GeorgePort
- Special effects
The founding member of Oscar-winning special effects house Wētā Digital, George Port laboured for seven months solo on the digital effects for Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures. He went on to found Auckland effects company PRPVFX, which has supplied visual effects for more than 100 projects, including Xena: Warrior Princess, Rain of the Children and Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon.
Screenography
Biography
A film fan from an early age, George Port feasted on movies for free while growing up in the Hutt Valley — thanks to his grandfather running a shop which adjoined the local cinema.
Later, while experimenting with computer animation at Victoria University, Port got some useful advice from legendary animator Euan Frizzell. Six months later, having animated some talking robots, Port was offered a job at Frizzell’s company Gnome Productions. Port worked on a variety of animation from stop motion to developing some basic computer animation systems.
Awards
2002 Emmy Awards (United States)
Nominated for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie or Special (alongside 8 others): for Superfire
1995 New Zealand Film and Television Awards
Best Contribution to Design (shared with Richard Taylor): for Heavenly Creatures
“In those days we had enough disc storage to do approximately 10 seconds of effects. Today most people have more storage on their phones. ”