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| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Special effects,animation,video games,board games and miniatures |
| Founded | 1987; 39 years ago (1987) (as RT Effects) |
| Founder |
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| Headquarters | Miramar,Wellington, New Zealand |
Key people |
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| Website | wetaworkshop |
Wētā Workshop is a creative company deliveringconcept design,special effects,props,collectibles,[1] immersive visitor experiences[2] andvideo games.[3] Based inMiramar,Wellington, New Zealand. It also offers two tourism experiences, the Wētā Workshop Experiences Wellington Tour[4] and Wētā Workshop Unleashed[5] in Auckland. It is known for effects fortelevision andfilm.
Founded in 1987 byRichard Taylor and Tania Rodger asRT Effects, Wētā Workshop has produced creatures and makeup effects for the TV seriesHercules: The Legendary Journeys andXena: Warrior Princess and effects for films such asMeet the Feebles andHeavenly Creatures.
Adigital version,Weta Digital (nowWētā FX), was formed in 1993 and operates independently as a separate company.[6] The company is named after the New Zealandwētā, one of the world's largest insects.[7]
Wētā Workshop's output was used in directorPeter Jackson's film trilogiesThe Lord of the Rings andThe Hobbit, producing sets, costumes, armour, weapons, creatures and miniatures.[8] It also aided in the making of Jackson's 2005 version ofKing Kong.[9] It supported the creation ofReclaiming the Blade (2009), a documentary film onstage combat,historical European and Asian swordsmanship.[10]
Wētā Workshop teamed up withTeam Fortress 2, creating weapons and cosmetics based on the company's Dr. Grordbort's Infallible Aether Oscillators series.[11] Additionally, Wētā Workshop created the Aegis of Champions, the trophy awarded inThe International, an annualesports world championship forDota 2.[12]
Wētā Workshop's video games division was founded in 2014[13] and has produced multiple games including the augmented reality projectDr. Grordbort's Invaders forMagic Leap,[14][15][16] and the video gameTales of the Shire.[17]
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 ofOther World at Delaware Theatre Company, creating a digital world for live stage.[18]
ForThe Lord of the Rings film trilogy, realistic lookingchainmail 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 thenelectroplated. A total of 82.9 million links were manufactured from 7 miles (11 km) of PVC pipe.[19]
Wētā Workshop makes chainmail for film and creative industries using new techniques developed in-house. PVC injection was used for the armour inKingdom of Heaven, giving better results than the process forThe Lord of the Rings.[20] It produces aluminium or steel chainmail for high-impact stuntwork.[21]
The termbigature is Wētā Workshop's nickname for a very largeminiature model. They are used inThe Lord of the Rings film trilogy, with the largest of them measuring some 9 metres (30 ft) tall. Extensive computer graphics techniques and computer-controlled cameras were used to seamlessly mesh the bigature photography with live actors and scenes.[22]
Bigatures used inThe Lord of the Rings film trilogy included models of:
Beginning in June 2020, an investigative project by New Zealand public TV broadcaster1News into Wētā's workplace culture resulted in over 11 current and former Wētā Workshop employees anonymously sharing accounts of bullying and harassment.[29] 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 by1 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.[30]
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| Year | Name | Developer(s) | Publisher(s) | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Dr. Grordbort's Invaders[15] | Wētā Workshop | Wētā Workshop | Magic Leap |
| 2025[36] | Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game | Wētā Workshop | Private Division[37] | PlayStation 5,Windows,Xbox Series X/S,Nintendo Switch,iOS,Android[17] |
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
Jonathan Brough... is not to be confused with two other Kiwi screen figures: actor/comedianJonathan Brugh (What We Do in the Shadows) and sometime Weta effects-man Jonathon Brough.
Another Wellington artist, Jonathan Brough [sic], who works at Weta Workshop,...
He works as a designer / props finisher for Weta workshop in Wellington as well as pursuing his own artistic career.
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