week 2 : peter jackson

WALT locate and summarise ideas

Peter Jackson Biography

Peter Jackson was born on Halloween on 31 October 1961 in Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city - once hailed by Lonely Planet as the ‘coolest little capital in the world.’             

Jackson grew up in the small seaside town of Pukerua Bay, 30 minutes by car from the centre of Wellington. In the years that followed, Jackson has become a world-famous director but he is never far from his Middle-earth home.

Peter Jackson and his screenwriter / film producer wife Fran Walsh have a son and a daughter. They live in the Wellington suburb of Miramar - close to his growing movie empire. Wingnut Films, Weta Workshop, Weta Digital, Stone Street Studios and Park Road Post are all located in Miramar. Wellington is often referred to as ‘Wellywood’ as Peter Jackson and colleagues have helped the city become a film production and technology hot spot.

It seems Peter Jackson was forever destined to become a director. He made his debut film - a ‘war’ movie using his parents’ Super 8 movie camera - in 1971 at the tender age of eight, before attempting to remake ‘King Kong’ using stop-motion models a year later.

At age 17, Jackson was sent on a course in Auckland and decided to buy a book to pass the time during the train trip north. The book was The Lord of the Rings. It was this purchase that sparked the fire to bring Tolkien’s epic tale to life.

Peter Jackson’s first movie was the Zombie ‘splatstick’ Bad Taste (1987). Meet the Feebles (1989), Braindead (1992), Heavenly Creatures (1994) Forgotten Silver (1995), The Frighteners (1996), King Kong (2005) and The Lovely Bones (2009) followed.

But it was The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003) that helped to put Peter Jackson and the spectacular scenery of New Zealand on the world map. This trilogy was followed up with the prequel to The Lord of the Rings with The Hobbit Trilogy (2012-2014). Jackson has been nominated for many Academy Awards during his career - and he certainly had his hands full when he scooped three Oscars at the 2004 Academy Awards - winning Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

Jackson was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2002. He was later knighted as a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (for services to the arts) in his hometown of Wellington in April 2010. Peter Jackson is notorious for appearing in public without shoes. This is a very ‘Kiwi’ habit as New Zealanders love to feel the grass or the sand between their toes.

In 2011 the famous film set at Hobbiton in the small rural town of Matamata was completely rebuilt for The Hobbit Trilogy - this time in permanent materials, complete with Hobbit holes, gardens, bridge, mills and The Green Dragon Inn. Hobbiton Set is now operated by the Alexander family in partnership with Sir Peter Jackson, and has become one of New Zealand's most successful tourism destinations.

WALT Locate and Summarise Ideas

1. Select 5 keywords from this article: Kiwi, famous, movie,
2. director, successful   

Success criteria: key words sum up the meaning. They are often nouns (but not always)

2. Explain why you chose to learn about Peter Jackson in three or four sentences. What made you interested in him?

I have only watched one of his movies and called the hobbit the unexpected journey. I am interested  to his films    

3. Vocabulary: for these words, share a meaning in your own words and find a dictionary meaning

Word	My Meaning	Dictionary Meaning
art	fancy paintings skill and craft	the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.
film	a movie	a cinema film.
director	a maker of a movie	a person who is in charge of an activity, department, or organization.

4. What is your favourite Peter Jackson film? Find an image or screenshot from that film and insert it here:
5. Write five adjectives which describe this film.  

dark spooky hole door table  food fire sword pot warzard dirt