Stunning real-time footage of the moon rising over the Mount Victoria lookout was captured last night by a Hobbit digital effects artist.

The four-minute shot, taken just after 9pm at Nairn St Park, 2km from Mt Victoria, also caught a number of silhouetted observers watching the almost-full moonrise.

Weta Digital artist Mark Gee had been trying to capture the rise for over a year, including several attempts during last year's ''super moon'' in May.

''I could never get it in the right spot,'' the Evans Bay resident said.

''The moon moves every single month, so I had to find a location open enough and far enough away from Mt Vic to get the correct angle of the moon and Mt Vic.

Weather was another issue.

The video was taken using a Canon DSLR 1D Mark IV camera with "every single lens I had, basically" - a 500mm lens with a 2x extender.

After failing on Sunday to get the shot during the actual full moon, Mr Gee came home from last night's shoot thinking things had gone wrong yet again.

''But it actually worked out a lot better. I was pretty ecstatic about it, and stayed up until 3am putting it all together.''

Contact Olivia Wannan

General reporter

Email: olivia.wannan@dompost.co.nz

