Film visual effects expert describes digital journey

Matt Aitken's work for Weta Digital on Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Supplied by Warner Bros Entertainment Inc and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc

The visual effects supervisor for Academy Award-winning company Weta Digital will be speaking in Rotorua next week.

Matt Aitken will be hosting a free seminar at Waiariki Institute of Technology next Thursday.

He has many credits to his name including the digital models supervisor for The Lord of the Rings trilogy, pre-production supervisor for King Kong and computer-generated supervisor for Avatar.

As a visual effects supervisor, movies he has worked on include Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin, Peter Jackson's King Kong 360 3-D, District 9 (which won him a nomination for Best Visual Effects Oscar), The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Iron Man 3 and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

He is currently working on The Hobbit: Battle of the Five.

Mr Aitken will be giving a presentation from 1-2pm before answering questions about his work at Weta Digital. He will then tour the campus to view students' digital work.