Wētā Workshop Explained

Wētā Workshop
Type:Privately held company
Foundation:1987 (as RT Effects)
Location:Wellington, New Zealand
Industry:Visual effects, animation, video games

Wētā Workshop is a special effects and prop company as well as video game developer based in Miramar, Wellington, in New Zealand, that produces effects for television and film. The company is named after the New Zealand wētā, one of the world's largest insects.[1]

History

Founded in 1987 by Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger as RT Effects, Wētā Workshop has produced creatures and makeup effects for the TV series and and effects for films such as Meet the Feebles and Heavenly Creatures. A digital division, Weta Digital (now Wētā FX), was formed in 1993; it is a separate company and operates independently.[2]

Wētā Workshop's output was used in director Peter Jackson's film trilogies The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, producing sets, costumes, armour, weapons, creatures and miniatures.[3] It also aided in the making of Jackson's 2005 version of King Kong.[4] It supported the creation of Reclaiming the Blade (2009), a documentary film on stage combat, historical European and Asian swordsmanship.[5]

Wētā Workshop made its American musical theatre debut in 2022 with Workshop designer Rebekah Tisch serving as the art director for the musical stage production of Other World at Delaware Theatre Company, creating a digital world for live stage.[6]

Innovations

Chainmail

For The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, realistic looking chainmail was made for the lead actors and for the hundreds of extras that appeared throughout the films. PVC pipe was cut into rings, assembled by hand into a semblance of armour, and then electroplated. A total of 82.9 million links were manufactured from 7 miles of PVC pipe.[7]

Wētā Workshop makes chainmail for film and creative industries using new techniques developed in-house. PVC injection was used for the armour in Kingdom of Heaven, giving better results than the process for The Lord of the Rings.[8] It produces aluminium or steel mail for high-impact stuntwork.[9]

Bigatures

The term bigature is Wētā Workshop's nickname for a very large miniature model. They are used in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, with the largest of them measuring some 9 metres high. Extensive computer graphics techniques and computer-controlled cameras were used to seamlessly mesh the bigature photography with live actors and scenes.[10]

Bigatures used in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy included models of:

People

Workplace culture

Beginning in June 2020, an investigative project by New Zealand public TV broadcaster 1 News into Wētā's workplace culture resulted in over 11 current and former Wētā Workshop employees anonymously sharing accounts of bullying and harassment.[16] Another former employee, Layna Lazar, came public with her own allegation by social media posting the same month that she was sexually harassed repeatedly and after seeking recourse, was fired, this prompted an independent review by Hive Consulting in December of that year. Their reviewer Ashley Benefield cleared the company of the allegations stating that "the majority of allegations in the post including the most serious allegations, have either not been substantiated or were reasonable in the context of circumstances not described in the post". The review's December 2020 report did not address the anonymous allegations of over 11 employees originally reported by 1 News back in July, and the concerned employees stated they were not informed of the review having finished, in spite of their cooperation in it.[17]

Film

YearName
1989Meet the Feebles
1992Braindead
1994Heavenly Creatures
1995Forgotten Silver
1996The Frighteners
2001
2002
2003Peter Pan
The Last Samurai
2004I, Robot
Hellboy
Van Helsing
2005
King Kong
Kingdom of Heaven
The Legend of Zorro
2006Black Sheep
200730 Days of Night
2008
Eel Girl
Love Story 2050
2009The Lovely Bones
Under the Mountain
District 9
Born of Hope [18]
Avatar [19]
2010The Devil's Rock
Daybreakers
2011
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
2012
2013
Elysium [20]
The ABCs of Death
2014
2015Krampus
I
2016Remo
Spectral
2017Blade Runner 2049
Power Rangers
The Great Wall
Ghost in the Shell
20182.0
2019The Wandering Earth [21] [22]
[23]
I Am Mother
Sweetheart
2020Bloodshot
Mulan
2021Mortal Kombat
Dune
2022X
M3GAN
2023Cocaine Bear
The Wandering Earth 2
The Creator
2024
Alien Romulus
2025

Television

YearName
1993The Tommyknockers
1995
2005Jane and the Dragon
2009The WotWots
2015Thunderbirds Are Go
2022

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Weta Workshop . https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/facebook/78709352302/10150982993157303 . 2022-02-26 . limited. Weta Workshop . 3 October 2020 . 18 August 2012 . We chose our company name after an insect, a very cool, prickly little monster, unique to New Zealand..
  2. Web site: FAQ . Weta Workshop . 3 May 2021.
  3. Web site: The Making Of Middle-Earth At Weta Workshop . Weta Workshop . 29 March 2021 . 5 March 2020 . no trip would be complete without stepping foot (sic) inside Wellington's Weta Workshop. The Academy Award-winning creative design and physical effects facility is best known for its work on The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) and The Hobbit motion picture trilogies . https://web.archive.org/web/20200806121918/https://tours.wetaworkshop.com/blog/lord-of-the-rings-making-of/ . 6 August 2020 . live.
  4. Book: Morton, Ray . King Kong: The History of a Movie Icon - From Fay Wray to Peter Jackson . Applause: Theatre & Cinema Books . 316–329 . 2005 . 1-55783-669-8 . New York City.
  5. Web site: About the Film . Reclaiming the Blade . 13 November 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120202061845/http://www.reclaimingtheblade.com/main/?page_id=22 . 2 February 2012 . dead.
  6. News: Quinn . Holly . How do you create a digital world for the live stage? Like this . . 12 April 2022.
  7. Web site: Removing the weakest links from chain mail: Kaynemaile . Stuff . 2020-01-22.
  8. Web site: WetaNZ: The home of Weta Collectibles and Weta Tenzan Chainmaille.
  9. Web site: 2006 Costumes – Guild Forums.
  10. The Lord of the Rings: Extended Edition Special Features DVDs
  11. Web site: Jonathan Brough . NZ On Screen . 15 October 2021 . 17 July 2022. Jonathan Brough... is not to be confused with two other Kiwi screen figures: actor/comedian Jonathan Brugh (What We Do in the Shadows) and sometime Weta effects-man Jonathon Brough. .
  12. Web site: Staring down the barrel . NZ Herald . 17 April 2010 . 17 July 2022. Another Wellington artist, Jonathan Brough [<i>sic</i>], who works at Weta Workshop,....
  13. Web site: Jonathan Brough [<i>sic</i>] ]. Gallery De Novo . 14 May 2018 . 17 July 2022. He works as a designer / props finisher for Weta workshop in Wellington as well as pursuing his own artistic career..
  14. Book: Falconer . Daniel . The Art of District 9: Weta Workshop . Harper Collins . 9780062064318 . 22 September 2023 . en.
  15. Web site: Daniel Falconer . ideasondesign . 22 September 2023.
  16. News: Hall. Kristin. 28 July 2020. 'Toxic' culture at acclaimed Weta Workshop revealed by past and present employees. 1 News. TVNZ. 27 January 2022.
  17. News: Hall. Kristin. 19 December 2020. Woman whose sexual harassment complaint sparked Weta Workshop review says it's not over. 1 News. Television New Zealand. 27 January 2022.
  18. Web site: Born of Hope – credits.
  19. News: Philip Wakefield . Close encounters of the 3D kind . . December 19, 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100522202919/http://www.listener.co.nz/issue/3632/features/14597/close_encounters_of_the_3d_kind_.html . May 22, 2010 . February 4, 2010 . live .
  20. Web site: Weta works on Neill Blomkamp's Elysium . Wetanz.com . 13 November 2013.
  21. Web site: Sam Gao's Middle Earth, Wandering Earth and WETA. 2018-07-06. Radio New Zealand. en-nz. 2019-01-29.
  22. Web site: Weta Workshop Movie and TV projects » Weta Workshop. www.wetaworkshop.com. 2019-02-02.
  23. Web site: January 5, 2019. ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL - The Art of VFX. www.artofvfx.com. https://web.archive.org/web/20181220230359/http://www.artofvfx.com/alita-battle-angel/. December 20, 2018. live.