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THE ARTISTS AND SCIENTISTS AT WETA DIGITAL DIDN'T MONKEY AROUND WHEN IT CAME TO CREATING CAESAR, A DIGITAL CHIMPANZEE. AND OTHER CG APES FOR RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
When the leading role in a critically acclaimed film is a CG character performed by a human actor, who receives the accolades? The actor who created a riveting performance without speaking a word? The visual effects artists who translated that performance onto a dissimilar face and body?
Numerous critics call Caesar, the chimpanzee star of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the most expressive character in the film. But, it'; more likely that Weta Digital animators and artists will win Oscars for Best Visual Effects than Andy Serkis, the actor who aped Caesar, will win an Oscar for Best Actor. That there is buzz about Serkis receiving a nomination is a tribute to the animators and the visual effects artists, not just the actor.
Tb turn the CG apes into film stars, the artists at Weta drew on their experiences in applying morion and performance capture to several characters in previous films: Collum in 7/V Lord of the Rings, King Kong in his film, and the NaVi in Avatar. So, it made sense for the producers and director Rupert Wyatt to look for help from Weta.
"The schedule was so compressed that Fox brought us in 8 and asked if we could do it," says Joe Letteti, senior visual effects supervisor. "Fox knew that they wanted the apes to be all-digital, and that was a big part of getting the film done. Because the schedule was tight and everything was so intertwined, we had to say we could take it all on. From start to finish, it took about a vear."
Given the tight schedule, the chimpanzee star, and the number of apes to animate, the crew at Weta Digital knew they wanted to use performance capture, a decision that worked out especially well once Serkis, who had played Gollum and Kong, agreed to perform Caesar.
But, they also knew that although they could draw on some systems used in the past, the facility would need to develop new technology, as well. "We wanted to take performance capture into the real world,"...