Weta Workshop has produced well over fifteen thousand museum quality weapons for projects within the creative industries of film, gaming and replica collectibles, including Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, “King Kong,” Peter Weir’s “Master and Commander,” Edward Zwick’s “The Last Samurai,” Andrew Adamson’s “Chronicles of Narnia,” Guillermo del Toro’s “Hellboy,” Stephen Spielberg’s “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” the Microsoft Halo 3 short films and, more recently, James Cameron’s “Avatar” and Neill Blomkamp’s “District 9.”

This month we’re asking questions of self-described Online guy at Weta Workshop and all round top bloke, Magnus Hjert.

Kelvarhin: Thanks for joining us this month Magnus, as always we’ll start with grammas favourite question…

What was your favourite cartoon when you were growing up?

Magnus: I grew up in Sweden on a rich and varied comics diet consisting of Tintin, Asterix, The Phantom, Spirou et Fantasio, its spin-off Marsupilami, Iznogoud… but my all-time favourite (that I still read) is Tintin.

Kelvarhin: What was your favourite toy as a kid?

Magnus: My Märklin train set… it initially provided much entertainment for my father and uncle, as I believe I was about three when I got it for Christmas. But it was awesome when I was older and could build model buildings etc.

Kelvarhin: Some of the  TORNfolk (Tehanu, Garfeimao, deej and entmaiden) were in attendance to help Weta and the Neonatal Trust break the Guinness Record for most sandcastles built in an hour. They know that they built enough, but Guinness requires a lot of documentation and time to certify the results, and they’re wondering if you’ve gotten the official results from the world record Sandcastle Build last November?

Magnus: I don’t actually know the answer, but I promise I will find out from Martin Baynton, who is the main link between Adventure Wellington and Weta Workshop. I was on that beach myself, covering it on behalf of Weta. The event was organised by Adventure Wellington and Weta Workshop helped out with buckets and quite a few crew, including Richard, Tania and many others.

Kelvarhin: What is your favourite location in NZ?

Magnus: I’ve lived here now for 10 years and I have many favourites. But that’s a bit of a cop-out, so I will try to pick one.  To narrow it down little by little, the region called the Wairarapa is about 90 minutes’ drive away from Wellington and is predominantly a rural area, but with a twist – it’s one of New Zealand’s premier wine regions. Small towns that 50 years ago were as rural as rural can be have blossomed with the increased interest the wine has brought to the region. On the way to my favourite place, you pass through several of these, Featherston, Greytown, Carterton. When you get to Masterton, you take a right and head for the coast. And after driving through orchards and sheep stations, you get to Castlepoint. A Pacific beach community with a spectacular lighthouse and rock formations, a fantastic beach and a camping ground. And very little else. The weather is often unforgiving, but lying in a tent, listening to the ocean… it doesn’t get much better. Oh – I just realised you probably meant shooting location? Well, other than Hobbiton which is truly AWESOME, a favourite is the Dimholt Road/Paths of the Dead at Putangirua Pinnacles in… you guessed it: The Wairarapa.

Kelvarhin: What are your most favourite places, of all the places you’ve been to in the world?

Magnus: Monterey, California. Montpellier, France. London, England (lived there for 7 years). Copenhagen, Denmark (being from Malmo in Sweden, Copenhagen is a natural place to hang out – back then it was a 45 minute boat trip away. Now there’s a bridge…). And Wellington – on a good day…

Kelvarhin: What movies or television shows are you into right now, apart from The Hobbit?

Magnus: Star Trek: Into Darkness was awesome – I went with a band of colleagues and everyone was pretty much in agreement it was a great film. With two kids of 6 and 10 years, I watch a LOT of ‘children’s’ flicks – like Wall-e, How to train your Dragon (and Riders of Berk) and love it, but Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, House MD, Doctor Who, Sherlock and even the occasional UK detective show/murder mystery re-run like Midsomer Murders, Morse, Miss Marple, Hercules Poirot… I’m easy to entertain…

Kelvarhin: I’m a child of migrants, and I know you’re originally from Sweden, so I was wondering what inspired your move to New Zealand?

Magnus: I was dragged here kicking and screaming by my Kiwi wife… nah, it was actually the other way around. I get itchy feet staying in one place for too long and when we were living in London (where we met and wed) and expected our first child, we decided there were healthier places to bring up children than south London, so we chose New Zealand. Thinking we’d only be here for 4-5 years and then perhaps go to Sweden (where all my family is). But then I got my job at Weta – as close to my dream job as I’m ever likely to get – and we’ve now decided not to up-root the kids, but stay here for at least as long as they want to stay. Then we’ll see.

Kelvarhin: What was the most difficult thing about organising Wetas surprise for TORn’s 10th Anniversary?

Magnus: Getting everyone to the same courtyard at the same time. Gino from Weta Digital down the road, Richard Taylor from somewhere in the building, Guillermo del Toro from 3 Foot 7 and then getting the crew to pick up some props and waving them around. We had many false starts on different occasions, but in the end we got it together. Woohoo! Man, that seems like a long time ago now… I was very nervous directing Guillermo del Toro, but he was very good about it.

TORn 10th Anniversary Weta Video

Kelvarhin: How long have you been working for Weta Workshop and how did you come to be involved with them?

Magnus: I’ve been here since 2008 and I owe it to my sister-in-law who found the ad in the paper…

Kelvarhin:  Working for Weta sounds great, but being a marketing manager sounds like hard work… is the line between being on the job and dreaming sharp or fuzzy? Is there even a line?

Magnus: That’s a great question… I’m gonna have to think about that one… Right – I’m back after having answered a few other questions in the meantime. The answer is – there is no line… my job is a constant intertwinement of fantasy, fans, fiction, collectors, artists, logistics, writing and just saying ‘awesome’ a lot. Weta is not a normal workplace – we who work there tend to forget.

Kelvarhin: Within your position at Weta, you must have been involved with some very surreal situations (perhaps meeting certain people, taken part in certain events and so on). What is your most memorable moment?

Magnus: There are many… in my first week, one of the Workshop technicians, Jordan, drove up and down the road outside on his rocket powered bicycle. A few months later I was recording a sound bite with Bill Farmer (Goofy since 1986) on a podcast and suddenly Michael Winslow (officer Larvell Jones in Police Academy) chips in with a Mickey Mouse impersonation… And meeting Sir Ian McKellen – again for a podcast interview… it’s all a bit surreal in hindsight, but while you’re doing it… it’s fantastic.

Kelvarhin: What item do you like the most of all the items made by Weta? And why?

Magnus: Ooooooh – that’s a tough one. The Minas Tirith shooting miniature – I have never seen it in real life, but the impact it had on me in LOTR when I first saw it on screen… man! Barad-dûr and Orthanc likewise – I’ve seen both of them outside David Tremont’s workshop while he was working away on the collectible models. Of the things you can take home… Peter Lyon’s swords… probably Andúril… words cannot describe how epic they are and how powerful you feel with one in your hand.

Kelvarhin:  I have heard workers from Weta get a chance to buy the things they make (the collectibles). Have you ever not bought an item and later regretted that you didn’t get it? If yes, what was it, and why do you regret not getting it?

Magnus: Yes – I admit to being a complete sucker for Greg Broadmore’s rayguns… and my favourite is the Goliathon 83, which is now sold out. While it was still in stock, I couldn’t afford it. But if I ever get a chance to buy one…

Kelvarhin: What is it like seeing all these cool Collectibles before the fans get to see them? Also, how hard is it to hold that from the world?

Magnus: A) Orgasmic. B) Extremely.

Kelvarhin: If you were making a car commercial, what Weta Workshop items would you include?

Magnus: Rayguns – ‘Vorsprung Durch Technik’. It’s a mantra in Ingolstadt as well as at Grordbort Industries. Although it would be in English undoubtedly. ‘Advantage through Technology’.

Kelvarhin: And lastly, if you were a dwarf in Thorin’s Company, which one would you be?

Magnus: Easy – Bombur. A little known fact is that I have “arse-modelled” for our Bombur collectible, showing the sculptors what it looks like when a fat guy runs… up and down the Weta Workshop car park. And Leaflock from The Shadow and Flame’s Weta collectors’ forum actually turned me into Bombur in the S&F Christmas card for Weta. So I feel a strong affinity with the guy. I have included the image Leaflock made.

As always thanks to all our message board regulars, DanielLB, SirDennisC, Ataahua, Elessar, Brethil, elaen32, entmaiden, dernwyn, Kaede, grammaboodawg and Rosie-with-the-ribbons, for this month’s questions.

If you would like to ask any questions yourself, just head over to our Message Boards, the sign up process is pretty painless. A lead post for questions is made at the beginning of each month on the Main board. Or you can just check Main for each months interviewee and email me your questions at kelvarhin@theonering.net.

Till next time from TORn’s resident Tiger.

Kelvarhin

In the first entry I recalled getting the permission to interview the filmmakers and going down to start my work, back in September-October of 2003. The second one dealt with my first interview and tours of the Three Foot Six office building and the Stone Street Studios. Now, more of the facilities I visited.

The Film Unit

My third full day in Wellington was Wednesday, October 1. Melissa Booth called and said I could come to the new Film Unit building to meet Barrie Osborne. He, as I cannot stress often enough, was the one responsible for getting me New Line’s permission to interview the filmmakers for my book. This meeting, though, wouldn’t be for an interview. (I interviewed Barrie twice for the book, first a couple of weeks later and again during my third Wellington visit in December, 2004.) He was driving out to the old Film Unit facility that afternoon to give the people working there, sound mixers, editors, and other post-production crew members, a pep talk.

As most readers know, the race to finish The Return of the King was on by that point, and a lot of people were working long hours. I was told that Barrie often gave these pep talks, and the filmmakers really appreciated them; it was part of what gave the production that feeling of being one big family. I could at least introduce myself to Barrie and ride with him to the Film Unit; the half-hour drives there and back would allow us time to talk about my project.

The Film Unit was a government-owned post-production facility that Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh bought in 1998 to keep it from being sold and probably closed down. As the only post-production house on that scale in New Zealand, it was vital to making LotR. When I arrived, the new Film Unit building (now Park Road Post) was being built in Miramar, a few blocks from the Weta building in one direction and the Stone Street Studios in the other. An old building that would eventually be replaced was still acting as a reception area (above, right). The three new sound-editing rooms that can be seen in the RotK supplement “The End of All Things” had been completed, as had some offices and a long corridor to the left as one entered the building.

I met Barrie in one of those offices, that of Rosemary Dority (left), familiar to fans of the supplements as the Post Production Supervisor of LotR. She was incredibly friendly and let me stash all the stuff I had to lug around behind her desk when I was in the building. Barrie used her office when he had meetings in the new Film Unit.

Barrie was wolfing down lunch, a sandwich, at about 2:30 in the afternoon before heading for Lower Hutt. As we headed out he gave me a quick tour of the new sound-editing rooms. I met Christopher Boyce and saw my first (unfinished) footage from RotK. It was a scene of Frodo, Sam, and Gollum in a desolate landscape, I think from their first scene in the film, before they get to Ithilien.

Then Barrie and I were off to the old Film Unit. Once inside, we entered a small auditorium where many members of the post-production team were gathered. Barrie thanked them all for their hard work and sprang a surprise on all of us. He was going to show us a brand-new 35mm copy of the first RotK trailer. Coincidentally, that trailer had premiered in American theaters the day I left for Wellington, so I hadn’t seen it.

More importantly, the team in that room hadn’t seen any finished footage from the film, despite having worked on it for so long. The trailer started on the big screen. You probably remember that trailer, which basically ended with you thinking, “I want to see that film, and I want to see it NOW!” The room went crazy, with people cheering and some even crying. It was an amazing moment and gave me a vivid sense of how dedicated these people were to this huge film project.

Afterwards Barrie introduced me to Sue Thompson, CEO of The Film Unit, who still had tears in her eyes. She agreed to let me interview her. My only other visit to the old Film Unit facility was two weeks later, on October 15, when I talked to her and then immediately afterward to costume designer Ngila Dickson.

I’ve looked for a photo of that building online, but no one ever seems to have been tempted to take a picture of it. It was austere, bland, and, as Peter described it to me when I later interviewed him, “a very government sort of ‘Soviet bloc’ feeling place.” It was already clear, however, that the new Film Unit in Miramar, in contrast, would be modern and gorgeous.

The PostHouse

On October 1, when Barrie and I returned to the new Film Unit building, I met Peter Doyle, the Supervising Digital Colorist for LotR (and many other films thereafter, including King Kong and six of the Harry Potter films). He agreed to let me come to The PostHouse the next day. It was housed in a warehouse across the street from the new Film Unit.

Peter had helped invent a new digital process called selective digital grading specifically for LotR. It allows a colorist to change the visual qualities (altering colors and changing light levels) for individual portions of a shot without changing the other portions. It was a revolutionary technology and has been adopted almost universally in the international film industry.

Unfortunately I had no idea that I was going to have this opportunity to talk with Peter, so I wasn’t prepared to interview him. Indeed, at that point there wasn’t much information on the new technique available. But Peter took me into a big dark room where dozens of experts were working at rows of computers, grading shots from the film. We sat down at a monitor, and he very generously gave me a 25-minute demonstration of how selective digital grading is done.

He used two main examples: a close-up of Denethor’s face and the distant view of Gandalf’s cart going along a road between some fields on the way to the Grey Havens. The tiny tweaks he was able to make on very limited parts of the image were wonderful. He could dial up a brighter patch of sunlight in one of the fields in the cart shot, subtly changing the tone of the image. It’s a beautiful process to watch, and even though I have very limited computer expertise, I thought it would be a very rewarding thing to do.

Peter can be seen at work in the all-too-brief supplement “Digital Grading” on the Fellowship of the Ring extended DVD/Blu-ray (right, with cinematographer Andrew Lesnie looking on). I think it’s a pity that none of the other supplements dealt with this technique.

Weta Workshop and Digital

About a week into my visit, on Tuesday, October 7, I went to the Weta Ltd. building for the first time for an interview with Richard Taylor. In order to get in, I was handed the only legal document I ever ended up signing during the whole project: an agreement not to bring a camera into Weta Workshop. I could see why. There were design drawings and models all over the place. Naturally I signed, since, as I’ve pointed out in previous entries, I wasn’t able to take photographs inside any of the filmmaking facilities. Hence the fact that most of my illustrations for this series either show the outsides of buildings or are frames from the DVD supplements.

Richard is absolutely as nice as he seems in the many interviews he has done over the years. To my surprise, he had invited two of his top designers, Daniel Falconer and Ben Wooten, to join us. It was a terrific interview, and we talked for about 85 minutes.

Afterward Daniel gave me a tour of Weta Workshop. Of course there were displays of all sorts of models and designs, including early conception images of Gollum. We saw the forge area, where the swords and other metal items are made. At one point we were in a big studio where the full-size version of the upper half of Treebeard was standing. That’s the one where Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan could actually sit on his hands.

I had read somewhere that there was a big snail, native to New Zealand, stuck in Treebeard’s twiggy beard. Sure enough, there it was. I commented to Daniel that I had known about the snail but, try as I might, during screenings I was never able to spot it. He replied, “Neither can I—and I put it there!” (That was another of those moments when it really struck me that I was right there in Wellington, talking to people who were still making LotR. How in the world had I actually gotten there?!)

Afterwards, as I left Weta Workshop, through an open door I spotted the giant model of the three trolls, turned to stone, which I had earlier seen inside the studio near Treebeard. Since they were visible from the public sidewalk, I allowed myself to take out a camera and photograph them (left). I trust that was not a violation of the legal agreement I had signed.

About two weeks later, Barrie suggested that I interview Matt Aitken of Weta Digital. Matt is another face familiar to fans as a talking head in the supplements (right). He’s in charge of scanning models for the digital effects. He didn’t work at the main Weta Digital headquarters on Manuka Street but at another facility further south on the Miramar peninsula. When I entered the building, I saw a bulletin board on the wall, with the number of shots remaining to have special-effects added. It was a reminder of the race to finish the film (again, documented in “The End of All Things,” see below).

Matt gave me a lot of specific information on the build-up of computing power at Weta, which grew hugely between The Frighteners and the end of the work on RotK. After that appointment, someone was supposed to pick me up and drive me to Manuka Street for a tour of the main Weta facility. Unfortunately, that person apparently never got the word. So Matt, busy though he was, drove me over himself and showed me around.

There was a big room full of animators working on various scenes, with full suits of the Elvish armor from the prologue of FotR hanging on the walls above them. (Another one hung on a stand just inside the main Manuka Street entrance. I must say I coveted that armor.) There was a series of rooms full of racks of 3000 hard drives laboring away at rendering and other tasks, accompanied by the roar of huge air-conditioning units. I also was introduced to the heart of the whole enterprise: the surprisingly small scanning room. There on one side were three big machines, all named after dragons and all scanning negatives straight out of the camera into digital files, to be color graded and to have their special effects done, among other procedures. On the other side of the room were two ArriLaser scanners putting the resulting frames back onto raw negative film. Back in the 1990s it took 45 seconds per frame to do that. By 2003 it took more like 2.5 seconds. Peter reportedly would not OK any special-effects shot until he saw it projected on a screen in 35mm, so there was a lot of footage to be scanned back onto negative film.

The Miniatures Unit

For some reason, on my first visit, I never asked to tour the miniatures department. I guess I was too busy. On my second visit, in June, 2004, I requested permission through Peter Jackson’s assistant, but was told I couldn’t see it. By that time, King Kong was well into production, and the facility was full of miniatures for that film. Secret stuff.

I interviewed Peter himself on the last day of that second visit. In December I returned and tried again, asking Peter’s assistant if he could get me permission to tour the miniatures department. Five minutes later I was given the name of a person to call and set up an appointment. I assume my interview with Peter reassured him that I was a serious and trustworthy person.

When I arrived at the miniatures unit, in yet another big building somewhere on the Miramar Peninsula, two other people and I got a tour from a pleasant young man who showed us such things as the model of the King Kong ship and lots of tiny jungles. Afterwards I went in to thank the woman who had arranged the appointment for me. She asked if I wanted to talk to Alex.

The name Alex didn’t ring a bell at that moment, I must admit. Still, I was willing to talk to anyone who was willing to talk to me, so I said yes. Luckily I had brought my recorder along. I was ushered into a conference room, and a few minutes later in walked Alex Funke. Oh, that Alex, the one who had worked on groundbreaking digital effects films such as The Abyss, Total Recall, and Starship Troopers. The Visual Effects Director of Photography for the miniatures unit and winner of two Oscars for LotR. (He’s now the motion-control supervisor for The Hobbit. That’s the technique that allows different elements of the same shot to be filmed at different times and/or places and joined smoothly together.)

That was the only interview I ever went into absolutely cold, with no advance notice or preparation. Fortunately Alex was a pro at interviews and basically just launched in, with me interjecting the occasional question. Apart from the technical information he gave me, he also conveyed a powerful sense of how congenial a working environment Peter had built up for his employees. Alex has enormous respect for the decent way in which people are treated. He himself, though having worked for years in the Hollywood film industry, had moved permanently to New Zealand to work with Peter—as Joe Letteri and others have.

Overall, the facilities built up for LotR make up the equivalent of a big Hollywood studio back in the golden days of the industry. A major, special-effects-heavy film can be made there, from script to screen. I feel enormously privileged to have seen so much of it.

We’ll encounter these places again in future entries.

Rhys-Davies recently was in the region and talked about the film and its importance to the region and the help it might lend tourism. You can view that video right here. A full press release about the film can be found here.

ENTRY ONE

It is strange to miss a whole day but that is what happens when you make the 13-hour flight from Los Angeles to Auckland and then to Wellwood. Leaving on Saturday evening, Sunday never happens and Monday is just getting started upon landing. Inside the modest-sized Wellington airport, all eyes are drawn to Weta Workshop’s giant surreal Gollum poking his head through the ceiling as if it is his personal fish pond. Air bubbles accompany him and the trout he is happily hunting. While it is popular culture, the workmanship and craft of the work also most definitely make it art. Eventually it should head to Wellington’s world class Te Papa Museum.

But signs of Middle-earth are everywhere. The walking tunnel between the aircraft and the terminals are also papered in Hobbiton scenics and the baggage claim is also famously fun and Shire-ized. To my delight, in the baggage area is Elysia Gibb, who took care of some of the top talent involved with the filming of the three Hobbit movies. On Monday she was collecting guests from the airport but I was just happy to see a friend. Helping her was now a new friend Jo Williams who helped with baggage and transportation and was friendly and excellent in every way and did everything in her power to solve a luggage problem. (In fact, I vote that somebody give her a big raise!)

After checking in and getting official credentials (and hey, I always feel genuine satisfaction when TheOneRing.net is treated as a legit media outlet as it should be) it was time to head to one of Welly’s suburbs, the Miramar peninsula, which happens to be where Peter Jackson built his film-making empire.

We took the scenic route along the waterfront and to a land-locked around the bay and into the completely disguised area that is the dream factory behind The Hobbit. A quick meal at Scorch O Rama, an eatery that offers amazing views of the bay and is reportedly a favorite of Mr. and Mrs. Orlando Bloom. I learned that a B.L.A.T. would be available in most cafes and is similar to the BLT sandwich but with an avocado slice. Try that at home.

CINEMA

I love cinema and that includes the physical space where movies exhibit and down the street from Weta Workshop is the beautifully restored art deco Roxy Cinema. It is styled and funded by locals that include Richard and Tanya Taylor and other Wetas. While there, we ran into one of the owners, fell into conversation and were advised to pay careful attention to the details around the place including sculptures created just for this space. Besides the ground floor café and its menu that seeks to find culinary adventure and spice, there is an upstairs space that is spectacular, dominated by a ceiling fresco by Greg Broadmore. That giant piece catches the eye and will not let go but the beauty of the details and the sculpture and yes, even the Hobbit displays aren’t to be missed either, along with some fantastic old movie posters.

We also ran into Academy Award winner Jamie Selkirk who was super friendly despite the fact that we haven’t met previously. As a lover of the physical places where people watch movies, I rate the Roxy as an absolute must visit in Wellington, either for food and drink or for a movie or for both. I suspect The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will play here, only hundreds of yards from the set it was filmed at Stone Street Studios and the Weta Digital and Weta Workshops where so much of it was finished.

Oh but while visiting the Roxy is highly recommended, we had business this day at Weta and as part of scheduled-by-Weta press tour. As fortune would have it, also there right at the time, was the extended TORn family on its Premiere Trip! Fellow staffers and message board users and even friends from DragonCon were all together nearby so I had to excuse myself from the offices and run outside and downstairs to find friends. Awesome!

Much to my surprise, the new red door on the side of the building was the first-day opening of the brand new “Window Into Workshop” which had just opened Monday in time for our visit.

The idea is to create a space inside the workshop where the public can get a glimpse of the artisians at work and both the idea and the execution are wonderful. Doubly Awesome!

Back to official business, TheOneRing was given the Weta treatment with other press from Australia and China, all scheduled by the excellent hosts of Warner Bros. and assisted by tourism staff by 100% Pure New Zealand.

In fact, that group has turned over its social media to me for the week on Facebook and Twitter. In fact my formerly reliable laptop has given up the ghost and my Twitter seems to hate me and my phone so the tourism folks have been spectacular at helping facilitate some updates. Genuinely awesome and hopefully those issues have been resolved and these will be coming fast and furious now.

WETA

Once the official business with Weta started, we were lead into a boardroom with Sir Richard Taylor and a hoard of awards and collectibles. The Oscars are stacked in there with the troll collectibles and fauns and blue-skinned aliens.

The press gathered were somewhat new to the Weta concept and organization so Taylor answered very basic questions in his wonderful way and drops statistics and overview thoughts peppered with salient details like rain.

Most interesting to me were his comments about his plans to see the movie, much like fans around the world will.

“I haven’t seen the movie at all — well I got to see seven minutes of it when Peter (Jackson) showed it to Prince Charles — but I will get to see it with mostly fresh eyes with my family.”

He was sure Jackson would show it to him if he asked but he preferred getting away from the final film so he could enjoy it as a fan as much as possible with his children. He was especially looking forward to seeing it with his children.

Ten Weta Workshop team members will walk the red carpet along with the Taylors and as a native New Zealander, Taylor, like so many others, takes a great deal of pride to have the film’s premiere in his home town.

“For The Hobbit I am walking down the red carpet with my family. (Doing that) for Return of the King are the most special three hours of your life. Being there in a city you live in, embracing your city, it is overwhelming.”

Taylor also noted that between the two trilogies, his team has “been in Middle-earth for nearly half our careers.”

After Taylor’s introduction we were led by him down the stairs and through the sacred geek halls of the Weta Workshop. I have been very fortunate to explore them with completeness but it is a thrill every single time to walk them, filled with treasures as they are. It is a living museum of sorts and they led the press to one of the very best rooms in the whole joint, the realm of sword master Peter Lyon. On the workshop wall hang many of the hero-swords and maces left over from Lord of the Rings days. On the table in front of us were the goods from the just completed Hobbit movies, a giant-sized Orcrist among them.

I think photos may serve better than words at this point but I can’t convey the hilarity of one of the Chinese writer asking to take the sword from Lyon to feel its weight. He knew she would drop it and so handed the massive folded-stell sword over while also keeping it and her safe. (They don’t sharpen the weapons incidentally.) After she all but dropped it he admonished her with a smile that it was a two-handed weapon. He showcased Sting in several sizes and we got a good gander and some hands-on time with new dwarven weapons as well.

“I am making real swords. They look real because they are real,” Lyon, who was a sword maker before Weta found him and put him to work in the early days of LOTR said.

Everybody seemed most amused by the rubber swords used for riding or stunt filming. Again, images not words are best here. (Coming after the red carpet to keep our site running!)

Matt Appleton, costume supervisor, took a turn as well, chatting about the many layers of dwarves costumes and the many house of process to get things right but also to work with speed to meet the demands of a production.

“It is constantly challenging,” he said. “(Such as when) a material isn’t available or a deadline gets moved up.”

MORE TO COME

So that certainly isn’t all. After leaving Weta Workshops we went to Weta Digital and of course we still had the Red Carpet Tours and TheOneRing.net combined party that you already have read so much about. I might have some fresh insights and I definitely have some cool photos but more on that later. After all its almost 7 a.m. and today is the World Premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey with press conferences and a Red Carpet experience. You can watch the live nine-camera feed on TheOneRing.net complete with chat.

Follow us on Twitter at @TheOneRingNet, follow me @MrLDC and for the rest of the week @PureNewZealand as well.

WARNER BROS. – FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION 2012

THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

BEST PICTURE
CAROLYNNE CUNNINGHAM
ZANE WEINER
FRAN WALSH
PETER JACKSON

BEST DIRECTOR
PETER JACKSON

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
FRAN WALSH &
PHILIPPA BOYENS &
PETER JACKSON &
GUILLERMO DEL TORO

BEST ACTOR
MARTIN FREEMAN

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
IAN McKELLEN
RICHARD ARMITAGE
ANDY SERKIS

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
CATE BLANCHETT

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
ANDREW LESNIE, ACS, ASC

BEST ART DIRECTION
Production Designer
DAN HENNAH
Set Decorators
RA VINCENT
SIMON BRIGHT

BEST FILM EDITING
JABEZ OLSSEN

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
ANN MASKREY
RICHARD TAYLOR
BOB BUCK

BEST MAKEUP
Armour, Weapons, Creatures and Special Makeup
RICHARD TAYLOR
Hair and Makeup Design
PETER SWORDS KING

BEST SOUND MIXING
Production Sound Mixer
TONY JOHNSON
Re-Recording Mixers
CHRISTOPHER BOYES
MICHAEL HEDGES
MICHAEL SEMANICK

BEST SOUND EDITING
BRENT BURGE
CHRIS WARD

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
JOE LETTERI
ERIC SAINDON
DAVID CLAYTON
R. CHRISTOPHER WHITE

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
HOWARD SHORE

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Song of the Lonely Mountain”
Music by
NEIL FINN
DAVID DONALDSON
STEVE ROCHE
JANET RODDICK
DAVID LONG
Lyrics by
NEIL FINN
Performed and Produced by
NEIL FINN

Prince Charles clearly enjoyed his time at Weta Workshop; it made an unusual part of his 64th birthday celebrations, which he also spent with 64 New Zealanders who shared the same birthday.  You can read more about the Prince’s visit to Wellington here, here and here (if you look closely at that last article, you may notice some interesting concept art and some familiar faces on the wall behind Prince Charles and Peter Hambleton!)  Thanks to all the Ringers who emailed us about this news!

Gollum is reaching for some nice NZ rainbow trout

A tired but jubilant Weta crew unveiled their new Gollum statue at a press function at Wellington Airport this morning. Working almost around the clock for three days, Gollum was hoisted up overnight to hover over diners at the airport’s main lounge. The 13m sculpture was designed and produced by Richard Taylor and Weta Workshop supervisors

Rob Gillies and Sarah Morris. Richard made a short speech to thank the team that made the incredibly realistic sculpture – a testament not only to their talent and hard work, but also to the technology and skills Weta has developed. He also thanked the “excellent” team at Wellington Airport, who have been a pleasure to work with in creating something that would bring delight to Wellington’s visitors. Airport CEO Steve Sanderson said the airport was proud to work with Weta and have such a magnificent sculpture on display. “Everyone will be amazed when they enter the terminal.”

Wellington mayor Celia Wade-Brown was also there. She confessed to being a true Tolkien fan. “I was given one of those paperback copies of LOTR for Christmas when I was 12. That was a very, very quiet Christmas as I read my way through those books!”