George the gorilla rampages in the streets of Chicago. Early motion studies done by Weta Digital helped establish the weight and mass of the character

“If [big creatures] do stop suddenly or impact with something abruptly, then the ripple effect caused by that sudden stop needs to take place slowly. That’s what gives you the cue that it’s big.” —David Clayton, Animation Supervisor, Weta Digital

“We often display a little falling gravity cube in our shots,” explains Clayton. “If a character is jumping or falling, you just put in a gravity cube that has a perfect parabola that’s been calculated to work with gravity. So if that’s arcing through your shot with legitimate gravity, and then you have your character jumping or falling, you get a sense of, ‘Oh, he’s dropping too fast there’, or maybe there’s not enough acceleration towards the ground.

Early motion studies of the characters, including for George at his different sizes, helped inform the kind of movement and weight that would ultimately be required. “I jumped in,” says Clayton, “and did some motion studies of George leaping off cars with an indicator of gravity so I could get the client on board with the idea that once he gets bigger, when he jumps and lands and moves through frame, it’s going to be slower.”