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Andy Serkis talks performance capture evolution


Performance-capture technology has come a long way since Peter Jackson and his crew brought it to the mainstream in The Two Towers almost a decade ago. Since then, James Cameron and WETA workshop have worked hard on evolving the technology for films like Avatar and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. When it came […]

Performance-capture technology has come a long way since Peter Jackson and his crew brought it to the mainstream in The Two Towers almost a decade ago. Since then, James Cameron and WETA workshop have worked hard on evolving the technology for films like Avatar and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. When it came to recreating the effect for the Hobbit films, the filmmakers were able to integrate those past experiences into the way that they brought the villainous character of Gollum to life. “When we shot The Lord of the Rings,” says Andy Serkis, the man who plays the creature (and also acts as second unit director), “we shot on 35mm.  I would act with Elijah [Wood] and Sean Astin, and then the performances were filmed. And then, I would have to go back to the motion-capture stage and choreograph Gollum back into the empty plates.” If all that sounds a little bit technical, there’s no need to worry; that complicated method of shooting is a thing of the past. “What is amazing now with performance-capture is that you can get the entire performance, all in one hit, “Serkis continues. “We were able to shoot a scene in its entirety, on a live set, with Martin’s performance being captured on a digital camera while Gollum’s performance used a performance-capture camera, and capture them both, at exactly the same moment in time. …That makes a significant difference to the believability and the emotion.” ~Devin Garabedian

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