French News
Oscar-Winning Movie Makers to Host Research
Friday, 31 July 2009
Weta Digital, the Wellington-based special effects company whose work on the Lord of the Rings trilogy brought it international acclaim, announced yesterday that it had joined forces with TechNZ - the business investment programme of the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology - in a three-year research and development programme.
Research programme leader Sebastian Sylwan said Weta had a "tradition for innovation and a strong development team".
However, academic innovation was often difficult to transfer into production as it was difficult to recreate the complexity and scale of a studio environment.
"Weta Digital will provide researchers with the benefits of such an environment and a range of interesting and advanced research themes to tackle," Mr Sylwan said.
Weta Digital will be recruiting researchers for specific application areas during the next few months.
Science and Technology Minister Wayne Mapp said Weta Digital had been "at the forefront of positioning New Zealand as a creative and innovative country that can re-imagine reality on a global scale".
"More importantly for New Zealand, an industry has been created that in less than 20 years has gone from just about nowhere to world leadership.
"To maintain that position Weta Digital must invest in research that will pioneer new techniques."
Share this article
Subscribe to this blog 