Wētā FX and Kiwi costume designer score BAFTA nominations

Wētā FX's visual effects work on Avatar: Fire and Ash has been nominated at the Bafta Film Awards, alongside major contenders F1, How to Train Your Dragon and Frankenstein.

Directed by James Cameron, the film also received Academy Award nominations last week for best visual effects and best costume design, the latter by Wētā Workshop.

More than 1200 Wētā FX artists contributed to the project, delivering more than 90 percent of the film's visual effects. Only about 11 seconds did not contain special effects.

The Bafta-nominated team from Wētā FX is represented by Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett who said they were "deeply grateful" for the recognition.

"This has been an especially challenging and inspiring year, with so many outstanding films using visual effects in powerful, imaginative ways to help tell their stories," they said in a statement.

"To be acknowledged among such remarkable work is truly humbling, and we are grateful to be part of a year that so strongly celebrates craft, collaboration, and storytelling."

Barrett told RNZ the recognition belonged to every artist, technician and collaborator who worked on the film, with about 2500 in the wider group, including Lightstorm and Industrial Light & Magic in the United States.

"It's such a big team and everyone's put their heart and soul into it for a couple of years, so it is lovely to receive this recognition. You never take it as a given, the various academies have their own opinions and we don't expect this sort of thing, but we were hopeful and obviously very pleased.

"These things are not easy and do take a lot of talent and a lot of hard work."

It was privilege to represent the wider New Zealand film community on the world stage, particularly after a tough few years in the film and visual effects industry, he said.

"It's been a challenging few years since COVID, things have gotten very quiet and we've been very, very lucky as a facility at Wētā FX to have had James [Cameron] here making these big films, because that's kept a lot of people in this country employed."

The industry was grappling with the sudden rise of AI, he said, and the studio was considering how to implement it to help with some tasks - those considered as drudgery - leaving the creative work for artists.

"We have no plans and certainly no need to be looking at generative AI because we have directors, we have production designers, we have lots of people with great ideas, great artists. So I think that for the time being, the ideas and the artwork will come from humans and AI will be used where it makes sense and where it can make lives easier for artists."

Having worked on all three Avatar films, Barrett said there had been huge advances in technology during that time, and he loved the task of translating human emotions to animated characters onscreen.

"It is a challenge, because every human from birth almost is an expert in emotion and facial expression and so there's nowhere to hide. You've got to get it right or you lose your audience."

Head of special effects Matt Aitken said the nominations reflected a standout year for the industry, with Wētā FX also earning 16 nominations at the Visual Effects Society Awards.

"We always say the nomination is the win, it's what we aim for, so it is an immense honour to be nominated in so many categories and awards across our industry and globe this year."

Recent nominations for Wētā FX include Bafta and Academy Awards recognition for Better Man, Alien: Romulus and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, as well as Emmy nominations for House of the Dragon and The Last of Us.

Over the years, Wētā FX artists have won seven Academy Awards, seven Baftas and four Emmys for visual effects.

Kiwi costume designer Kate Hawley is also up for a Bafta gong for best costume design in recognition of her work on Frankenstein.

It's the second award nomination for the former Massey University graduate, who is also up for an Oscar.

In December, Hawley was named as the British Fashion Council's inaugural Costume Designer of the Year for her work on Frankenstein.

"It feels more than a little fabulous and, admittedly, a little overwhelming," she told RNZ at the time.

"I will always be grateful to New Zealand for the opportunities that were afforded me that might not have been so easily created elsewhere.

"I have a long list of those to thank, but it has also been many years of learning, being inspired by so many wonderful people around the world - and through my working life.

"Every experience, individual, culture… every project shapes my approach to costume design."

Before Frankenstein, Hawley had worked for director Guillermo del Toro on Crimson Peak and Pacific Rim.

She was also a costume designer for the television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and worked for director Peter Jackson on The Hobbit trilogy, as well as The Lovely Bones.

The Bafta Film Awards will be held in London on 23 February (NZ time), and the Academy Awards will be on 3 March in Los Angeles.