The Art of District 9: Weta Workshop

Under the supervision of multi Academy Award winner Richard Taylor, Weta Workshop was responsible for the design of the creatures and technology for director Neill Blomkamp's2009 feature film, District 9. Weta Workshop's artists created the physical creature and special make-up effects elements, the alien weapons and special props, armour, custom vehicles and developed the graphic language that defined the film's distinctive alien aesthetic. This book illuminates the creative design process, detailing two years of interaction between Weta's artists and District 9 director Neill Blomkamp, including hundreds of images of concept art from both the designers and director, museum quality photographs of the props and sculptures, and insights in the form of quotes directly from the artists. Many of the images included have never been made public before, including some that were cut or barely glimpsed in the finished film. Written by designer Daniel Falconer, with a foreword by Neill Blomkampand introduction by Richard Taylor, The Art of District 9 offers an unrivalled glimpse behind the scenes at the creative processes that shaped all of Weta Workshop's contributions to this amazing film.

Author Biography

Daniel Falconer has been a designer at Weta Workshop for more than a decade, producing conceptual art as part of the design team on many of the company's high profile projects. Daniel wrote and collated Weta's first two books, The World of Kong and The Crafting of Narnia, art books showcasing the illustrative work of the entire design department on King Kong and The Chronicles of Narnia movies. He lives in Wellington with his wife Catherine and two daughters.