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Simon Clutterbuck, James Jacobs and Dr. Richard Dorling arrive at the AMPAS Scientific and Technical Awards Presentation at The Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. - Source: Reuters -
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Sir Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has won an Oscar at an early pre-Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.
Weta workshop gurus Simon Clutterbuck, James Jacobs and Dr Richard Dorling, took home a technical Oscar for inventing a technique to bring computer-generated characters to life.
They were applauded for their work in creating life-like characters, such as Gollum, in the Kiwi blockbuster.
The Oscar was announced at the Scientific and Technical Achievement Awards held last night.
The ceremony, hosted by Star Trek co-stars Chris Pine and Zoe Saldana, recognised the behind-the-scenes technical stars who have made major contributions to film. Portions of the event will be seen during the televised Oscars ceremony later this month
Saldana - who previously worked with Weta workshop during the filming of Avatar - pumped her fist and shouted "WETA!" before the first of two teams from the special effects house took the stage.
Pine and Saldana took turns attempting to describe technical accomplishments like "pose space deformation" and "wavelet turbulence", before proclaiming the software was too complex for "dumb actors" to fully comprehend.
Weta Workshop is no stranger to Oscar glory. The Wellington-based company have already won five Oscars for their work in the Lord of the Rings series as well as King Kong and James Cameron's Avatar.