New Zealand ’11

AnimFX NZ – Master Class Day

Nov 162011

This was my big work day. I distilled my fifteen week Entrepreneurship in Entertainment Technology class down to a five hour Master Class.

Forty four people signed up for the class, all Kiwis, with a variety of backgrounds and experience from students to business owners to producers to representatives from NZ Trade and Enterprise. I had timed out the whole day on my notes and was right on schedule until about half way through. Utimately I ran long by about 15 minutes and sadly had to rush the last section. The people in the class made this a very enjoyable experience – I wasn’t nervous about having enough material (in fact I was throwing stuff out right up until yesterday), but I was a bit concerned about keeping everyone engaged though a five hour session. As it turned out we had a great dynamic – people shared their experiences, asked questions, and participated in some great discussions. I’m excited now about an opportunity to do this again, with obvious tuning based on today’s experience. And lemon and honey tea to fight off a subsequent day of hoarseness.

There were about 40 people in attendence, but I only remembered to take the picture after the class was over. These are most of the survivors.

While I was at the conference, Sarah was learning more about Wellington at the Wellington City Museum and the local shopping district.

We had dinner at Ambeli, an excellent restaurant recommended by my buddy Jeff. Thanks, Jeff!

Lamb chops at Ambeli

Poussin at Ambeli

Weta Day

New Zealand '11, Nov 17 '11

Nov 172011

Alas, another day with too few pictures. Weta Digital sponsored a Weta Day for AnimFX and presented a series of fantastic talks at one of their facilities: Park Road Post. They requested no photography or recordings on campus, so the best I did was this:

Me, outside Weta's Park Road Post

The morning had five speakers breaking down the making of “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” including Eric Winquist (formerly of PDI!) going into detail on the Golden Gate Bridge sequence which he supervised. During the afternoon we were treated to talks by Wayne Stables and Jamie Beard about the genesis of the digital version of Tin Tin for “The Adventures of Tin Tin,” and pre-script visualization of action sequences for the film.

In between the sessions they hosted lunch for all of us at the local (lawn) bowling club. As is typical at conferences, these types of meals and coffee breaks make for great opportunities to meet new people and catch up with old acquaintances. Though I tend to be introverted in large groups of people, this crowd made it very easy to make some new friends.

I stuck around after the main events to watch two screenings of Enrico’s “La Luna” that were arranged for Weta employees in the evening. After seeing his talk on Tuesday it was fun to see the finished film a couple times more to appreciate the nuances that he exposed us to.

AnimFX closed with a party at Red Square in downtown Wellington.

While I was whiling away the hours at Weta, Sarah was sightseeing and shopping along the seaside.

Back in our hotel room that night, Sarah let out a scream in the dark that I was sure would have the police showing up. The perp would have been our luggage on the floor that attacked one of her toes with enough energy to break it. The beautiful picture of the now purple ped was not approved by its owner for public publication, but it is quite glorious in its rich hues. Some tape and limping will hopefully be sufficient for a full recovery.

(In review, it’s pretty clear this was written late at night. All that alliteration!)

Wellington to Napier

New Zealand '11, Nov 18 '11

Nov 182011

The morning started at CreativeHQ, a startup incubator in Wellington. I had met Alan Hucks, their Business Strategist, at an AnimFX event and was eager to learn more about them – I had referenced them as a local example of incubator spaces in my class but hadn’t met anyone there yet. Alan arranged for Kim and me to meet Steve O’Connor, CEO, and Tui Te Hau, Programme Manager, this morning. I learned a lot from them about the startup environment in NZ, and left very impressed with what they’re accomplishing and their future plans.

Wellington and AnimFX have been fantastic, but it’s time for Sarah and I to move on. We checked out of the Museum Hotel and drove to Napier – about a four or five hour drive. We stopped in Greytown for lunch (a bit mediocre) and Waipukurau for coffee and chocolate (excellent coffee, even at a roadside stand!). It was a beautiful but uneventful drive, with the exception of ten minutes of tropical style rain and stops for lunch and coffee.

View Wellington to Napier in a larger map

We checked into our hotel in Napier in a beach district that used to be the main port until the earthquake of 1931. (More on that tomorrow.)

The view from our hotel room across Hawke Bay

Hawke Bay Coastline, with its beautiful clear turquoise waters.

We walked along the old warehouses which are now becoming restaurants and had dinner at Speight’s Ale House. Very good food there, and I particularly enjoyed their Old Dark on tap.

Speight's Old Dark on tap

Merino Wool (and Possom) Sweater

New Zealand '11, Nov 19 '11

Nov 192011

That's right, 40% Possom

While downtown in Napier, we did some shopping and I bought a wonderfully soft mostly wool sweater. After I tried it on and loved it I read the label and found out it was 40% possum. What? Possums here are not like opossums at home – we have giant rats, but in NZ they have soft furry mammals. They are also an invasive species that is threatening the trees and wildlife, so slaughtering them for their fur is an environmentally friendly thing to do. Feeling good about my effort to help the indiginous flora and fauna, I swiped my credit card and haven’t looked back.

From McDonald’s website:

New Zealand’s unique native forest is under attack. Throughout the country 80 million Possums destroy 22,000 tonnes of our indigenous flora every night. With no natural predators, this introduced pest is striking at the very best of our landscape. Competing with native birdlife for food and habitat,the Possum feeds on native trees such as rata, totara and kowhai while posing a significant threat to New Zealand’s distinctive national icon – the Kiwi. This ecological crisis originates from the 19th Century when Possums were introduced to New Zealand to establish a fur trade. Today, the industry is environmentally focused and plays a vital part in controlling Possum numbers. Possum Merino is an environmentally conscious choice – wearing a McDonald garment allows you to contribute towards a sustainable future for New Zealand’s flora and fauna.

Napier, New Zealand – Art Deco Tour

New Zealand '11, Nov 19 '11

Nov 192011

Napier Art Deco

Napier was almost leveled by an earthquake in 1931. What remained standing was soon destroyed by subsequent fires. The quake came in two parts, the first lasting a minute at 7+ magnitude followed by a minute of rest, then a second jolt simliar in size and duration to the first. In the process, the Pacific Plate rammed itself under the Australian Plate, raising the town of Napier two meters and adding 8,000 hectacres of new land to the area. The townspeople rallied and in 22 months had rebuilt the entire city. They chose to build in an Art Deco style to represent their modern and future-looking attitude. Plus, it was fast, cheap, and earthquake safe to pour concrete walls.

We booked a car tour of Napier through the Art Deco Trust, and were picked up at our hotel in a 1939 Packard by our guide Tony, who was dressed in fine ’30s style.

The 1939 Packard that we toured Napier, NZ, in. Our tour guide, Tony, is in the background dressed in his '30s finest. Behind Tony is the National Tobacco Company building, an exquisite Art Deco building with new Art Nouveau flairs.

Looking over Tony's shoulder. You need a megaphone to backseat drive in this car.

Sarah and me in the roomy backseat.

After the two hour tour we had him drop us off downtown so we could grab a late lunch (almost impossible at 3pm). Everyone had told us that the walk back would be about fifteen minutes, but we’re pretty sure now that their accents were throwing us off, as the walk actually took fifty minutes.

Another example of Napier Art Deco style.

We crashed in our hotel room for awhile and listened to the guys upstairs singing along horribly with the ’70s rock they were blasting. We hoped that after dinner things would quiet down. We had a nice meal across the way at East Pier, followed by coffee and dessert downstairs. All was quiet when we returned to the room.

Or so we thought…

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