Fans go bananas for new Planet Of The Apes clip which takes talking monkey effects to a whole new le

Fans go bananas for new Planet Of The Apes clip which takes talking monkey effects to a whole new level

By Graham Smith

Last updated at 1:33 PM on 13th April 2011

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The original 1960s film was a milestone in prosthetic make-up effects.

Now the latest instalment in the Planet Of The Apes franchise is taking another giant step forward in depicting 'realism' in fantasy cinema.

A five-second preview clip of Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, which was posted online today, has left science-fiction fans awestruck.

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You'll believe an ape can talk: A five-second preview from the forthcoming Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes has taken the Internet by storm

The tantalisingly brief segment shows an actor - who could be Andy Serkis as Caesar, the part made famous by Roddy McDowall in the original films - in his ape 'make-up'.

Filmmakers have made liberal use of CGI technology to create what looks to be the most realistic depiction yet of a talking ape.

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By using motion-capture technology - which records and analyses information from markers stuck onto the body, and infrared lights which illuminate the actors - the special effects team is able to track motion and force.

This 'MoCap' technique has been used in many recent blockbusters, including the Lord Of The Rings trilogy for translating Serkis' movements into Gollum.

Pop culture icon: Roddy McDowall as Cornelius in Escape From The Planet Of The Apes, the third film in the franchise

WETA Digital, an Oscar-winning visual effects company based in Wellington, New Zealand, is responsible for the new film's effects.

Last year, WETA won an Academy Award for its ground-breaking visual effects work in rendering an entire fantasy world in James Cameron’s blockbuster Avatar.

Things have certainly come a long way since McDowall was subjected to hours of plaster make-up in 1967 to play Cornelius and, in later films, his son Caesar.

Even the CGI effects in Tim Burton's 2001 remake Planet Of The Apes look dated when placed alongside the new effect.

Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes stars James Franco, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow and Brian Cox and is scheduled for an August release in the U.S.