W
eta Workshop is a multi Academy Award®
winning conceptual design and physical
manufacturing facility. Best known for the company’s
design and effects work on award-winning film projects,
including Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings Trilogy,
King Kong and The Hobbit, James Cameron’s Avatar,
Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin, Neill
Blomkamp’s District 9 & Elysium and Marc Webb’s
recently released The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
Wellington, our film-friendly hometown on the lower
North Island of New Zealand, boasts a strong local film
industry.
Weta Workshop is part of the greater Wellington-based
creative community of Weta Digital, Pukeko Pictures,
Park Road Post, and Stone Street Studios. This collective
community works together to provide a comprehensive
range of services.
The Weta Cave Experience
The Weta Cave Experience is a new visitor experience
in the heart of Miramar, Wellington. This experience,
located on Park Road, is exclusively for large groups and
can accommodate numbers of between 20-100. When
you book the Weta Cave Experience you gain access to
a private mini theatre, a stunning new tour space and
a retail shop with dedicated photo opportunities with
props from the films.
The space can be customised to allow for any
combination of workshops ranging from a basic package
of a 45 minute guided tour and 25 minute behindthe-scenes documentary to a full day of workshops
involving anything from prosthetics to blood making!
Tailor-Made Packages
Should your group be over 100 people we can also cater for groups of all sizes in collaboration with various
venues in our filmmaking community. Please talk to us about how we can tailor make experiences for your
groups to suit any needs you may have. Drinks and canapés can also be arranged at any of our venues for an
extra cost. Below are a range of options groups of any size can choose from to make their experience inspiring!
See How We Do it
CHAINMAILLE
Unique Weta Tenzan Chainmaille sprung from a desire to make something that
was comfortable to wear on long shoots, but that looked right and behaved
believably on camera for The Lord of the Rings.
Weta developed a unique process that was used to create the hundreds of suits
of chainmaille that were seen extensively throughout the trilogy.
Learn from a Weta Artist and make your own piece of Weta Tenzan
Chainmaille
Learn the intricacies of how to make chainmaille, as seen in movies such as the
Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Kingdom of Heaven, The Chronicles of Narnia and The
Hobbit.
BLOOD MAKING
A significant amount of blood and torn flesh has been created
within the Workshop, for movies such as 30 days of Night, Bad
Taste and 1991 New Zealand cult classic Brain-dead which is
renowned for its abundance of blood and gore.
So come create some fake blood with one of our Weta Artists.
Learn about the different processes used byWeta Technicians,
on how to create fake blood of all colours and consistencies.
MAKE-UP & PROSTHETICS
Specialists in make-up effects, prosthetics and on-set
application, Weta Workshop has spent over 25 years bringing
some of the big screen’s most legendary characters to life
with ground-breaking make-up and prosthetics.
At Weta we are rarely involved in a beautification process – it’s
more likely the opposite. The make-up effects room at Weta
is a bonanza of cuts, abrasions, boils, welts and other gory
prosthetic devices. The walls are lined with gruesome facial
appliances, severed heads, yetis, vampires and hundreds of
casts of famous faces. Hitchcock, Laughton, McKellen and
Nicholson share these walls with Hepburn, Travolta and
Washington. No, not Denzel - George!
Extreme make-over on a volunteer
Watch a member of your group be transformed through
the application of silicone, gelatine, transfers and foam
latex prosthetics.
DESIGN PROCESS
Weta Workshop’s design department is an internationally recognised, self-contained
design studio that supplies clients with ground-breaking conceptual ideas and highly
creative visuals. One of the principles of Weta’s design philosophy is world-design,
whereby the designers adopt the mind-set of creating entire worlds with their
own internal consistency, as opposed to designing specific items in isolation. This
helps bring a universal reality to the work produced, with each item having being
conceived thoughtfully and within the context of the rest of the world it exists in.
Create a new creature or scene
Let one of our designers take you through the concept design process and show
you how to help them create something never-before-seen...
PAINTING
There isn’t a surface or a texture in this universe (or others...) that these guys
can’t recreate with such authenticity that their colleagues find it difficult to
spot the replica. The hard work of the Painting and Finishing Department makes the
difference between a prop that stands out... and one that truly blends in.
Ironically, when you ask them they often claim that the work they do is never finished. In
many ways this is true, as movie props live a hard life and touch-ups and restorations on
the fly are part and parcel of the trade.
Watch the magic come alive
Learn from one of our Weta Technicians, the intricacies and processes of painting and
finishing.
SCULPTING
The sculpting room at Weta is perhaps the one place where imagination most
tangibly comes to life. Every square foot of wall has a shelf on it and every
shelf is laden with sculptures. It’s like a monochromatic line-up of creatures and
monsters - your childhood, your dreams and your nightmares wrapped up in
one. Many of the incredibly talented sculptors at Weta are self-taught - with a
keen eye, a steady hand and a source of imagination and inspiration that never
runs dry. It takes approximately 400-500 hours to design, sculpt, model-make,
mould and paint the prototype for each new character.
Watch a live sculpting display
Watch a Weta Sculptor create and develop a 3 dimensional creature.
Other options available:
MOVEMENT COACHING
Learn from a Choreographer or performer about the rigorous training and techniques
used to prepare actors for the unusual requirements of filming in a make-believe
world.
STUNT FIGHTING
Meet a Swords Master, Stunt performer or Fight Choreographer and learn about the
training and techniques used to create believable fight scenes for movies, such as
Lord of the Rings Trilogy, King Kong, Avatar, The Chronicles of Narnia and The Hobbit.
Bookings Contact
Melissa Shaw
Tourism Assistant
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +64 4 909 4102
Trade Enquiries Contact
Jake Downing
Head of Tourism
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +64 4 909 4105