War for the Planet of the Apes

Behind enemy lines at Weta

For Fox’s War for the Planet of the Apes, Discovery sent Emily Riedel to Wellington to meet the people who make the apes.

01The call

Discovery called one day and said, how would you like to go to New Zealand and do a shoot with Emily Riedel from Bering Sea Gold and the heads of Weta Digital? Let me think about it. Sure.John Davidson, project breakdown

The event ran three nights on Discovery, July 9–11, 2017, leading into War for the Planet of the Apes in theaters that Friday. The package for Fox and Discovery covered a :30 tune-in, a :10 open, three :30 and six :45 content pieces, and a :20 IPM.

0272 hours, LA to Wellington and back

The whole trip was a 72-hour marathon from Los Angeles: fly to New Zealand, shoot at Weta Digital in Wellington, and fly home. In that window we filmed Emily on location, inside Weta and in a motion-capture suit, and sat down with the team behind the film’s apes.

The Wellington sign on the hillside — **New Zealand**Wellington, New Zealand

03Time with Joe Letteri and Dan Lemmon

John spent a lot of the trip with Weta’s Joe Letteri and Dan Lemmon, including a dinner where he got to ask them about Lord of the Rings, Planet of the Apes and Star Trek. On camera, they walked Emily through how Weta turns an actor’s performance into an ape: reference from the Wellington Zoo, the posture and head movement of real apes, and crowd simulation for the biggest battle scenes.

John Davidson with Emily Riedel and Joe Letteri — **New Zealand**John with Emily Riedel and Joe Letteri

Dan Lemmon giving a thumbs up under the monitor tent, with John — **New Zealand**Dan Lemmon (green jacket, thumbs up) with John

04Becoming ape

Emily suited up for a motion-capture session at Weta, then watched her own performance drive a character on screen. “My favorite part of the whole experience,” she says in the final spot, “was becoming ape.”

Emily Riedel smiling in a motion-capture suit — **Behind the scenes**Emily Riedel, suited up for motion capture

Motion-capture performance shown on screen at Weta — **From the spots**Emily’s capture on screen

05Two networks, no repeats

Animal Planet ran its own versions of the campaign with Animal Planet branding and tags. Most of the reel above is the Discovery cut; Becoming Ape and Profile: Maurice are shown in their Animal Planet versions.

BreakdownThe trip, the shoot and the team, in under a minute.
Tune-In :30 · Open :10Discovery’s three-night event, hosted by Emily Riedel.
Content :30 / :45Let’s Get WETA, Caesar, Emily Ape, Bad Ape, Ape Humanity, This Is War, Goodbye Recap (Discovery).
Animal PlanetBecoming Ape :30 and Profile: Maurice :45.

Breakdown + spots in one reel