Weta Productions’ debut television series, Jane and the Dragon, has been nominated for The Best Animated Television Production at the 35th Annual Annie Awards.
The Annie Awards are the industry’s oldest and most prestigious awards, and are considered an important industry benchmark and an annual predictor of the Academy Award for Animation. The winner of the most coveted and high profile Best Animated Feature Annie has gone on to claim the Oscar for animation every year but one since its inception. Continue reading “Weta TV series nominated for prestigious animation award”
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From the folks at WETA: Hi Weta fans and supporters
Welcome to Weta’s ENews for November. We’ve been a busy bunch – with news that Weta Workshop are crafting props for the upcoming KISS concert and collaborating with Black Sheep Director Jonathon King on a book adaptation, Weta Productions are teaming up with a TV giant to develop new properties and the Weta Limited Raygun competition being announced – you can be sure that there is much to talk about! Read on for more info…
RAYGUN COMPETITION WINNER ANNOUNCED! A Scottish Raygun fan has won the ‘Complete Your Raygun Set’ competition! Winner Daniel Leyden (pictured, left), literally danced with excitement when he received the email from Weta Customer Services telling him he had won Weta’s ‘Complete Your Raygun Set’ competition. Continue reading “WETA Newsletter: December 2007”
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Or the Perilous Pertinence of Perspicacity Premeditated
(Or Exercises in Applied Floccinaucinihilipilificatiousness)
John Howe writes: I’m often told I’ve got my “head in the clouds”. While that’s clearly metaphorical, or at least I dearly hope so, I recently had the opportunity to get a little closer to said clouds for a television interview.
“Têtes en l’Air” is a French-Swiss program half way between interview and conversation. The creator of the show, Manuella Maury, seems to prepare extensive notes, read up diligently on her subject, and then play everything by ear, counting on an agile mind rather than a plodding list of questions. Which is fair enough, though it does mean trying to keep your wits about you.
I always try to keep them about me when doing interviews, but given the surroundings, my wits were off running up scree slopes or poking around under rocks. I’m always distabilised by interviews, just the fact that someone is actually listening throws me off (even if it’s professional listening) and I spend my time like a tightrope walker in a tempest, buffeted by contrary winds. Continue reading “John Howe’s Journal: HEADS, CLOUDS AND CONVERSATIONS”
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When you first see him, the idea was he is kinda ugly…As a cineaste, I respond to all elements of a motion picture. I enjoy quality writing, rich performances, gripping music and sublime photography. I also like to watch sh*t blow up, Orcs fight Elves and monsters to rise from the oceans. That’s where good special effects come in. There are few places in the business right now as exciting as Weta Digital and Weta Workshop, the New Zealand-based houses behind the Lord of the Rings series and the upcoming film The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep. We had the good fortune recently to speak to Oscar winning digital effects guru Joe Letteri about The Water Horse and his fascinating career. Dig this interview then be sure to check out this gallery of images from behind the scenes. The Water Horse – Interview with Weta’s Joe Letteri
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What?! Yea – that’s what we said. A website called MarketSaw is reporting that Peter Jackson is confirmed to be directing two films based on ‘The Hobbit’ and both will be presented in 3D format. Then, after The Hobbit films are released (2010,2011 respectively), the original trilogy will be converted to 3D after the release of the two Hobbit Films. Let’s not get too excited quite yet. If we judge this website based on the amount of junk advertising, we can pretty much write this off as an unconfirmed pipe-dream. But, ya never know! On a personal note, the PJ directing The Hobbit sounds great to me…the 3D, not so much. Check out the full story over at MarketSaw. [PJ Directing Hobbit Rumor]
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ROYERSFORD, Pa. (AP) – Shooting is under way in Montgomery County for a Hollywood movie. A stretch of Main Street in the tiny community of Royersford has been made over for “The Lovely Bones,” directed by Peter Jackson. Publicist Claire Raskind says the production needed a certain authenticity, and many of the buildings in Royersford still resemble those of the 1970s. The ones that don’t, Raskind says, have been painted so they do look like those of the era. Furniture store operator Roger Lebow says the movie crews have added a Chinese restaurant and have turned a former gas station into a bus depot. The movie has been in production in the Philadelphia suburbs for about a month, but shooting in Royersford began Wednesday. “The Lovely Bones” is due out in early 2009.
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