Weta Workshop

Valinda Coyle Student 0004665220

AP 05100504148

Weta Workshop Company Summary

The Weta Workshop is part of the amazing Weta Group of Companies. Located in New Zealand and founded in 1987 by Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger, Weta specializes in digital effects, animation, modeling, crowd gathering, motion capture, compositing, and film scanning and recording. Other Weta Group Companies incorporate post production facilities, studios that include a 24,500 square foot “Kong” soundstage, and a film equipment rental company.

Weta has won 36 awards, including five Oscars and four BAFTAs for productions like The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and King Kong.

Weta collaborates with other creative entities such as Star Dog Ltd, Pukeko Pictures, The Roxy Cinema, and Magic Leap. I learned of the Weta Workshop through my inquiry into the Florida based company, Magic Leap, Inc. Richard Taylor, co-founder of Weta is on the Board of Directors for Magic Leap. Star Dog and Magic Leap are collaborating to bring Weta’s Dr. Grordbort as a digital game to the new platform that Magic Leap has created called Cinematic Reality. To some extent this presentation will include Magic Leap because of Richard Taylor’s involvement and his belief in the technology that Magic Leap has imagined and mastered. Following is how Richard describes the accomplishment of Rony Abovitz, President, CEO & Founder of Magic Leap, Inc.:

Weta and Magic Leap"What Rony and the Magic Leap team have created is nothing short of remarkable and will forever change the way we interact with images and information. The wearable technology they have developed is revolutionary in its ability to create amazingly immersive and fantastical experiences. This goal alone would be a Herculean endeavor for any development group, but the fact that the Magic Leap team is driven by the mantra of also delivering devices that complement human physiology is extraordinary,” said Richard Taylor, Magic Leap Board of Directorsʼ member and Co-founder of Weta Workshop. "We are now at the threshold of giving people a dynamic image interface that harmonizes with their senses in a completely natural way. As a storyteller and as a person that loves creating and sharing imaginative worlds, it's a very exciting time. The Magic Leap team has created something truly game changing. It is like a rocket ship for the mind."

So, let’s look at four articles about these two innovative companies and the cutting edge technology that they are bringing to the world of cinema to determine the credibility of the journalism.

Weta Workshop + James Cameron = Avatar

Premiere

Avatar

LA

December 16, 2009

Sigourney Weaver

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Movie Industry Finds Fertile Ground in New Zealandhttp://www.lexisnexis.com.oclc.fullsail.edu:81/lnacui2api/api/version1/getDocCui?lni=5FMG-N0Y1-DYX5-X1WJ&csi=270944,270077,11059,8411&hl=t&hv=t&hnsd=f&hns=t&hgn=t&oc=00240&perma=true

Authority and Credibility: Takahiro Tsujimoto, a correspondent based in Bangkok for The Japan News by The Yomiuri Shimbun.

Currency and Continuity: Load Date: March 29, 2015. Published in The Japan News Monday, March 30, 2015, S Edition. The Yomiuri Shimbun was founded in 1874, and is based in Tokyo, Japan. Partnerships that enable republishing with Asia News Network, The Times, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times ensure readers have world coverage. Going Digital with Japan News LITE allows readers to capture leading news stories on Smartphones, Tablets and PCs.

Content and Bias: The focus of the article is the Movie Industry and Tourism in New Zealand. Japan and New Zealand have had a long standing strategic and trade partnership. Because of this relationship, I thought there might be bias in the article but fact checks revealed that not to be the case. The generalizations and statistics that are provided are fair and accurate.

Citations and Links: Though there are no links to sources, there are references to the New Zealand Tourism Board, the CEO of Film New Zealand, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement. These were helpful in verifying the information put forth by the author.

Navigation and Copyright: Copyright 2015 by The Yomiuri Shimbun. The site is simple to navigate. Additional fact checks were found at Variety Media, LLC, The Treasury, Statistics New Zealand, and Weta Group of Companies.

Movie Industry Finds Fertile Ground in New Zealandhttp://www.lexisnexis.com.oclc.fullsail.edu:81/lnacui2api/api/version1/getDocCui?lni=5FMG-N0Y1-DYX5-X1WJ&csi=270944,270077,11059,8411&hl=t&hv=t&hnsd=f&hns=t&hgn=t&oc=00240&perma=true

I believe that Takahiro Tsujimoto authored an accurate account

of New Zealand’s Movie Industry and the resulting boost to tourism

and the entire economy. Tsujimoto included statistics throughout

the article that I was able to verify through various sources.

Considering that Japan and New Zealand have a close relationship

I was concerned about the validity of the story but, in fact I found

the reporting to be a sincere attempt to support New Zealand’s

economy because its domestic markets are limited.

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Mysterious Startup Magic Leap Shows Off Augmented Reality Action Gamehttp://www.lexisnexis.com.oclc.fullsail.edu:81/lnacui2api/api/version1/getDocCui?lni=5FJJ-MWN1-F021-61SH&csi=270944,270077,11059,8411&hl=t&hv=t&hnsd=f&hns=t&hgn=t&oc=00240&perma=true

Authority and Credibility: Stuart Dredge, technology writer for The Guardian newspaper, London, a division of Transcontinental Media Group, Inc.

Currency and Continuity: Load Date: March 20, 2015. Published Friday 1:10 PM GMT, March 20,2015 without apparent revision. The Guardian shares a Pulitzer Prize with the Washington Post for NSA Surveillance stories on Edward Snowden.

Content and Bias: The focus of the article is speculation as to why Magic Leap pulled out of both the TED conference and the AMA Interview on Reddit. Instead, they posted videos of an augmented reality action game created by Greg Broadmore of Weta, Dr. Grordbort Presents Victory. Considering the $542M Series B funding they received in October of 2014 led by Google, Magic Leap’s actions have sparked chatter of acquisition by Google. Though the acquisition is speculation, the financial data is accurate.

Citations and Links: There is citation of an MIT Technology Review that is helpful in understanding how the prototype of Magic Leap’s game works. Re/Code, a respected independent tech news site hinted at the acquisition according to the author. Re/Code received the Excellence in Online Journalism Award from the U.S. National Press Foundation.

Navigation and Copyright: Copyright 2015 by The Guardian, a division of Transcontinental Media Group, Inc. The article is simple to navigate. Alternative sources of information include TED Blogs, GamesBeat, VentureBeat, TechCrunch and Reddit.

Mysterious Startup Magic Leap Shows Off Augmented Reality Action Gamehttp://www.lexisnexis.com.oclc.fullsail.edu:81/lnacui2api/api/version1/getDocCui?lni=5FJJ-MWN1-F021-61SH&csi=270944,270077,11059,8411&hl=t&hv=t&hnsd=f&hns=t&hgn=t&oc=00240&perma=true

Aside from The Guardian’s stellar reputation there are other

reasons that I give this article by Stuart Dredge a credibility

rating of 100. There are no journalistic assumptions in this story.

Instead, every point is derived from its own origin or a credible source

that I was able to verify. There is one analysis that the author seems

to make on his own: “However, there’s an important distinction:

Magic Leap appears to be working on augmented reality (AR) -

overlaying characters and data on the real world - rather than the

entirely - virtual world provided by the Oculus Rift headset.”

This makes sense because Magic Leap’s strategic and creative

partner, Weta is a physical effects workshop.

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Magic Leap Collaborating with Weta Workshop on FPS for The Devicehttp://uploadvr.com/magic-leap-collaborating-with-avatar-and-lord-of-the-rings-special-effects-team-weta-workshop-on-fps-for-the-device/

Authority and Credibility: Will Mason, Editor in Chief, UpLoadVR. Currency and Continuity: Published December 18, 2014 without apparent revision. It is difficult to determine if this website has a solid standing and history of accessibility. It is a high tech VR site with many layers of interactivity and no historical footprint. Though, I admit UpLoadVR is engaging with intriguing articles and graphics.

Content and Bias: The focus of the article is Magic Leap’s connection to Weta Workshop and Gamasutra. The quest to recruit the world’s best level designers to aid in developing Weta’s Dr. Grordbort’s replica ray guns for a “robot-disintegrating science-fiction experience”. “Cinematic Reality” is intended to change the game.

Citations and Links: The active links connect to Gamasutra for employment opportunities, Weta Workshop and the replica ray guns and Dr. Grordbort, and the South Florida Business Journal where we find an article on co-founder Rony Abovitz and his involvement in the sale of Mako Surgical for $1.65B.

Navigation and Copyright: The Copyright date is 2015 by Virtual Reality and Oculus News and Events. There is not a clear connection to alternate sources and navigation is somewhat complex.

Magic Leap Collaborating with Weta Workshop on FPS for The Devicehttp://uploadvr.com/magic-leap-collaborating-with-avatar-and-lord-of-the-rings-special-effects-team-weta-workshop-on-fps-for-the-device/

UpLoadVR is “dedicated to accelerating the success of the virtual reality industry through inspiring community

experiences and dissemination of knowledge”. Founded in 2014 and privately held, UpLoadVR’s vision is connection,

experience and inspiration. Believing that Virtual Reality is going to “reinvent the way we learn, interact, and

understand the world around us, the mission is to “spread the

magic of VR”. As Co-Founder and Editor in Chief, Will Mason has

the responsibility of delivering on these aspirations. It’s not

credibility in the usual sense but dedication based on passion for

the future. I found this article to be not only credible, but the

most thorough of the four that I evaluated. The link to the South

Florida Business Journal’s interview with Magic Leap’s CEO, Rony

Abovitz was particularly insightful, and Mason acknowledged the

important relationship with Weta Workshop. I was able to verify

information presented by the author through other sources. AP 811421772720

811421772720

Magic Leap Releases Stunning Holographic Videohttp://money.cnn.com/2015/03/20/technology/magic-leap/index.html

Authority and Credibility: The author is Aaron Smith@AaronSmithCNN of CNNMoney, New York.

Currency and Continuity: Published March 20, 2015:1:19 PM ET, without apparent revisions. CNNMoney is a subsidiary of Cable News Network, Inc., a subsidiary of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a subsidiary of Time Warner, Inc. Respected in the industry and known for many broadcasting and journalism awards including Alfred I. duPont - Columbia University, George Foster Peabody, and news and documentary Emmy Awards, Time Warner, Inc. is also listed as one of Fortune Magazine’s 2015 Most Admired Companies.

Content and Bias: The focus of the article is the display of Magic Leap’s “techno prowess” and an effort to understand “cinematic reality”. There is nothing new here as the author repeats the news of the massive funding in 2014 and efforts to build its workforce with 100 current listings that include computer and software engineering, “3-D people tracking”, avatars,and video game design. There is no mention of Weta Workshop, an integral partner in Magic Leaps’ development.

Citation and Links: There are links to the video clip that Magic Leap recently released, to GOOGLTECH30 regarding the $542M funding of which Google was the primary investor, and to “wizards wanted”, the company’s 100 job listings.

Navigation and Copyright: Rather than a copyright notice, the following is posted: All Rights Reserved. Terms Under Which This Service Is Provided To You. Privacy Policy. 2015 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. The information is accessible through many alternative sources including the Magic Leap website, Wall Street Stock Reports, and YouTube.

Magic Leap Releases Stunning Holographic Videohttp://money.cnn.com/2015/03/20/technology/magic-leap/index.html

Aaron Smith authors an article on Magic Leap that is credible

in that the few facts that he discusses can be verified, and by

association with CNN and Time Warner. However, he fails to

deliver any substantive material and the information that he

does offer is somewhat random. At times, his tone is skeptical

and he does not acknowledge the essential partnership with

Weta Workshop. I have to wonder how much he understands

his material, and whether he conducted adequate research, or

had interest in the subject matter. For these reasons, I would

have to doubt his credibility on this work.

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