By David Farrier
It's not often Weta opens its inner doors, especially to journalists.
But one of their surprise hits, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, is being released on blu-ray and they wanted to show off the technology that made it such a success.
After a terrible Tim Burton remake early this millenium, the Planet of the Apes franchise was meant to die.
Then this year audiences and critics decided they loved Rise and all because of the believable, lovable apes.
The chimps and monkeys and gorillas were all created by Weta.
Andy Serkis wore motion capture gear to play chimp Caesar. Critics have said he out-acted main star James Franco. He says he was quite chuffed.
“What always interested me when I was a theatre actor was the art of transformation: becoming someone else,” he says.
How the ‘mo-cap’ suit works is; After being covered in dots, your body is calibrated for the infra-red cameras. Then, with the help of arm extensions, it's time to walk like a monkey.
during one scene in the film, the Golden Gate bridge is all computer generated as are the apes. It was my task to become the main chimp Caesar. It's all rendered on-the-fly.
It's hard to take yourself seriously when you look and act like a monkey. I couldn't even get the noises right.
Trainers practised for months just to be monkeys in the background.
The movie has grossed 600 million dollars so far. There is no doubt the blu-ray will add to that, not to mention the fact a sequel is probably on the way.
3 News