The making of 'The End of Oak Street'

Issue #68 of befores & afters magazine covers the visual effects of The End of Oak Street.

DIGITAL MAGAZINE members can download the issue right now from the shop post.

David Robert Mitchell, the filmmaker behind It Follows (2014) and Under the Silver Lake (2018), takes a decidedly different approach to science-fiction adventure with The End of Oak Street. Set in 1982, the film follows the Platt family—Denise (Anne Hathaway), Greg (Ewan McGregor) and their children Audrey (Maisy Stella) and Brian (Christian Convery)—whose already complicated family life is thrown into extraordinary circumstances when a mysterious cosmic event tears their suburban Michigan neighborhood from its surroundings and transports it millions of years into the past. What was once a quiet residential street is suddenly surrounded by prehistoric wilderness, with the inhabitants discovering that they are no longer at the top of the food chain.

As the neighborhood struggles to understand what has happened, the Platts find themselves facing an increasingly dangerous collection of prehistoric creatures, including dinosaurs that roam between the houses and surrounding forests. The production combined location shooting, practical stunt work and extensive visual effects to create the film’s unusual collision of familiar suburbia and prehistoric wilderness.

The substantial digital effects workload was handled by Industrial Light & Magic, which delivered approximately 700 visual effects shots across its Sydney, San Francisco and Vancouver facilities. The work encompassed several prehistoric species, including an Allosaurus, Coelophysis, Camarasaurus and the enormous Titanoboa, as well as digital doubles, extensive environment extensions and the transformation of the neighborhood into a prehistoric landscape.

In this special issue of befores & afters magazine, we dive into The End of Oak Street’s effects work with production visual effects supervisor Jay Cooper (who hails from ILM), ILM visual effects supervisor Trevor Hazel, and special effects supervisor J.D. Schwalm. They discuss the work in their own words, accompanied by a range of behind the scenes imagery.

You can also grab the issue in PRINT from Amazon (that’s the US store, make sure you try your local Amazon store, too).