Weta takes technology into television

Weta’s motion-capture technology was used to make Gollum in "The Lord Of The Rings".

Special effects company Weta Workshop has been granted $300,000 to turn the technology that brought The Lord of the Rings character Gollum to life into a home-grown animation industry.

The "motion-capture" technology used in the films can deliver high-quality animation for television more cheaply than was previously possible.

The Government-owned foundation for Research, Science and Technology has given Wellington-based Weta the grant through its technology-for-business scheme.

The animation is being used in a 26-part children's television series called Jane and the Dragon. Canadian television company Nelvana has invested $10 million in the project

"We could have easily made the series in Canada where the availability of subsidies makes it easier to produce animated television," Weta business manager Michael McNeil said.

The grant was a "dream outcome" and a second series of Jane and the Dragon was a possibility, as were further children's animated television shows.

So far, 65 jobs have been created at a former icecream factory in Miramar that is being used as the stage for the series.

The technology was five years ahead of the rest of the world, said Richard Hall, the foundation's business manager.

 

Actors wear lycra suits covered in reflective dots, which are filmed from a number of angles. The information is then fed into a computer that uses software to bring the characters to life. This is the same technique used with British actor Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

McNeil said the process was far less labour-intensive than the traditional animation technique of manually drawing each frame.

Hall said the grant to the highly successful company, which is a third-owned by film-maker Peter Jackson, was necessary for development of the software.

- NZPA