There’s no question that Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) trilogy had a enormous impact on the film industry–or that far from Hollywood, the movies had an equally large impact on the remote land where they were made. Even before The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King walked off with 11 Academy Awards in early 2004, New Zealand had established itself as a major world-class production center.
Today, the nation–which has a population of only four million, and locations including snow capped mountain, lush rainforests, and sweeping coastlines–is currently hosting the production of such anticipated films as Universal’s King Kong, the next film from Jackson, slated for release in late 2005; and Disney’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, directed by Andrew Adamson, scheduled for a December release. New Zealand supports an increased slate of international commercial work, as well as long-form production. And New Zealand offers incentive programs and other support to continue to bring international work to the region. The biggest current challenge appears to be the value of the New Zealand dollar compared with the U.S. dollar.
“Since the completion of The Lord of the Rings, the scope of inquiries we deal with has expanded significantly beyond the country’s varied locations to encompass the full range of screen production industry services available here–from effects, animation, sound postproduction to studios and soundstage facilities,” confirms Judith McCann, CEO of Film NZ, the national film locations office. “New Zealand is clearly now viewed as globally competitive, innovative and with a deep pool of highly skilled and talented professionals that are on the cutting edge of creative work for television commercials and feature films.
“It is an exciting time for the industry,” she continues. “Stone Street Studios has been expanding in Wellington with the addition of a new stage employed in King Kong. Auckland is in the midst of adding new stages at Henderson Valley Studios and Studio West. This expansion of soundstage space in New Zealand reflects growing demand.
“At the same time,” adds McCann, “post and effects companies are also responding to increased demand from local production and overseas covering the full range of film, television, commercials and digital productions.”
That includes Flux Animation Studios in Auckland. “Seven years ago, Flux Animation was primarily a 2-D traditional animation studio,” recalls owner Brent Chambers. “Once Lord of the Rings went into production, we noticed within months there was a significant amount of 3-D animation coming through the doors. Our company obligingly expanded to accommodate this opportunity.”
As the 3-D department grew, the company worked on ad campaigns for clients including Adidas and Anchorville. Advertising production companies took notice, and this led to a repping agreement with New York-based animation house Hornet.
“Hornet owner Michael Feder was impressed with our work, and the fact that Lord of the Rings was very much in the spotlight at the time made little old New Zealand a little bit sexy for U.S. ad agencies,” Chambers explains, noting that Flux has worked on roughly 40 Hornet jobs to date. Among the most recent, Flux created a 2-D Pink Panther for “Think Pink” a Sweet ‘N Low’s spot directed by Hornet’s JJ & Maithy for New York agency Pedone & Partners.
Auckland-based Digital Post has recently wrapped advertising work from the Asia Pacific region that’s included an ALAC (Alcohol Advisory Council of New Zealand) campaign for Melbourne-based Clemenger BBDO, directed by Barry Fawcett of Film Construction, Auckland and Sydney; “Frizz Freeze” for Pantene via Grey Melbourne and Prodigy Films (Auckland, Sydney and Melbourne): “Hibernation” for Glassons via Publicis Mojo (South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia), directed by Wade Shotter of Flying Fish Films (Auckland, Sydney and London); and a campaign for Leaning Tower Pizza from Publicis Mojo, directed by Grant LaHood of Flying Fish..
Digital Post also services the U.S. market, as well as international destinations including the U.K., China and Singapore. But while Digital Post has experienced much growth, it is also finding the current currency values for the U.S. and N.Z. dollar to be a challenge (At press time, one USD equaled $1.39 NZD). “A combination of postproduction work on television commercials, feature films and long-form television productions made 2004 the busiest year in Digital Post’s fifteen-year history,” says Digital Post’s executive director Garry Little. “However, all sectors of our international business are very cost driven, and while the U.S. dollar remains weak and our dollar relatively strong, the perceived increased cost of shooting and posting here has made us, for the moment, seem unattractive compared to destinations closer to the traditional movie-making centers. [International commercial] line production is way down from the level of the last few years.”
During its growth spurt, Digital Post built a high-res infrastructure that includes compositing (including Discreet Inferno/Discreet Flame), 3-D, color correction and sound–and supports SD formats through HD and 2k data. To aid international production, Digital Post offers MediaNet or Telestream ClipMail dailies and approval services. These capabilities have led to long-form assignments from international clients, with services including HD dailies and editorial support for The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe; and dailies and online post for Hercules (Coote-Hayes, NBC Entertainment, Hallmark) and Power Rangers – SPD (Ranger Productions, Disney Channel).
One could say that the first seeds of New Zealand’s transformation were planted with Jackson’s ambitious plan to bring Middle Earth–a land populated with a cast that includes elves, dwarfs, hobbits and man–to the big screen. And those capabilities are also keeping work in the region.
Wellington’s WETA Digital–the digital effects house for LOTR, now offers world class commercial and feature effects work, for projects including King Kong.
And the development of the digital crowd replication software that was used to create the LOTR battle scenes led to the birth of a standalone company in Wellington called Massive Software, which made its debut in the advertising world when The Mill (London and New York) used the software to created a “Mountain” of digital people for Sony Playstation. The spot was one of the most honored during last year’s award season, capped with the Grand Prize at Cannes.
“The government here in New Zealand is very supportive of entrepreneurs, and has targeted all creative, film and technology companies as a growth area,” relates Massive Software CEO Diane Holland. “They actively support growth in the filmmaking sector through tax incentives, grants, and generous immigration policies for people with these skill sets.
In fact, she adds. “There has been such a demand here that immigration is actively recruiting people with production and VFX experience to help with the skills shortage. Post LOTR, New Zealand is enjoying the lowest unemployment rate in its history. No amount of money can buy the kind of recognition LOTR has provided for New Zealand.”