Good Betta Weta!

King Kong Trailer

WoW!!! Hooboy, you got to check this out..
The trailer has just come online and is looking awesome.
Those guys at Weta, that brought you the little three part movie The Lord of the Rings, are certainly gonna do some more magic with Peter Jacksons latest blockbuster... crashing a cinema this December.

Shooting Lions and Leopards

Okay dont worry, I am not actually out to destroy Gods creatures but going on shoot on Monday for a Pilsner commercial. It sounds like it will be fun! As a person privileged enough to have experienced lots of Africa's great beasts with my brother (see my photos at my site for more) this should be nothing new but there is always something exciting about being around the big five. For those that don't know the big five are so named from the hunting days. The big trophy animals - Lion, Leopard, Buffalo, Rhino and Elephant.

Its a day shoot and we are limited to three shots per animal which means a lot of rushing and arguing with producers. The camera needs to be set up correctly but we cant keep the Leopards waiting ;) They have their own union apparently.

I will tell you how it went next week.

Learning to FOCUS

Its been several weeks since I last posted here and there are many reasons for that. Most I will not go into now but one main reason that I have to share is "learning to Focus". I find that at the moment in my life I am bogged under with ideas, plans and lots of work. But why do I struggle to keep things in order?

I came across this article on Davis Love III and why he was struggling to beat Tiger. It outlines that Davis was always trying to beat Tiger at his game and not Davis' own. During an off season session with sport psychologist Bob Rotella, he came up with the following note, which he wrote down and kept with him.
"Chase your own potential."
Read the article to better understand where I am going with this.

You see I am not chasing my own potential but always trying to be as good as things I see in films, find on the internet or read. I am aiming for things that at the moment are out of my league or a different approach to my own. I am theorising that I can be as good as Joe Animator with the amazing real one day and then Sam ShortStory the next. Always jumping from one thing to another without focusing on what I am good at and how my own talents can get me to where I want to be. WINNING!

Now I am not saying that I should not look and learn from others but simply stop changing my game plan when a new "trick" arrives on the scene.

I have given myself a note and plan to stick with this now. No distractions over an awesome animation test I see and wonder, "Hmmm, maybe I should try something like that?" I am going to stay with a plan... focus on myself!

Just a little thought I figured I should share, if anybody ever comes across this ;)