Contract w Weta Productions re Jane and the Dragon

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Jane and the Dragon: one sword, ten claws – what a partnership.

The TV series Jane and the Dragon has been a huge hit in New Zealand and around the world. The adventures concern a partnership between Jane, a feisty red head, and her giant green dragon. But there is more than one successful partnership to this story. The creator of the original books, Martin Baynton, partnered with Richard Taylor and his Academy Award winning Weta Workshop to develop the stories into their award winning TV show. Then Weta partnered with Nelvana, an international distributor of animation programs who have successfully sold Jane And The Dragon to over thirty countries.

Now a new partnership heralds an exciting extra dimension for the show. Weta has joined forces with CORE Education to begin development of a website that will be the platform for creative participation by students here in New Zealand.

CORE Education is a not-for-profit educational research and development organisation based in Christchurch. CORE has established an international reputation for support and promotion of the use of new technologies for learning, and enjoys a strong relationship with the NZ Ministry of Education as preferred provider for a range of national projects.

‘I’m thrilled to be working with the team at CORE on this,’ says Baynton. ‘We always hoped Jane could become a platform for exploring life on a grand scale. For learning about other cultures, history, geography and social values. We have fought to protect these elements throughout the making of the show and the response from parents and teachers around the world suggests we have succeeded. And now to be doing this with the CORE team is the perfect way to grow an educational platform that will build on this potential.’

Ali Hughes, CORE General Manager says that this partnership with Jane and Weta Productions provides a great opportunity to work with teachers and develop resources (linked to the NZ curriculum) for children of all ages, and is entirely consistent with CORE’s mission to develop innovative, empowering, creative and effective learning environments.

Plans for the development of the on-line environment are already underway and include elements emphasising students’ participation and collaboration, such as galleries for student art work, photos and videos, opportunities for personalisation of the site with avatars, and on-line forums.

This project will be launched at CORE’s educational conference ULearn on Wed 3rd October. A competition for schools to write the music for the website will also be launched at this event.

ENDS

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