{"id":83997,"date":"2013-12-05T00:01:58","date_gmt":"2013-12-05T05:01:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/?p=83997"},"modified":"2013-12-05T00:01:58","modified_gmt":"2013-12-05T05:01:58","slug":"two-great-eagles-swooped-into-wellington-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/2013\/12\/05\/83997-two-great-eagles-swooped-into-wellington-airport\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Great Eagles swooped into Wellington Airport"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"intro\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-84004 no-lazyload\" alt=\"_SUP2098_021213\" src=\"http:\/\/www-images.theonering.org\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/SUP2098_021213-300x220.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"220\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/SUP2098_021213-300x220.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/SUP2098_021213-1024x752.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/SUP2098_021213-600x440.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Two Great Eagles swooped into Wellington Airport\u2019s main terminal building on Monday morning, giving Gandalf a glimpse of the runway.<\/p>\n<p>The sculptures show Gandalf atop one of two Great Eagles, bringing news to the Middle of Middle-earth.<\/p>\n<p>Weighing in at one tonne each with a wingspan of 15 metres, they have been developed by Weta Workshop and Wellington Airport to accompany Gollum in welcoming visitors to the Wellington region and New Zealand.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-84005 no-lazyload\" alt=\"Gandalf at Wellington Airport-Low res\" src=\"http:\/\/www-images.theonering.org\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Gandalf-at-Wellington-Airport-Low-res-300x200.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Gandalf-at-Wellington-Airport-Low-res-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Gandalf-at-Wellington-Airport-Low-res-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Gandalf-at-Wellington-Airport-Low-res.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>The creation has been designed and facilitated by Weta Workshop\u2019s creative lead Richard Taylor and Workshop Supervisor Rob Gillies to create yet another unforgettable experience into Wellington Airport.<\/p>\n<p>Richard Taylor, who was overseeing the project said, \u201cwe were thrilled to return and create another installation for Wellington Airport. What could be more suitable for an airport in Middle-earth than Gandalf the Grey atop a Great Eagle swooping into the terminal, such an evocative image from The Hobbit and a fantastic and challenging project for our artists to design and build.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are delighted to work with Weta to produce another magnificent sculpture welcoming visitors into Wellington. We\u2019re proud to show our support for the movies \u2013 they have done a lot for New Zealand tourism. With Gollum being viewed around the globe and tourists still talking photos of him, we expect Gandalf and the Eagles will make quite a stir,\u201d said Steve Sanderson, Wellington Airport\u2019s Chief Executive.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-84006 no-lazyload\" alt=\"Wellington Airport 2 Low Res\" src=\"http:\/\/www-images.theonering.org\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Wellington-Airport-2-Low-Res-300x200.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Wellington-Airport-2-Low-Res-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Wellington-Airport-2-Low-Res-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Wellington-Airport-2-Low-Res.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Art directed by Richard Taylor and Rob Gillies, the sculptures were 3D modelled into the airport display space by Jamin Vollebregt. It was then realised by a team of Weta Workshop 3D modellers, sculptors, model makers, painters, engineers and other specialists using a variety of large-sculpture technologies developed in-house at Weta Workshop.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe head into an exciting week leading up to the release of the film including the Charity Gala Premiere on December 9 at the Embassy Theatre with all proceeds going to the Island Bay Marine Education Centre,\u201d said Mr Sanderson.<\/p>\n<h4>Key facts about the installation:<\/h4>\n<p>\u00b7 Weta molded and cast 1,000 feathers for the two eagles<br \/>\n\u00b7 The longest of the feathers measure 2.4 metres<br \/>\n\u00b7 The wingspan of each bird is 15 metres<br \/>\n\u00b7 The whole installation weighs in at just under 2 tonnes<br \/>\n\u00b7 Each eagle is suspended from the roof in the Main Terminal Building by 8 cables.<br \/>\n<strong>Issued by: Wellington International Airport and Weta Workshop<\/strong><br \/>\n<iframe data-src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Dq8oG9FoU8w\" height=\"399\" width=\"710\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two Great Eagles swooped into Wellington Airport\u2019s main terminal building on Monday morning, giving Gandalf a glimpse of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":82,"featured_media":84004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14,17,22,4,104],"tags":[1338,2311,2312,515],"class_list":["post-83997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-events-exhibits","category-headlines","category-hobbit-movie","category-production-weta-workshop","tag-gandalf-the-grey","tag-the-eagles","tag-wellington-airport","tag-weta-workshop"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/SUP2098_021213.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1tLoH-lQN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/82"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83997"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84007,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83997\/revisions\/84007"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}