Weta Productions

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum


Background

Wētā Workshop is a special effects and prop workshop company founded in 1987 as RT Effects in Wellington, New Zealand, by Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger. They're most well-known for their work on the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogy along with their related, albeit separate, computer effects company Wētā FX. In 2005, in partnership with book author Martin Baynton, they made their debut on television as Weta Productions and produced a series based on the author's own series, Jane & The Dragon. In 2008, Martin Baynton, along with Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger, founded a new animation studio, Pukeko Pictures.

Logo (October 15, 2005-August 12, 2006, 2014)


Visuals: On a white background, the scratchy text "WEtA" is seen to the left side of the screen, slightly moving as the edges surrounding it ripple. To the left, a large wētā is seen moving slightly as well, with its antennas waving and its mandibles closing. Both it and the text are colored in various shades of divided green. In-between the letters, blotches of forest green color appear as it forms "productions" below, and the wētā turns into a similarly scratchy-looking still image after it stops moving. The entire logo resembles the old Wētā Workshop logo, but with the "workshop" text replaced with "productions"

Variant: A long variant of the logo appears on a showreel in 2014. Starting off in a grassy area with canopy shadows covering the area, a pair of light green antenna come in from the left and starts rummaging the grass. This reveals an invisible silhouette of a wētā walking through the grass as the camera starts to pan away from it and the shadows all disappear, with the wētā emerging from the grass as fully filled in, colored in various layers of green, and the grass turns into the text "WEtA". The wētā turns to the left and then stops at its normal position, continuing like the main logo but without "productions" appearing. Finally, a dark green URL "www.wetaNZ.com" appears below and shines.

Technique: Computer animation.

Audio: The ending theme of the show. The long variant has the sounds of a forest playing, like birds chirping and the rustling of grass, along with a strange string instrument playing in the background. A whoosh is heard when the URL appears.

Availability: Seen only on Jane & The Dragon.

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