念開始，我認定了「天馬行空的動畫世界」與「鏡頭裡的真實世界」兩個元素混合在一起，會是件很有趣的事。」

導演艾舒班朗及基斯畢克（曾分別導演另外兩部出色動畫《反斗奇兵２》及《泰山》）亦認同將電視真人騷和紀錄片的風格融入動畫世界是個很特別和聰明的做法，因為這是一般動畫未試過的。使用這種手法，導演能更有效地將觀眾的注意力集中在故事本身、角色描寫和美術指導等方面。

故事意義深遠

《滑浪奇兵》是一套極具教育意義的動畫，因為它講的是有關怎樣才可過一個有意義的人生。製片選了用高�Y和大師的關係作為故事的核心部份。電影中，大師是非常受其他企鵝歡迎、成功、有名望、受萬人敬仰的企鵝滑浪大師。雖然十年前的一次滑浪比賽，大師從此消失，但他的威水史仍然深深地影響著年輕一輩的企鵝。縱然主角高�Y算是個極具潛質的新晉滑浪手，卻一直錯誤地以為勝利能為他帶來他一直渴求的讚美與尊敬；他仍有很多很多事情須學習，包括真正的勝利不一定代表要將獎盃擲下來。

聲演高�Y的沙拉保夫說：「雖然《滑浪奇兵》最終的訊息是關於『追尋你的夢想』，但我自己覺得它的重點在於『追尋』，並非最終得到的目標，追尋的過程才是最重要。相信這樣會是個讓我們活得開心一點的方法。」

沙拉保夫還說，整個故事的焦點都放在高�Y和大師的關係上。他們兩隻都是很寂寞的企鵝，但他倆可算是互補不足的一對吧：大師教懂高�Y怎樣才能真正開心地滑浪，高�Y則幫助大師重拾他對生命遺忘已久的熱誠。導演艾舒班朗亦說：「高�Y自小喪父，他其實一直在找尋一個像父親般的模仿對像。很自然地，他自小仰慕的大師便為他填補了這個空缺，因為大師的成就正正是高�Y一直希望自己能做到的。當高�Y真的有機會遇上了大師，其實對大師來說亦是個衝擊，因為高�Y對成功的執著亦逼使大師重新面對自己失敗的過去。當高�Y發現大師原來仍然在生時，他倆很自然地便代入了那種父子的角色當中。」

帶你走進陽光與海灘

除了角色，導演亦很著重電腦特技的質素。導演基斯畢克說：「為了讓觀眾能全情投入電影，我們很努力地營造出那種充滿陽光與海灘的動感和生命力。我們希望觀眾看這部戲時會有一種置身在夏威夷或大溪地的感覺，觀眾會被那地方深深吸引著，像真的能嗅到那裡的氣色。」

一切從滑浪開始

主角高�Y在電影說過：「自古以來，只要有浪，就有人滑……」但原來動畫世界裡要滑浪滑得逼真一點也不容易！因為要做出逼真的水是一件很難的事，要滑浪，變數就更多。滑浪的企鵝本身要有動感，海上的浪要有動感，滑浪是劇烈運動的動感更不能少，三種元素融合在一起，難度可想而知。單單為了製造出逼真的海上波浪，《滑浪奇兵》便動用了好幾十名電腦特技的創作專家造浪。就連戲中為伶俐配音的素兒狄絲查露亦說：「其中一樣很令我感到意外和興奮的是《滑浪奇兵》中的浪看起來真的很逼真很逼真，我第一次看到時，不禁令我想起《Step into Liquid》及《Endless Summer》這兩套出色的滑浪紀錄片中那些真實的浪。我從未見過動畫世界裡能有如此逼真的浪。」

導演對企鵝的滑浪姿勢亦非常講究，製作隊除了參考不少書籍和有關滑浪的紀錄片（包括：《The Endless Summer》（1996）、《Step Into Liquid》（2003）、《Second Thoughts》（2004）及《Riding Giants》（2004））外，還特地參與各類大小不同的滑浪活動和比賽，將整個過程攝錄下來，會回製作室慢慢分析，務求讓觀眾覺得「戲裡的企鵝真的懂得滑浪的啊」。而且當電腦動畫師完成作品後，導演亦專誠找來一班世界級的滑浪好手（包括世界滑浪冠軍Kelly Slater），讓他們看看螢幕上的滑浪企鵝是否合格。結果是全部「肥佬」！於是導演和電腦動畫師在這班職業滑浪選手的指導下，重新再做過全部電腦特技。最後出來的結果當然令人非常滿意，就連Kelly Slater也笑說：「這些企鵝仔滑得比我還要好得多呢！」

不惜功本的配音工程

一如以往，配音質素絕對是動畫的靈魂之一。在這方面，《滑浪奇兵》的製作班底亦特別下了不少苦工，令電影與其他動畫的感覺不同。為了配合電影本身"走進幕後世界"的特質，動畫裡的主角都要給予人一種很自然的說話方式，包括即場「爆肚」和「打岔」。一般的電影配音，每一個角式的演員都會分開配音以節省時間和讓聲效處理員有更大的自由度和空間接合不同的配音部份。但《滑浪奇兵》的製片卻選擇了一種並不是一般傳統配音的方式，就是讓多位配音演員一起配音。雖然這種方法所需的時間和資源比平常分開配音多出很多倍，但卻能有效地大大提高動畫裡每個角色的互動性。為主角高�Y配音的沙拉保夫便說：「當有其他演員和你一起配音，你的表現真的會變得很不同，你很自然地會感覺到你不是在跟自己說話，而是有人在跟你溝通。好像《滑浪奇兵》這類型電影，它像是帶你走進幕後世界，那裡是一個最真實的地方，所以自然的感覺很重要。」

負責為大師配音的謝夫布烈治則說他發現自己和沙拉保夫一起在配音室配音時，兩人不期然代入了戲中大師和高�Y的關係，兩人的感覺像是父子亦像是朋友。謝夫解釋說：「可能我女兒的年紀和沙拉保夫也是差不多，所以和沙拉保夫走在一起配音，特別容易代入那種父親的角色吧。而且，當我和他差不多年紀時，我亦是一個演員，所以特別容易了解他。這次和他一起合作配音特別好玩、特別有趣，沙拉保夫很擅長爆肚，我倆都很享受整個過程。」

為雞仔祖配音的鍾希特亦對此配音形式大讚特讚：「其實當你配音時，你不但要懂得靠你的聲線演戲，你更需要很多急材。坦白說，平常的配音方式其實頗奇怪。試想想，自己一個人走進錄音室，戴上headphone，幻想自己是隻雞…我們今次選擇的方法靈活而且生動得多！」

另一件有趣的事，是其中有一幕講述高�Y滑浪時暈倒，伶俐將高�Y救上岸後，要揹起他到另一個地方休息。配音期間，聲演伶俐的素兒狄絲查露為了令聲線聽起來顯得更逼真，特別揹上幾個沙包，模仿伶俐揹著高�Y的狀態，讓自己的聲音聽起來也帶有很強烈的負重感覺。而為坦克車配音的配音員更特地於配音進行前去學滑浪：「我終於明白到滑浪有多困難，我踏上滑浪板後兩三秒便跌了下來。」足見這趟配音雖然比平常的方法辛苦，但整個《滑浪奇兵》的幕後班底都非常認真，做足功課，一絲不苟。

另外，《滑浪奇兵》中有三隻小企鵝不斷穿插在戲中的不同部份，他們本身的造型已是超可愛，而且說話時亦非常有童真的感覺，絕對是看動畫時特別愛看得意卡通公仔的觀眾必捧的三個小角。原來，導演基斯畢克特別找來自己的兒子、監製基斯贊堅斯八歲的女兒以及故事領班謝夫雲祖Jeff Ranjo六歲的兒子來為此三小角配音。他們本身三個和在戲中的三隻小企鵝一樣都是要好的朋友。雖然三隻企鵝小小，卻有著不同而鮮明的性格，所以要配得各具特色，其實也不是一件容易的事。

角色介紹

馬高?

十七歲，出生於南極洲打冷鎮的企鵝。天生特別細粒的高�Y，企鵝小小，志向卻十分遠大。他深信勝利會為他帶來一直渴望得到的讚美與尊敬。因此，他決心參加第十屆「大海之師挑戰賽」，無論任何代價，誓要成為冠軍。

高�Y的偶像是大師，因為大師曾擁有所有高�Y渴望擁有的東西。

大師

大師絕對是滑浪世界裡最閃爍的一顆巨星。他出色的滑浪技巧、無企鵝能及的那份自信以及他的感染力，令滑浪成為了其中一種最受歡迎的運動。只要一想起滑浪便會想起他；直至十年前一次比賽，大師在滑他最後一浪時突然消失了。

自此，大師由一顆彗星變成了一個傳奇。當然，宣傳技倆了得的古烈治絕對是這個傳奇出現的其中一個幕後功臣。多得古烈治的貪婪，利用大師的名氣賺錢而令大師的傳奇故事得以延續。

伶俐

伶俐是一隻美艷迷人的企鵝，她的眼睛很會說話，只要一個眼神你便可清楚知道她在罵你還是讚你。伶俐本身也是個滑浪高手，只是她不喜歡在其他企鵝面前炫耀自己的技術，她覺得要向別的企鵝證明自己的能力是件很浪費時間的事。相反，她十分享受在世界最著名的滑浪沙灘上擔當救生員的角色，無論任何企鵝她也喜歡幫助。玲俐也是傳奇人物大師的姪女，只有她一隻企鵝知道大師仍在生，她為大師守這個秘密守了十年。

雞仔祖

雞仔祖顧名思義是一隻雞，他是一隻來自中西岸農場的公雞。他到企吾島上一心參加第十屆的「大海之師挑戰賽」，不過他卻不是為了奪標而參賽，他只是喜歡滑浪。這隻看似傻頭傻腦的雞，只要去到任何有朋友有滑浪板的地方便會很高興，其他一切都變得不重要。雞仔祖和高�Y都有個共通點，就是兩個都被自己族裔排斥，因為遭遇相近，所以他倆亦很快成為好朋友。

雖然這隻無憂無慮的傻瓜雞表面上看來態度懶散，但其實他早已看透一切。聲演這隻傻雞的鍾希特說：「他是一隻聰明雞，他是最清楚自己在做甚麼的一個，他到企吾島上只希望尋開心；他熱愛滑浪，從不理會甚麼比賽不比賽。」

古烈治

一隻喜歡亦善於操控群眾的水瀨古烈治。當年他的好朋友大師在滑浪比賽中失蹤，古烈治沒有為自己的好友傷心過一刻，相反，這隻冷酷無情的水瀨只顧藉此機會利用其他企鵝對大師的懷念和崇拜，推出不同的首飾商品給舉辦一年一度的「大海之師挑戰賽」，美其名為紀念大師，實為了掘金。後來，另一隻出色的滑浪企鵝坦克車出現，古烈治即向他埋手，找尋更多的賺錢機會。當非常有潛質的新秀高�Y出現後，他即對高�Y虎視眈眈。

麥國基

不幸的麥國基是一隻專門服侍古烈治的可憐小鳥，他亦是一隻星探鳥，專門發掘有潛質的滑浪企鵝。麥國基頗能幹，經常妙語如珠，可惜體積較細小，常被古烈治欺壓。

坦克車

坦克車企鵝如其名，大大份，只有一身肌肉而無腦袋的滑浪機器。他很有滑浪天份，可惜眼中只有勝利兩個字。自第一屆「大海之師挑戰賽」起，他每年都是此比賽的冠軍，已是此大賽的九屆盟主。除了滑浪外，他唯一的嗜好就是擦靚自己贏過的獎盃。

小企鵝三劍俠

三隻小企鵝當中，其中一隻叫阿樂的，其實本身懂得游泳，卻經常刻意跑到岸邊，跳進水中扮遇溺，為的只是希望他喜歡的靚企鵝救生員伶俐一次又一次的救他；另一隻女小企鵝姬蒂，是阿樂的好朋友，她是隻較早熟且意志堅強的小企鵝，她對坦克車、古烈治和為何滑浪不一定只是男孩子的玩意有自己一套的睇法；最後一隻則是烏卒卒，烏卒卒是姬蒂的弟弟，他通常比較沉靜，但他不是自閉，只是平常接收得太多不同的資訊，不知怎樣消化和表達自己所想，但最大問題是他通常都會在不適當的時候突然說出一些不適當的話。

《滑浪奇兵》演職員表
哥倫比亞影片呈獻
SONY PICTURES ANIMATION作品
"滑浪奇兵"
聲演： 《智能叛變》沙拉保夫
《壯志奔騰》謝夫布烈治
《不日成名》素兒狄絲查露
《魔怪屋》鍾希特
《音樂型人》占斯活士
動畫創作： SONY PICTURES IMAGEWORKS INC.
音樂： 《陽光小小姐》米雪丹娜
故事： 基斯贊堅斯 /姬絲汀戴倫
編劇： 《Big爆任務》當韋馬/艾舒班朗/基斯畢克/基斯贊堅斯
監製： 《獅子王》動畫創作 基斯贊堅斯
導演： 《反斗奇兵2》艾舒班朗 /《泰山》基斯畢克
發行： Sony Pictures Releasing International

As soon as there was the first wave, there was the first surfer. All you needed was a piece of driftwood, or a block of ice -- and you were off, you were riding. They were hooked, man, they were hooked - they couldn't stop. And they just passed it on and passed it on, handed that surf gene down all the way through the days. Up 'til recent times, you had your old dudes, your "hang six" cats, these old guys that used to lay down with huge, humongous boards. These guys were the pioneers. But nobody saw what surfing could really be until Big Z did it.

Who was Big Z? You're asking the right guy, you got that far. Z is everything. Big Z is surfing. There may as well not have been an ocean before Z. They invented the ocean for him. He lived so hard because he wasn't afraid to live, and he wasn't afraid to die. He came to Antarctica when I was just a kid. Man, it was the biggest thing that ever happened here. And suddenly there he was. Just floating over the water, just hovering, like weightless. He could have walked up to anyone…and he walks right up to me. And he gives me this awesome, one of a kind Big Z necklace. Then he tells me, "No matter what, find a way, 'cause that's what winners do." He was the greatest. Everyone looked up to him, respected him, loved him. And one day… one day I'm gonna be just like him.

- Cody Maverick, up-and-coming surfer and star of Surf's Up

SYNOPSIS

Surf's Up is an animated action-comedy that delves behind the scenes of the high-octane world of competitive surfing. The film profiles teenage Rockhopper penguin Cody Maverick (Shia LaBeouf), an up-and-coming surfer, as he enters his first pro competition. Followed by a camera crew to document his experiences, Cody leaves his family and home in Shiverpool, Antarctica to travel to Pen Gu Island for the Big Z Memorial Surf Off. Along the way, Cody meets Sheboygan surfer Chicken Joe (Jon Heder), famous surf promoter Reggie Belafonte (James Woods), surf talent scout Mikey Abromowitz (Mario Cantone), and spirited lifeguard Lani Aliikai (Zooey Deschanel), all of whom recognize Cody's passion for surfing, even if it's a bit misguided at times. Cody believes that winning will bring him the admiration and respect he desires, but when he unexpectedly comes face-to-face with a washed-up old surfer (Jeff Bridges), Cody begins to find his own way, and discovers that a true winner isn't always the one who comes in first.

Columbia Pictures Presents a Sony Pictures Animation film, Surf's Up. Directed by Ash Brannon and Chris Buck. Screenplay by Don Rhymer and Ash Brannon & Chris Buck & Christopher Jenkins. With a story by Christopher Jenkins and Christian Darren. Produced by Christopher Jenkins. Music by Mychael Danna. Co-produced by Lydia Bottegoni. Imagery and animation by Sony Pictures Imageworks, Inc. Credits are not final and subject to change.

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

Surf's Up is a fresh, fun animated comedy that immerses audiences in the competitive world of surfing penguins. For producer Christopher Jenkins, that hilarious starting point led to a breakthrough in how to present the story of up-and-coming surfer Cody Maverick. "The notion of surfing penguins really got me thinking. What if, instead of being a straightforward fantasy narrative, Surf's Up went into the world of animation with a hypothetically authentic camera, as if it were taping live interviews and ostensibly no script?" says Jenkins. "What would these surfing penguins tell us if they were given a chance? From there it was a short step to realizing the potential of this coupling - the imagination of animation paired with the realism and immediacy of today's real-life video."

Directors Ash Brannon (co-director of Toy Story 2) and Chris Buck (director of Tarzan) quickly realized the cleverness in the idea: relying on the conventions and style of reality television and documentary filmmaking, Surf's Up would have an immediacy and relevance that set it apart from the pack. Using that technique, the directors brought into focus the characters, story, and art direction - the heart of the film.

That intimate cinematic style perfectly supported the story that developed from the inspiring concept of surfing penguins devised by veteran animation executives Sandra Rabins and Penney Finkelman Cox.

At the center of the story, the filmmakers placed the relationship between Cody, a young, up-and-coming surfer who thinks that becoming a champion will bring him the respect he feels he deserves, and Big Z, the onetime legendary surfer who everybody thinks has passed on, but in fact has been living alone as a hermit for the past decade. "Having lost his father, Cody is clearly looking for a father figure, and the legend of Big Z had filled that void; because Z was a champion, that's what Cody thought he wanted to be, too. But when Cody enters Z's life, Z is forced to come to terms with his past and face life as a champion whose glory days are over," says director Ash Brannon. "When Cody finds out that Z is still alive, they naturally fall into those father-son roles - the good and the challenging - and both realize that nothing could matter less than a trophy. It's their passion for being out on the waves that counts most."

To absorb audiences into Cody's world, every detail had to be appropriate to the experience. "One of our main goals was to take the viewer to a tropical location," said director Chris Buck. "We wanted to recreate that feeling you get when you step off the plane in a place like Tahiti or Hawaii, and you're hit by that amazing scent and air and even by how different the light is. You really know that you're somewhere special."

An ensemble of talented actors form the voice cast of Surf's Up. Leading the way is Shia LaBeouf, who takes on the role of Cody Maverick. He is joined by four-time Academy AwardR nominee Jeff Bridges, playing Big Z; Zooey Deschanel as Lani; Jon Heder as Chicken Joe; James Woods as Reggie; Mario Cantone as Mikey; and Diedrich Bader as Tank.

Because of the behind-the-scenes nature of the film, it was necessary that the characters speak in a natural way - including improvised and overlapping dialogue. In a typical animation voiceover session, actors are alone in the booth as they record their characters' lines. This allows the animators, editors and sound designers more flexibility in splicing together different performances. For Surf's Up, the filmmakers made the highly unconventional choice to record many scenes with several actors in the booth at once. "A performance is completely different when you have the other actors there in the room with you - you get a sense of what they're doing and react to each other in a natural way," says LaBeouf. "For a movie like Surf's Up - which is supposed to go behind the scenes, showing what happens in the natural environment - it was essential, and I'm glad we had the creative freedom to find the magic."

Jeff Bridges notes that when he was acting in the recording booth alongside LaBeouf, the two could not help but mirror the relationship that their characters have on-screen. "I have daughters that are Shia's age - I think because of that, I naturally kind of fell into that. Also, when I was his age, I was an actor - I had a lot of the excitement he's going through now. It was terrific to work with him; he's a great improviser and he was having fun doing it."

This technique paid off in several scenes, especially when Big Z and Cody Maverick cooperate on shaping a surfboard. "The actors were more comfortable recording dialogue with other actors in the film, and it comes through in the performance," Buck said. "Jeff, Shia, and Zooey were brilliant in playing off of and working with each other. They really took ownership of their characters."

The result is a film that reinforces Sony Pictures Animation's philosophy of promoting the filmmakers' creativity and vision. Following the division's successful launch last fall with the animated hit Open Season, Sony Pictures Animation has proven to be a home for great talent. "As a surfer and a dad, I knew how much fun it would be to share those experiences with an audience in our film's unique style," says Yair Landau, President of Sony Pictures Digital and Vice Chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment. "Over the past five years, we have built a story-driven animation studio powered by Imageworks' 15 years of visual effects artistry. That's all on the screen in Surf's Up, a beautiful demonstration of who we are and where animation is headed."

"Surf's Up is a gorgeous production that enables audiences to share the lives of delightful characters," adds Sandra Rabins, Executive Vice President of Sony Pictures Animation. "Every detail of their world can be seen and enjoyed, from the smallest grain of sand to the magnificent beauty of the setting sun. It's like going to the beach without getting wet!"

Surf's Up is an example of the symbiotic relationship between the filmmakers at Sony Pictures Animation, which developed the project, and Sony Pictures Imageworks, which brought their vision to life. David Schaub, the film's senior animation supervisor, points out that even though the animators of Surf's Up use a computer instead of a pencil, the film is no less hand-crafted. "What appears to be spontaneous in animation is a result of creating each performance down to the last little eye-dart. Every little nuance and detail is toiled over to assure that the message and performance come across clearly."

ABOUT THE STORY

Cody Maverick, the hottest (and only) up-and-coming surfer in Shiverpool, Antarctica, has always dreamt of something bigger than a job at the fish factory, even as his unsupportive family - mom Edna and older brother Glen - do not understand why he has to be different from everyone else. But Cody has always wanted to be a winner at something and he's determined to take to heart the lesson that the late, great surfer, Big Z, imparted before going out for his final wave: find a way, because that's what winners do. And Cody finds his way: hitching a ride on overcaffeinated shorebird surf scout Mikey Abromowitz's whale, Cody heads for Pen Gu island and the 10th Annual Big Z Memorial Surf-Off. Along the way, he meets Chicken Joe, a goofball surf nut hailing from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, who learned the sport by riding the icy waters and small waves of the Great Lakes.

No sooner have Cody and Joe arrived than Cody falls head over heels for Lani Aliikai, the beguiling surf beach lifeguard on Pen Gu. After an awkward introduction and an even more awkward request for a date, Cody escapes down the beach to save himself further embarrassment… only to run into Tank "The Shredder" Evans, king of the nine previous Big Z Memorial Surf Offs, who is using a monument to Z for target practice. Cody is about to start a fight with the enormous bully when Reggie steps between them and turns the fight into a mini surf-off… which Cody quickly loses in an embarrassing wipeout.

Lani brings the embarrassed (and unconscious) surfer to the home of her friend, Geek, who quickly revives Cody. Soon after, Cody discovers the truth: this weird dude is his idol, Big Z.

The questions come quickly: Why is he alive? How did he get here? What really happened on that last wave? But none of that is important now; the bigger question is: Can Z help him win the championship? Z, frustrated by Cody's poor surfing, blurts out, "You want to learn to surf the right way, you gotta make your own board."

Cody's impatience gets the better of him once again - and despite Big Z's guiding hand, Cody makes a terrible board. Cody, unable to admit his mistakes, misses the point of Z's lessons. Needing a break from his mentor, Cody heads off into the jungle - and runs smack into Lani, the pretty lifeguard who rescued him. She invites him to one of her favorite places - the lava tubes that run underneath the island. After an exciting, playful afternoon exploring the tubes, Cody returns to Z's beach and repeats the steps that Z taught him earlier. This time, ready to heed Z's lessons, Cody creates a perfect board. Z is pleased with what Cody has created, but Cody, still preoccupied with the need to win, asks only how many points you get for being "in the tube" - inside the curl of a wave.

Z continues his teaching - first making Cody practice his surfing on land, and then - finally! - in the water. For the first time in 10 years, Z takes a board and dives into the ocean. Z is happier than he's been in years - until Cody asks Z to watch him surf during the competition the next day. Z is disappointed - if Cody still wants to compete, has he been listening at all? But Cody is convinced this is just an excuse for whatever happened ten years earlier. And it's true: Z says that he couldn't win against Tank, and couldn't face going back to the beach as a loser, so he chose to disappear. The young penguin, angry with Z, walks off, not caring what his mentor thinks about the competition.

Cody returns to the surf beach to compete - and shocks the crowd as he shows he is no longer the "wipeout kid" (in Reggie's words) that he was three days ago. With the confidence from his lessons with Z, he is simply taking the waves as they come. As the finals near, he will need to rise to the challenge and prove to Big Z, Lani, and himself what a true winner really is.

ABOUT THE CHARACTERS

CODY MAVERICK

Shiverpool, Antarctica native Cody Maverick is an undersized Rockhopper penguin with an oversized yearning to be a winner. Because he thinks a surfing trophy will bring him the love and respect he knows he deserves, Cody is determined to do whatever it takes to win the 10th Annual Big Z Memorial Surf-Off.

Cody's idol is Big Z, a renowned surfer who once had everything Cody wants. Big Z was popular, successful, and adored by millions. Even though Z never returned from his final wave in a competition ten years ago, his legend has only grown in the young penguin's mind. Still, Cody has a lot to learn - including that being a winner doesn't necessarily mean taking home a trophy.

Shia LaBeouf leads the cast as the 17-year-old Cody. He notes that while the ultimate moral of Surf's Up may be "follow your dreams," the emphasis should be on the follow and not necessarily the dream. "It's not the destination; it's the journey," LaBeouf says. "It's a happier way to live."

The heart of the film, according to LaBeouf, is the relationship between Cody and Big Z, the onetime great who took his chance to disappear from the rest of the world. "They're two loners who become best friends when they're forced together," he says. "It's reciprocal; Big Z can teach Cody about the joy of surfing, but Cody can also show Z the path back to the life he's missed out on."

That onscreen relationship was mirrored off-screen by LaBeouf and Jeff Bridges. "In the booth, Jeff is all about creating the scene, as if he were on a live-action set," says LaBeouf. "He'll mime the scene - he'll say, 'OK, here's the coconut, so don't come over here; if you step in the wrong place, you're going to trip' - and I'm thinking, 'Oh, I've got to remember that's there.' And at first, you think it's insane, but then the scene begins and Jeff will say two or three words and we have a rollercoaster of emotion, all spawned by Jeff."

"Creating a character that's fifty percent me, fifty percent the animator, was an interesting experience," says LaBeouf. "I'm proud of how Cody came out - and it's completely a dual effort. To see him move - with detail from feather to feather - he comes to life."

EZEKIEL "BIG Z" TOPANGA

The world of surfing had no bigger star than Big Z. With his chiseled physique, self-confident air, and sense of fun, he rode the crest of the surfing world, bringing the sport into the mainstream. His name was synonymous with surfing until his last competition ten years ago, when he went out for his final wave and never came back.

Since then, Z has grown from a star into a legend, thanks to the marketing genius of scheming talent manager, Reggie Belafonte. Under Reggie's greedy eye for attention, Big Z's legend has become a veritable industry of trinkets and tchotchkes that couldn't be further from the life of surfing he stood for.

"I surfed quite a bit in high school," says Jeff Bridges, who plays the legendary surfer. "Then I stopped for about 20 years. I've just started to take it up again. I'm fair; my chops are coming back. At first, the thing that I feared was the temperature - the water is so cold out there - but with the wet suits they have today, the cold is no problem. It's the paddling - I have about 10 paddles in me and I have to rest for awhile."

When Big Z went out for a final wave, he took his opportunity to disappear rather than disappoint the fans who expected him to win every time. "He's dead to the world - almost as if he's spending his whole life asleep," says Bridges. "From out of nowhere comes this kid - and at first, he's irritated, but he can't help but find himself waking up to life and all the wonderful experiences out there. Cody gets him out on the water, which is what Big Z loved first."

Surf's Up presented a special opportunity for Bridges to collaborate with a close friend. "There was a scene set around a campfire, and I thought, 'Well, maybe Z's got a ukulele," says Bridges. "The directors thought that was a great idea, so I threw it to my buddy, John Goodwin - he's my oldest friend; we go back to fourth grade - and a half-hour later, he's got the song. Boom - it's in the movie, and I've got a huge smile on my face."

"Ash and Chris were very much in sync," adds Bridges of the film's directors. "Because they complemented each other so well, it made for a great flow of ideas - any input you had was encouraged." Working with his fellow actors also aided the creative process: "I've done animated films in the past, and usually you're in front of a mic alone," he says. "For this film, we got to play together."

LANI ALIIKAI

Lani is a beguiling young gentoo penguin whose expressive eyes can scold or soothe without a word being spoken. An excellent surfer in her own right, she doesn't squander her abilities proving herself to others. Instead, as a lifeguard on the world's best surfing beach, Lani loves her job rescuing little wipeouts and big showoffs, including Cody. Also, as Big Z's niece, she is the only one who knows that he is still alive and has helped keep his secret for 10 years.

Like the rest of the cast, Zooey Deschanel, who plays Lani, enjoyed the unusual recording sessions. "For the scenes where Lani is carrying Cody, the directors had sandbags for me to carry - you can hear the exertion in my voice. It was very aerobic."

Deschanel's favorite contribution to the film may be her role as the inspiration for Arnold, a baby penguin that's constantly falling in the water just so he can be rescued by Lani, the object of his crush. At first, the character didn't exist - Deschanel had one line about rescuing a penguin chick. "I ad-libbed his name - Arnold," she says. "Chris Jenkins asked me why he was named Arnold, and I said, 'He just looks like an Arnold.' Then I said something about too much passing out too often not being good for the brain… and the next time I came in, there was a whole character - and it flourished without me being there! The seed of the idea sprung forth from magic."

"One of the things that made me so excited about the movie was how real the waves looked," adds Deschanel. "It's so fresh - it reminds me of Step into Liquid and Endless Summer and the other great surfing documentaries. I've never seen anything like it in animation."

CHICKEN JOE

Chicken Joe just might be the only Midwestern farm rooster with a shot at winning the 10th Annual Big Z Memorial Surf Off. The humongous crashing waves of Pen Gu Island are a far cry from those lapping against the Great Lakes shores, but this lovable oddball is happy anywhere there are friends and surfboards. Chicken Joe and Cody Maverick become fast friends, recognizing in each other the shared experience of being the outsider in their respective home towns.

Jon Heder takes on the voice of this lighthearted surf nut. Despite his laid-back demeanor, Chicken Joe's the one who's got it all figured out. "There's much more than meets the eye to Chicken Joe - he's a smart chicken," says Heder. "He's got his act together - he's there to have fun. He just loves to surf - he doesn't really care about competition.

"There's a certain carefree feel to Chicken Joe that I relate to," he adds. "I remember being a kid on the basketball court - I just wanted to goof around and have fun shooting the ball, but all my friends just wanted to win. They all got mad at me."

"Chicken Joe definitely has Midwestern family values," Heder continues. "He loves that feeling of family and he's friendly to everyone. He forms a fast brotherly bond with Cody, whether or not Cody sees it that way. Chicken Joe sees a guy who's a little bit lost and realizes that they're going to need each other while they're on Pen Gu."

"When you voice an animated character, not only are you voice acting, you're also practicing your improv skills," Heder continues. "It's always a weird experience to sit in a booth with the headphones on and imagine yourself in a place as serene as Pen Gu… and as a chicken."

"The great thing about animation is that anything you can imagine, you can bring to life," concludes Heder, who is very familiar with the medium. His brother was an animator with Sony Pictures Imageworks until recently and the actor himself studied the subject in college before focusing on his acting career. "It was like the designers just thought, 'What would be the perfect place to go surfing and relax?' - and they designed exactly what they wanted: the beaches, the waves, the jungle, just the place you want to go for vacation."

REGGIE BELAFONTE

Manipulative otter Reggie Belafonte didn't shed a tear when his surfing prodigy, Big Z Topanga, disappeared into the Pen Gu Island waves. The scheming manager who turned Big Z into a goldmine was starting to make even more money from heir apparent Tank "The Shredder" Evans, and the big bucks keep rolling in as Big Z's fans turn their devotion into commemorating the legend. He's already got his eye on young up-and-coming surfer Cody Maverick's earning potential, but meanwhile, he's happy to take credit for things he had nothing to do with creating. Two-time Academy AwardR nominee James Woods plays the role.

MIKEY ABROMOWITZ

Mikey Abromowitz is a small, stressed-out shorebird with a rapid-fire punchline for every mess thrown at him by life and his boss, Reggie Belafonte. Originally a talent scout for the dryer and more flamboyant world of musical theater, Mikey is always just one ulcer away from discovering the next big thing in competitive surfing.

For Mario Cantone, the chance to play the hapless shorebird was "a blast. He's impatient and miserable and hilarious - a great character to investigate."

Cantone describes the process in the recording booth: "First you run through it as written, and then you start branching off. And then you branch off the branch - it just keeps building. Ash and Chris were very encouraging - they just let me go and they sat there and laughed for three hours, which is great when you're a sick, conditioned comic like me who's always looking for approval."

As the comic foil to James Woods's Reggie Belafonte, Cantone spent a lot of time in the booth with Woods. "He has so many stories," says Cantone. "You just want to sit there and listen, even though it's intimidating." Why intimidating? "Because it's James Woods! It finally got to the point where I was comfortable, but he has a presence, he's brilliant, and he's James Woods - intimidating."

TANK EVANS

Winning is everything to the swaggering emperor penguin known as Tank "The Shredder" Evans. Of course, he's a genuinely great surfer, which he'd have to be to win the Big Z Memorial Surf Off nine times in a row, but there's no room for anything else in the brawny athlete's life - except for making special time for polishing his trophies.

Actor Diedrich Bader says, "Surf's Up is a tragedy about the greatest penguin surfer in history - Tank 'The Shredder' Evans - and the challenges that befall him. A handsome emperor penguin, enormous and threatening, he experiences a fall from grace."

How does that fall come about? Perhaps something to do with one Cody Maverick? "Never heard of him," says Bader.

He kids, but Bader took his role seriously - to the point of attending surf camp in Malibu. "I learned just how difficult surfing is," he says. "I was up for maybe two or three seconds. That was good enough for me - been there, done that! Now I'm just like Tank, 'cause I was up for two or three seconds," he says, sarcastically.

Bader says despite the fact that it's easy to call Tank a bad guy, his son showed him a different way to see the character. "I described the story to him, and he asked me which character I played. When I told him I played the bad guy, he said, 'No, Daddy - he's not a bad guy, he just wants something else.' All he wants is to be left alone with his trophies. I think if somebody told him that there was such a thing as a trophy shop, surfing would be over."

"When we started production, Tank was a stereotypical bully," says Buck. "We had to keep pushing and pushing to find something different. Our head of story, Jeff Ranjo, cracked the weird side of Tank and took him to another place."

EDNA MAVERICK

Life in Shiverpool is hard for a widowed mother penguin, left to raise two sons in a town where the only aspiration is a job higher up the fish pile at the factory. Edna loves both of her children equally, but she finds it a lot easier to raise Cody's older sibling Glen than the high-spirited Cody. She lives in hope that Cody will outgrow his surfing phase so he can settle down and get a proper job, just like Glen and every other penguin.

The film's script coordinator, Dana L. Belben, first voiced the role as a scratch track - a temporary track to lay over the storyboards as a means of seeing how a scene might play. "She just nailed the character; she hit it out of the park," says director Ash Brannon. "It was so real that when it came time to cast the role, we just said to her, 'Well, it's got to be you.'"

GLEN MAVERICK

Glen is Cody's older brother in the Maverick's Shiverpool household. The two Rockhopper penguins are separated by a mere 14 seconds, but that's more than enough to give Glen license to bully his undersized sibling. When they were kids, Glen always gobbled down more than his fair share of regurgitated fish. Now that they're almost adults, Glen belittles Cody's dreams of getting anything more from life than the small comforts of a warm igloo and something smelly on the table when he comes home from work. Brian Posehn, perhaps best-known for his recurring role as Kevin on "Just Shoot Me," takes on the role.

ARNOLD, KATEY and SMUDGE

Arnold is a mischievous little penguin chick whose calculated "drownings" say more about his desire to keep getting "rescued" by Lani than his inability to swim - especially since penguins can swim almost from the time they hatch. Six-year-old Reed Buck, son of director Chris Buck, provides his voice.

Katey is Arnold's best friend. She is a precocious and strong-willed penguin who has very firm opinions about Tank Evans, Reggie Belafonte, and why the world of competitive surfing is not just for boys. Reese Elowe, the eight-year-old daughter of producer Christopher Jenkins, plays the role.

Smudge is Katey's younger brother. His near-constant silence belies the fact that Smudge, like all little kids, is taking in much more information than those around him realize - until he blurts things out at the most inopportune times. Jack P. Ranjo, 6, the son of head of story Jeff Ranjo, takes on Smudge.

THE PEN GU-ANS

Known for their ability to set clever traps in the jungle, the Pen Gu-ans are the native clan of penguins on the island of Pen Gu. This hyperactive species of birds move a little faster than your average penguin, a characteristic accentuated by their erratic, staccato, and incomprehensible way of talking. They also have a fondness for eating chicken.

ROB MACHADO, KELLY SLATER, AND SAL MASEKELA

Champion surfers Rob Machado and Kelly Slater, along with renowned sports commentator Sal Masekela, appear in Surf's Up as themselves in penguin form. Artists captured their personalities and mannerisms, but Rob, Kelly, and Sal provided their own voices for total authenticity.

ABOUT THE ANIMATION

As any member of the voice cast would say, creating the character only begins with the voice. When the actor has laid down the track, the torch is passed to the talented team of character animators at Sony Pictures Imageworks, the digital production studio where Surf's Up was made.

David Schaub, the senior animation supervisor, says the film's conceit - that it is a documentary or reality-television show - informed the characters' performances. "The illusion in Surf's Up is that the camera just happens to be there to capture the moment," he says. "In animation, we rarely get the opportunity to play out such long, extended performances, where characters carry the shot completely. It is an animator's dream come true!

"The animation style of Surf's Up is caricatured reality," Schaub adds. "The real-world dynamics are pushed to caricature without breaking the fundamental rules of physics and gravity."

Art director/character designer Sylvain Deboissy was inspired by the same idea. "When you think about it, penguins are a caricature of humans - we share the same silhouette," he says. "Audiences identify with them. In designing the overall look of our characters, it was our goal to strike a balance between a realistic look and anthropomorphizing their characteristics. We gave our penguins just enough unique qualities to make them stand out in a crowd."

Deboissy says that one of the greatest challenges from a design point of view was Lani, the beguiling lifeguard. "She's smart and tough, but very feminine," he says. "The gentoo penguin has a much more elongated silhouette than the others. In addition, we wanted her to have very expressive eyes."

Another challenge solved by the eyes came when designing Big Z. "Because we see him as both Geek and Big Z, we couldn't give too much away, but we also had to make sure that there was an unmistakable match."

Other characters had direct inspirations. "Chris Buck knew exactly what he wanted Chicken Joe to look like," says Deboissy. "He provided the template and we stayed true to that vision throughout the process - though his torso is a little more elongated, to make him believable as a surfer."

With the design in place, four supervising animators took the lead on Surf's Up - Peter Nash, Renato Dos Anjos, Chad Stewart, and Chris Hurtt and their teams were responsible for animating entire sequences rather than specializing in a particular character. Working closely with each other and with Schaub, the directors, and producer, the four supervisors met every day to compare notes, watch each others' scenes, and offer suggestions.

"Each of us comes from a different perspective and naturally looks for different things in the performances and animation," Stewart says. "We meet together and look over the work and sometimes one will notice something that another didn't. The animation is stronger for it."

Nash was responsible for a portion of the Shiverpool sequence of the film and got to know Cody very well. "A lot of the subtlety of Surf's Up is a character saying one thing but meaning another - it's all about the subtext," he says. "We'll have a character position his body a certain way, or perhaps give it away with their eyes - maybe a left-right eye dart that shows they're thinking about something while trying to be composed. Even something like a few quick blinks can show that the character is off-kilter."

One example of this idea comes during the Shiverpool sequence, when Cody puts on a brave face when talking about his father, who died when Cody was a small penguin. "He's confronted with a deeply emotional feeling for him and he's trying to play a tough guy, so he overcompensates," says Nash. In addition to the vocal inflection given the lines by Shia LaBeouf, Nash's animation gives several telltale clues that belie his facade. "Cody's taken off-guard by the question and raises his eyebrows, then quickly goes back to being stern. Something even more subtle I did was to dilate his pupils just at the moment that he's hit with the question." Finally, after giving his answer, Cody, who had been looking away, gives a quick glance back at the camera, as if to see if the interviewer bought his line - and gives away his game.

To come up with these moments that bring the scene to life, Nash - like all character animators - videotaped himself saying the lines and trying different facial expressions. "You don't have to be a good actor, but you do have to do several takes to find the nugget you can take," he says.

According to Nash, the animators went out of the way to animate Cody at the end of the film differently than they did at the beginning. "At the beginning, Cody is headstrong, confident, a strong personality - a good kid, but a typical teenage kid," he says. "At the end, there's a scene where he's being interviewed - if you watch Cody, everything about him is relaxed. There's no overcompensation, no front he's putting up. Actually, he's so subtle, he was hard to animate - it seems like the character isn't doing much, but you have to make it convincing."

Animating the otter Reggie Belafonte - who fancies himself as the puppeteer who pulls the strings - required a completely different approach. While all the other characters play their cards close to the vest, Reggie is loud and emotional - while thinking he's a master manipulator. "He projects everything three times as much as everybody else, but thinks he has a poker face - that's what makes him so funny," says Nash.

Deboissy, the character designer, says, "Looks are very deceiving with Reggie. We purposely designed our villain to be very cute and cuddly."

That kind of subtext is woven throughout the film. For Renato Dos Anjos, one particularly memorable scene is the "making the board" sequence, in which Big Z encourages Cody to shape his own surfboard. "That scene is all about Cody and Z," says Dos Anjos. "Cody is getting frustrated by waiting, and Z is taking his time to carve the board slowly. Z is trying to teach him to take it easy and enjoy the process, but Cody is impatient to get to the end result."

"One of the hardest things to do in animation is to make sure it looks like the character is listening," says Dos Anjos. "We used all the techniques on that shot - it's so long, and Cody has to do so much listening, that we pulled all the rabbits out of our hat." One example from the scene: Cody keeps trying to make eye contact with Z, who is engrossed in carving the board.

"When I was storyboarding the sequence, I based it on real experiences with my grandpa," says story artist Jason Lethcoe. "The scene brought back memories of working with him in his garage. I would fool around with the tools and the wood scraps and he would give me advice on how to build something the right way."

For editor Ivan Bilancio, listening to the recorded voices of Jeff Bridges and Shia LaBeouf brought home the fact that he was editing a film that was, in some ways, very much like a documentary. "The paradigm of recording the actors was to let the actors improvise. From there, we would find the pieces to help create the sequence. When I heard Jeff and Shia playing off each other, I couldn't wait to cut it. It was all in the performance," he says. "Just like a team shooting a documentary, we didn't know what we were going to get before the performance. That was the first sequence we were able to do that way, and once we did that, we found that the technique lent itself to the rest of the film."

On the other hand, not every character is about subtext and hidden emotion: Chicken Joe wears his heart on his sleeve. "He's totally sincere," says Dos Anjos. "He's an innocent. Even when the Pen Gu-ans put him in a pot to cook him for dinner, he says, 'These guys are my friends,' and he means it. He'll do anything for his friends."

"When we started on Chicken Joe, I think we all thought that he wasn't too bright, but Ash and Chris changed our focus and went towards innocence," says Nash. "He's not dumb; he's got old-soul wisdom."

The animator who spent the most time getting to know Chicken Joe was Chad Stewart. "When we first got started, we were trying a bunch of walks for all the different characters," he remembers. "It was a challenge for a long time to make the penguins distinctive, since they are so similar in their coloring. When we got to Chicken Joe, it was a chance to cut loose. About halfway through production, we started working with Chicken Joe surfing, and that's when things got really different. It was a blast."

In fact, Stewart was the character animator who headed up all of the surfing sequences, regardless of which character was on the board. "I think it takes three things to do great surfing animation: a good physical animator who really understands weight, motion and physics; someone who is very technical and understand all the ins and outs of the amazing wave rig that we have; and someone who knows how to surf," Stewart says. "While we're not really surfing, we had to make it look like our characters can surf at the pro level. In order to do that, we had to spend many hours pouring over how Kelly Slater can launch himself into the air, how Rob Machado can seemingly float over the face of the wave, and any number of other surfing do's and don't's."

With regard to the physical animation, Stewart says each character was given a distinctive surfing style, usually based on a real-life master of the sport. For example, the animation team looked at footage of legendary big-wave surfer and board shaper Greg Noll as a reference for Big Z - going so far as to mimic Noll's style in Z's character animation. Similarly, shades of Kelly Slater can be seen in Cody Maverick's surfing, as can elements of Sunny Garcia's riding in Tank's.

On the other hand, Stewart found an unusual inspiration for Chicken Joe's surf style: roller disco. "I looked at the movie 'Roll Bounce' and thought it would be fun if Chicken Joe was dancing and grooving along on the waves," he says. "That movie and other clips gave us the feel for his style at the very beginning."

Of course, this meant that in order to be a good animator of surfing, the animators - as Stewart indicated - had to be good surfers, too. "I used to surf quite a bit and I still surf a decent amount," he says. "We went out a couple of times with the crew and just being out there gives you a different perspective."

Of course, that's just the physical animation. As Stewart mentioned, the animators also had to have particular skill at technical animation - how the board moves with the wave. "Since the waves are moving at 10 or 20 miles an hour, the stage is moving through a space," says Stewart. "Of course, not only is the character surfing, but performing - there's a scene taking place on the board. You have to emote as well as perform physical moves on the water. You had to be technical enough to use the tools of the wave rig - knowing that what you did would affect the water. We had a lot of interaction between layout, animation, and effects - even a simple wave could have enormous challenges."

ABOUT THE WAVES

From the very beginning, it was clear that in order for Surf's Up to catch its wave, it was essential that the waves be just as believable as Cody and the other inhabitants of Pen Gu Island. Dozens of creative talents, including visual effects supervisor Rob Bredow, senior animation supervisor David Schaub, head of layout James Williams, editor Ivan Bilancio, and digital producer Chris Juen, analyzed videos, studied scientific references, and even took surfing lessons while they applied their own considerable artistry to this daunting task. They also tapped champion surfers like Kelly Slater and Rob Machado to add expert authenticity. "Animating a surfer is inherently tricky, because you have to take those moves and put them on top of a moving environment, often chasing the surfer through the wave," Schaub said. "Everything the surfer does is driving the surfboard and the surfboard is tracking on the wave but the wave is moving through space. So, there are a lot of variables.

"If we were dealing with a ski slope or a snowboarding hill, it would be tricky enough," adds Schaub. "But we took those moves and then put them on top of a moving environment, so we're chasing the surfer through the wave throughout the shot. You don't want to make the two feel like they're disconnected, because everything the surfer does is driving the surfboard and the surfboard is tracking on the wave, but the wave is moving through space."

"Since the surfers and the water affect each other, a lot of our work was a chicken-and-egg situation where neither one could really come first," said Visual effects supervisor Rob Bredow. "To manage that, we built tools much earlier on than we normally would - things like a primitive version of the wake after the surfboard, crude white water, a whole set of tools to block the shots - and then went back to perfect everything." Artists in each department developed a much broader scope of familiarity than usual, often providing expertise honed on live action elsewhere within Imageworks. "The entire team did an outstanding job, and I think it really shows when you see it on the screen."

Since the waves are just as central to the action as they are to the characters' lives, production designer Paul Lasaine determined that the waves should deliver an emotional impact beyond what photorealism could convey. "With the title of Surf's Up, we knew we had to create a wave that will make surfers ache to get back into the ocean," he says.

The process started with the Sony Pictures Imageworks crew studying the scenes captured by such renowned artists as cinematographer John-Paul Beeghly and nature photographer Frans Lanting to help determine what makes each wave unique. They pored over videos of renowned surfers like Greg Knolls, Sunny Garcia, Rob Machado, and Kelly Slater. They scrutinized such top surfing documentaries as The Endless Summer (1966), Step Into Liquid (2003), Second Thoughts (2004) and Riding Giants (2004) to better understand the sport and what characteristics those movies shared. They became so familiar with legendary surfing spots - Tahiti's Teahupo'o, Northern California's Maverick's Point, Hawaii's Banzai Pipeline - the lighting specialist teams named themselves after famous waves.

To help capture what it feels like to take a board out, most of the Surf's Up crew also took surfing lessons and shot hours of reference video. Bredow even risked an outing to Cortez Bank, where giant waves crash over a chain of underwater mountains 100 miles out in the ocean from San Diego, California.

Bredow and digital producer Chris Juen were in charge of putting technology into the service of the artists. Erick Miller, a wave setup lead at Imageworks, led the development of the animation rig that made it possible to animate the surf environments, a complex assignment that took about a year to complete. John Clark led the wave animation that perfected the final result. "We wanted the waves to feel real as well as look real, so we thought of the waves as characters in their own right and created them accordingly," Bredow said. "Each one can be controlled and lit through a combination of physically correct and artistic controls over each element."

For the final imprimatur of realism, champion surfer Kelly Slater visited the studio to critique the animators' version of his natural habitat. He was given a stylus to indicate his points on the screen, and the artists incorporated his guidance for the finished product. "I could see it for two seconds and tell it fits properly," Slater says. "There are things that you have a feeling for, and if you see it and it's wrong, you'll know it feels wrong even if you can't understand why."

Bredow says the time with Slater was invaluable. "It was pretty informative to sit next to him and let him draw, to show us exactly where we still had a couple things to work on. That was in addition to it being just a fun time to sit next to Kelly Slater and look at our waves and have him say, yeah, that's looking pretty good."

Much of the animation work required the creation of new technologies, since each wave was built from the ocean floor up. "The waves meant the riggers had to create basically a character that layout could animate and that effects could work with, so a wave actually is a character that flowed over three departments before it got to effects," says supervising animator Chad Stewart. "That's a little scary but it worked out very well in this movie."

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