Visited Peter Jackson today...

Out of all the most powerful computer sites in the world, Weta Digital ranks #157 as of June 2006. Running Linux on 1,000 Xeon EM64T 3.6 GHz processors via Gigabit Ethernet. Pretty cool that among the science and government supercomputer installations that a supercomputer designed for manufacturing dreams is up there too :grin:

Barry, did you get to see this behemoth of an installation?
 
Hey Barry, glad to hear you had a great time here in New Zealand. I attended your Wellington seminar and just needed to say how impressed I was. I will be purchasing the HVX over the next couple of days. Yeah PJ is great, I met him at the premiere of Lord of the Rings. Such a down to earth guy.

Im glued to your book by the way mate, its very well done.

- Alan Morrison
 
AlanMorrison said:
Im glued to your book by the way mate, its very well done.

- Alan Morrison
Click to expand...

Hey Alan, glad you liked the seminar, and thanks for saying something nice about the book too! I am extraordinarily jealous of you guys who get to live down here full time, it's just an amazing place. Shoot some magnificent NZ scenery with your brand-spankin'-new HVX and post some links so the rest of our members here can see what I'm talking about! :)
 
Since the NDA prevents you from saying what the footage was being used for. Would you maybe be able to say what made the footage look so stunning. For example, what aspects of the HVX did they use to their advantage, was their footage film like enough to match 35mm, etc...
 
Haha trying to squeeze information out of you Barry. Yeah ill definetly post some footage for you. But for those who want to see what New Zealand is all about, just watch Lord of the Rings. Most of it isnt CGI :)

You still in New Zealand Barry or have you moved on?
 
Moved on; landed in Sydney today, took the ferry tour around the harbor, saw the opera house, had some world-famous Doyle's fish 'n' chips... first big Australian seminar is tomorrow!
 
Anyone ever see Bad Taste? If you haven't it's a Peter Jackson must see. When I heard who was directing Lord of the Rings, I was like "No Way." From producing a cult classic to major prime time.

Anyway, Barry, any chance that you might be able to tell us what the HVX was used for after the fact? You know once he's done doing whatever and he's doing and there's no longer a chance for a spoiler.
 
I'm sure that would be possible, but it would have to be authorized by someone from Wingnut or WETA etc. So if they send me a message saying that it's okay to talk about it, I'd be glad to share it, but until they release me from the NDA on that, I can't.

From "Bad Taste" to "LOTR" is a true absolute indie triumph. The guy shot Bad Taste on a Bolex on weekends over the course of a year, or something like that.
 
He shot Bad Taste over the course of 4 years!! I remember watching it when it first came out and loving everyminute of it. Then came Meet the Feebles which I had on bootleg VHS with Japanese subtitles for years because nobody in America would buy the movie. Finally he made Braindead (Dead/Alive in the US). I was a huge fan way that then.
I still can't believe his accomplishments.

I hope he lost all that weight to play Derek in BAD TASTE 2 shot on weekends and on an HVX!
 
I've loved everything that he's ever done. Bad Taste was a film that inspired me to make a movie, fo sho'. Meet the Feebles was a major MAJOR film in my filmmaking evolution and a must for all fans of the bizarre. Jackson said two major influences on him were the Muppets and Monty Pyton.. I share those two as well! We also can't forget Brain Dead which he got funded by the NZ film board.. Amazing! Then we get one of the most well crafted films of the 90's in that Heavenly Creatures, before he did the Frightners... which at the time had more CG effects in it than any other film in history. I especially love that Story that Michael J. Fox tells about getting to NZ to shoot the Frightners and Jackson showed him Meet the Feebles.. which actually made Fox throw up... or get sick to his stomach. Fox called Jackson a mad man... hated the filmmaking process and cited this film as the reason he went back to TV. Ahhh.. what a judge of Talent.


Barry.. you are truly living the blessed life, brother. Not sitting behind a desk somewhere, but out living the filmmakers dream and rubbing elbows with quite possibly the most important filmmaker on the planet... Or certainly atleast one of the coolest...

Can't wait to see your vacation vid when you return. Where are you off to after AU?
 
That trip was most amazing. I don't have much of a vacation vid, there wasn't much vacationing going on, but I'll post a little bit of some Aussie beach/surfing stuff here shortly.

Getting away from the desk was magnificent.

Where am I off to next? Why, Los Angeles of course -- the HVX/DVX Bootcamp Weekend is next week! After that there'll be some miscellaneous announcements which should make some things more clear as to what's going on, and hopefully not much traveling for a while -- I am *so* overdosed on plane flights. 11 flights in 20 days, and the way down there was 33 hours and the way back was 28, so that's enough for one month! :)
 
I love Bad Taste & Braindead.. Films like those that inspired me on to this path..

Especially when I first heard about Peter Jackson doing LOTR. I was pleased to hear of his success.

I remember thinking about Bad Taste; I read once how the zombie heads were created by hand and cooked in Jackson's mother's oven! Pure Indie filmmaking.

"I Kick Arse For The Lord!"
 
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