This post has been a loooong time coming. It has occurred to me that some of the people reading this blog may have never seen the Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit and that much of what I say may have been lost on them. All I can say is that is very unfortunate. So for those of you who don't know, 13 years ago this December the first film of one of the highest grossing film series of all time was released and the world changed forever. Based on the novel, The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien, the films made their way into cinemas around the world and into many many people's hearts. The films were considered to be one of the biggest most ambitious film projects ever undertaken and were partially created by these guys:
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Weta Workshop. Founded by Sir Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger in 1987, Weta Workshop embodies the Kiwi 'no. 8 wire' can-do attitude employing many master craftsmen, many of whom are self taught. Named after the infamous New Zealand weta (basically a VERY large cricket), Weta has brought fame to New Zealand through it's work on projects like The Lord of the Rings, The Last Samurai, King Kong, The Chronicles of Narnia, Distict 9, Avatar, The Adventures of Tintin and The Hobbit. Basically it has become a mecca for nerds all over the world traveling to New Zealand to make their pilgrimage and, up until the last couple of years, stand outside the gates and peer through and hope to see something.
Luckily for us, 2 years ago, the founders saw the financial gain in opening up a small part of the workshop for pilgrims to be guided through explanations of the work the company does and look through into a couple of parts of the workshop to see parts of the creative process. And it is definitely worth it. Starting from sketches up to the final painting of the prop, the guide explains how everything in the movies are made, different materials used for different shots and even how they make replicas. He discussed the digital process, sword and armour crafting, 'bigatures' and much more. We went in there expecting to just get shown some props and how they were made - and we did - and came out with a lesson about life.
It perfectly mirrored a conversation I had just had with 2 college-aged girls (college in NZ is the same as high school) the Sunday prior. Somehow we got on the topic of future careers. One of the girls was saying that she wanted to be a brain surgeon; the other that she had no idea what she wanted to do. We talked about how it's okay to not know what career path you should follow, that university is over-rated and that you shouldn't necessarily be focused solely on getting there (unless of course you want to be a brain surgeon). I told them that just because you've decided a career path does not mean that you know what you want to do for the rest of your life. Other choices crop up. The one everyone is asking me now is, "So what type of nursing do you want to do?" This revelation came as a huge shock to me because all through high school and much of university I thought I had this whole career path sorted, having chosen to pursue nursing and studying at McMaster. We discussed how so much of education and energy, as children and youth, is focused on getting kids to figure out what they "want to be when they grow up" but not enough time is focused on helping them enjoy their childhood. You can always work on being more grown up; once lost you can't work on becoming a child. I told them to do what they love, are interested in learning and have passion for and to try to make a job out of that if possible. It fit in so well with what our guide discussed about his own personal experience.
I got this quote from the Weta Workshop website and it pretty much sums up what we talked about during the tour:
"Working at Weta is about as good as it gets," Matt says - "We get paid to have a hobby and play with weapons at work. I carry around a Japanese Katana when I do my tours... where else can you do that?"
Matt also says what so many other artists at Weta tell us, that the most important thing you need to work in a place like Weta is passion and a desire to be the best at what you can do. What school you attend or what qualifications you hold comes second to the passion for your art.
"It's never a bad thing studying. I would never discourage anyone, but it really isn't the only way to get a job, at least not here in New Zealand... Not everyone is cut out for higher education - financial reasons, learning difficulties or dyslexia may mean it's hard to acquire a formal education, but the very same things may well increase your chances of becoming a great artist and the lack of education shouldn't stop anyone from being allowed to pursue their dreams."
Luckily for us, 2 years ago, the founders saw the financial gain in opening up a small part of the workshop for pilgrims to be guided through explanations of the work the company does and look through into a couple of parts of the workshop to see parts of the creative process. And it is definitely worth it. Starting from sketches up to the final painting of the prop, the guide explains how everything in the movies are made, different materials used for different shots and even how they make replicas. He discussed the digital process, sword and armour crafting, 'bigatures' and much more. We went in there expecting to just get shown some props and how they were made - and we did - and came out with a lesson about life.
It perfectly mirrored a conversation I had just had with 2 college-aged girls (college in NZ is the same as high school) the Sunday prior. Somehow we got on the topic of future careers. One of the girls was saying that she wanted to be a brain surgeon; the other that she had no idea what she wanted to do. We talked about how it's okay to not know what career path you should follow, that university is over-rated and that you shouldn't necessarily be focused solely on getting there (unless of course you want to be a brain surgeon). I told them that just because you've decided a career path does not mean that you know what you want to do for the rest of your life. Other choices crop up. The one everyone is asking me now is, "So what type of nursing do you want to do?" This revelation came as a huge shock to me because all through high school and much of university I thought I had this whole career path sorted, having chosen to pursue nursing and studying at McMaster. We discussed how so much of education and energy, as children and youth, is focused on getting kids to figure out what they "want to be when they grow up" but not enough time is focused on helping them enjoy their childhood. You can always work on being more grown up; once lost you can't work on becoming a child. I told them to do what they love, are interested in learning and have passion for and to try to make a job out of that if possible. It fit in so well with what our guide discussed about his own personal experience.
I got this quote from the Weta Workshop website and it pretty much sums up what we talked about during the tour:
"Working at Weta is about as good as it gets," Matt says - "We get paid to have a hobby and play with weapons at work. I carry around a Japanese Katana when I do my tours... where else can you do that?"
Matt also says what so many other artists at Weta tell us, that the most important thing you need to work in a place like Weta is passion and a desire to be the best at what you can do. What school you attend or what qualifications you hold comes second to the passion for your art.
"It's never a bad thing studying. I would never discourage anyone, but it really isn't the only way to get a job, at least not here in New Zealand... Not everyone is cut out for higher education - financial reasons, learning difficulties or dyslexia may mean it's hard to acquire a formal education, but the very same things may well increase your chances of becoming a great artist and the lack of education shouldn't stop anyone from being allowed to pursue their dreams."
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