By: Joe Howes – Visual Effects Society Board Member, New Zealand Section
This year’s VES awards were a special one for the crew of Wellington’s esteemed Wētā FX and Wētā Digital. Years of creative and technical innovation on James Cameron’s Avatar 2: The Way of Water lead to 9 wins of a record 14 nominations, 8 of which were won by teams at Wētā FX. This year also saw award recognition for Wētā FX’s realization of “Biker Pogo” on the third season of Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy, and a nomination for the team that brought She-Hulk to life on Disney+’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.
This year’s awards also marked another milestone for Wētā FX: The largest number of women to bring home Méliès Moons for their incredible work.
I had the honour of researching the careers of these inspiring women, and speaking to them about the remarkable paths they have carved in our industry.
NOTE: Prior to 2021, Wētā FX and Wētā Digital were a single studio called Wētā Digital.
Anneka Fris, Animation Supervisor
Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature
Avatar: The Way of Water; Kiri
Anneka is an Animation Supervisor at Wētā FX with an impressive history, which started at school with a keen interest in art, science, and maths. She leaned towards studies in architecture and design, but the increase in film and tv opportunities in Wellington around production of The Lord of the Rings drew her attention to the animation industry. She began her career as a generalist and animator for documentaries, advertisements and children’s TV shows, including work at Wētā Productions.
After seeing the first Avatar, Anneka knew she wanted to be part of this groundbreaking approach to visual storytelling and moved to Wētā FX, where her first assignments were animation on X-Men: First Class and the Planet of the Apes films. Her favourite animation project from that period was her
character work on Pete’s Dragon. Anneka brought home her VES award this year for her fantastic work on Avatar 2: The Way of Water, overseeing teams of motion artists to bring the wide range of creatures and characters to life.
Edwina Ting, Senior Animator
Outstanding Animated Character in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project;
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law; She-Hulk
At a young age, Senior Animator Edwina Ting was interested in illustration and painting. She was inspired by the practical effects and animatronics on childhood favourites like The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, and her love of expressing characters through motion drew her to a Visual Communications degree in animation at Massey University. Edwina and her sister narrowly missed careers in acting when they were passed over as extras in The Lord of the Rings, but seeing the films inspired Edwina to enter the visual effects industry.
Her first position in VFX was doing animation for children’s TV shows like The WotWots at incubator Wētā Productions. Her talents in animation then lead her to Wētā FX, where she helped bring major productions to life like X-Men: First Class, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and The Adventures of Tintin. Edwina worked as Sequence Supervisor alongside Andrew Park and Senior Animation Supervisor Sidney Kombo-Kintombo on the Disney+ series She Hulk: Attorney at Law. Together they lead the team that turned motion data and performance reference into the charming, touching, and hilarious performances that earned Edwina her VES award nomination this year.
Hannah Dockerty, 3D Modeler
Outstanding Animated Character in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project
The Umbrella Academy; Pogo
Hannah is a 3D Modeller at Wētā FX with a fascinating history in the expression of art through technology. As a research assistant at Victoria University of Wellington, she assisted in research of the intersection of neural networks, facial recognition, and design. She was a 3D Modeller for Wētā Workshop on film, TV, and location experiences, and at Wētā FX she has contributed her talents to projects like Avatar 2: The Way of Water, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
Hannah’s VES award this year was for her amazing contributions to the character Pogo in season 3 of The Umbrella Academy.
Jean Matthews, CG Supervisor
Outstanding Compositing & Lighting in a Feature
Avatar: The Way of Water; Water Integration
Jean Matthews became interested in the visual arts while building visualizations for her computer science dissertation in London. She joined Cinesite there, working in R&D and creating shaders, and soon found friends leaving for New Zealand to work on a little book adaptation called The Lord of the Rings. She moved there with her family in 2003 towards the end of The Return of the King, and continued on to work in lighting on Peter Jackson’s King Kong. She enjoyed the pioneering challenges on that show, being on a nimble dev/lighting team for the Manhattan sequences, and seeing the project all the way to the end. After a brief return to London for 2.5 years to join Double Negative, Jean’s family decided they missed life in New Zealand. They returned and Jean re-joined Wētā and has moved from lighting lead to CG Supervisor.
Jean’s VES award this year was for her work on Avatar 2: The Way of Water. She was a CG Supervisor on the long sequence of the Metkayina children taking the Sully children on their first underwater exploration. She knew that this was an important shot that director James Cameron had a special eye on. Jean was involved in making sure the correct technology was in place for many such shots. This allowed underwater lighting effects such as god rays and caustic patterns of light and colour on the characters and sea floor to be so accurately represented that they disappeared into the frame, allowing the audience to focus on connecting with characters and story. Jean enjoyed working on many such challenging shots with her team, and the support they gave one another.
Jessica Cowley, Senior Texture Artist
Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature
Avatar: The Way of Water; The Reef
Jessica Cowley began her story in film as a kid hanging around on set with her filmmaking family. During her time at art school, she worked for a Wellington company that provided negative cutting services for early trail-blazing Peter
Jackson projects like The Frighteners and Heavenly Creatures. A strong interest in visual media led to work in both photography and film production, and finally to Wētā FX, where she was hired as a projectionist in the editorial department for The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
A desire to help create images onscreen drew her to the textures department, where she continues to enjoy highly challenging texturing and painting projects, among her favourites being King Kong, The Adventures of Tintin and the two Avatar films. She loved the challenges that came with the diversity of assets she helped create for the underwater reef environment on Avatar 2: The Way of Water, stating that every asset was a different set of interesting problems to solve. Her VES win this year for that breathtaking work is a well-earned recognition of the artistry and technical expertise she has brought to so many cutting-edge films throughout her career.
Miae Kang, Senior Lighting Technical Director
Outstanding Animated Character in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project
The Umbrella Academy; Pogo
Miae Kang is a graduate of Toronto’s famous Sheridan College, where she began as a student of conceptual illustration, focusing on children’s books. Inspired by early pioneering CG features like Pixar’s Toy Story, she was among the first students of Sheridan’s Maya animation program. After graduating, she joined Montreal’s Meteor Studios where she contributed her talents in plate lighting to Discovery Channel’s groundbreaking documentary series When Dinosaurs Roamed America, which helped usher in a new era of science documentaries with high VFX production value.
Miae left Montreal for New Zealand after being captivated by the first two The Lord of the Rings films and hearing that Wētā FX was hiring for The Return of the King. She was hired on the strength of her incredible work, and after helping Wētā deliver RotK she went on to contribute her talents to other large- scale, innovative projects like the first Avatar film, and King Kong, which was among Miae’s favourite creative experiences.
Miae’s VES award this year was for her lighting work on Pogo in the third season of Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy. Miae enjoyed working closely with her relatively small team, including fellow VES winner Hannah Dockerty,
animation supervisor Aidan Martin, and supervisor Chris White, to bring Pogo to life.
Rebecca Louise Leybourne, Lead Facial Motion Animator
Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature
Avatar: The Way of Water; Kiri
Rebecca (Bex) is a Lead Facial Animator who has made incredibly impressive contributions to some of the coolest VFX projects of the past 2 decades. Carrying a passion for animation and technology through school and into her first professional jobs.
Bex worked in London at the The Imaginaruim Studios on game projects such as the launch trailer for the flagship Xbox game Ryse: Son of Rome and EA’s Battlefield 1.At Imaginarium she also worked as an animator on feature films like Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Godzilla (2014). She went on to work with ILM Pinewood on the capturing and maintenance of facial performance data
from Andy Serkis and Lupita Nyong’o for The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi.
As Senior, and now Lead facial animator in the Facial Motion department at Wētā FX, Bex has produced stunning work on leading-edge features like Alita: Battle Angel and Gemini Man. Her VES win this year was for her significant contribution to the strikingly truthful facial performances in Avatar 2: The Way of Water.
