Virtual Hobbits

“In a nondescript suburb of New Zealand’s capital, the team at Weta Digital, an offshoot of Peter Jackson’s Wingnut Films, is producing more than 1,200 visual effect shots for the three Lord of the Rings films. These purveyors of state-of-the-art film ingredients have as neighbour a battered-looking old ice cream factory. But turn up the side road hill and a new building announces that here, past the security, some extraordinary people are producing what fans hope will be some extraordinary images.”