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"It's easy to lose yourself in the digital jungles of Avatar, the widescreen landscapes of The Adventures of Tintin or the uncannily human eyes of Caesar, star of Rise of the Planet of the Apes. \nIt's also easy to forget that all this wizardry had to be created from scratch by a team of illustrators, animators and dreamers.\nJoe Letteri is the Director of Weta Digital, the studio behind some of the most mind-blowing digital films in recent years. The giant ape from King Kong, J.R.R. Tolkien's fantastical elves, wraiths and rangers from The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the shrimp-like mutants from District 9 and the PYT mutants from X-Men: First Class all came from Weta, which was co-founded by Peter Jackson in 1993.\nLetteri has had a hand in some of the most technologically impressive films to date. What makes his work special is the blend of technical skill and passion for story-telling. His characters don't just look real, they move, act and feel real even if they're giant blue aliens or hyper-smart chimpanzees.\nMashable spoke with Letteri about Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which is out on Blu-Ray on Dec. 13. Letteri also talked about the hardest things to illustrate, how to make a digital monkey come alive and the bright future of film and technology.\n\r\nQ&amp;A with Joe Letteri, Director of Weta Digital\r\n\nDo you think the Planet of the Apes franchise is better off without those monkey suits?\nI do. Now we\u2019re looking at chimps as if we saw them in the zoo, so they have to look like real chimps. You can do that with a person, really. Once we figured out that we needed to make apes that could do everything a real person could do, there was no reason to fit everyone in a suit.\nWhat\u2019s the most challenging thing to illustrate?\nEyes are still the hardest thing to do. We've done lots of them, and we\u2019ve spent a long time trying to get them right. The things with eyes are that they\u2019re really subtle, but it's crucial. If your character looks good but their eyes are dead, the character feels dead.\nIs a human actor necessary to breathe life into a CGI character?\nIt absolutely is, especially for the performance aspect. We can look at chimps in the zoo, and we can animate them in key frames. But when you start talking about it in terms of acting, it becomes a little more difficult and a little more focused. With an actor there, you get these subtleties of response to actions \u2014 those little movements that we normally don\u2019t even pay attention to.\nWeta has won five Academy Awards. Now there's talk of nominating Caesar, from Rise, for a best actor award. Is that surprising?\nIt\u2019s not surprising because there were similar discussions when Gollum first appeared \u2014 that we should be considering [motion and voice actor] Andy [Serkis] for an acting reward. Everything works together for us, because we use animation techniques which let us move anything with key frames. But there is no mechanical connection between what an actor's face does and what a chimp's face does. There\u2019s a translation [to interpret human expression onto that CGI frame]\nDo you think of yourself as an artist or a scientist?\nBoth. There's a lot of science and math and technology that goes into creating CGI, and there's a lot artistry and creativity that goes into the feeling of a character.\nWhat most excites you about CGI?\nI like that sense of fooling the eye, that unbelievability \u2014 that this can\u2019t be real, but it is.\nDoes Weta have friendly competition with Industrial Light and Magic or other CGI companies?\nA little bit. There\u2019s so much science involved with this that there is a large academic community of research that everyone tries to draw on and push forward, because people are interested in what are the effects we\u2019re seeing and how you create them. When you\u2019re working on a film, those techniques are under wraps until it\u2019s out. But then I think everyone's pretty good about talking about it.\nDo you have a dream project you'd like to work on?\nI've had a chance to do so many things [dinosaurs in Jurassic Park,  Na'vi in Avatar. the chimps from Rise of the Planet of the Apes], that I\u2019ve been fortunate in that regard.\nThere are a lot of techniques and technology you can use but what and where you go with it ... really depends on the story you\u2019re trying to tell.\n\n\nCGI Highlights from Weta Digital\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRise of the Planet of the Apes\nFacial expressions need to be ported between the human actor and the digital character\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRise of the Planet of the Apes\nCaesar leads the revolt.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRise of the Planet of the Apes\nSome of the motion capture technology behind the film.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Adventures of Tintin\nTintin and Snowy walk along a digital street.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Adventures of Tintin\nFacial expressions from some of the supporting characters.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Adventures of Tintin\nConstant drunkard, Captain Haddock.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Lord of the Rings Trilogy\nGollum was portrayed by Andy Serkis, who also played Caesar from Rise.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Lord of the Rings Trilogy\nGollum hides out with his human (actor) companions.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAvatar\nEven alien species need to have accurate features such as expressive eyes and accurate musculature.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAvatar\nBeasts charge from the jungle.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAvatar\nLightning effects also need to be accurate in digital worlds.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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