James Cameron Returns with Avatar

[Goose]

December 09 I think.

[jon_cybernet]

Well it hardly has much competition does it.

Regarding Campfire Burning's spoiler:

The standout sequence in Strange Days was also the first person scene so it would be interesting to see him return to this technique

Are you mixing up Cameron with his ex?

[lordcookie]

Nope.

I know Bigalow was the director but Cameron was heavily involved in the film (writing the screenplay, editing quite a lot of the film etc) so I'm sure he knew a lot about what went into that section of the movie.

[JohnC]

December 09 I think.

Great, I thought it was further away. I suppose I'm just used to it being on the distant horizon for so long.

I hope the movie will be shown normally in 2D too because I wont want to sit through a blurry movie.

[Paulando]

I'm really quite excited by this - even though the little bits we have heard about it haven't exactly blown my skirt up. But it's Cameron, ain't it? It'll be great. And I can't wait for this 3D stuff.

It's rumoured that this is going to be the first proper 3D Blu-ray release, to bring 3D to the home market market

This is very intriguing - any idea how it'll work? I just bought that Journey to the Centre of the Earth on Blu-Ray, and the 3D version is shit. It's just a green and red version of the normal film. The characters do seem to pop out of the screen, but you can't really make anything else out - it's just a big, red and green mess

Will Avatar be full-colour 3D then, and use special glasses I presume? I was reading up about that RealD thing which uses one projector and polarized glasses, and alternates the view for left and right between each frame. Because switching between each frame at 24fps would be very noticeable (you'd see it flashing between each eye, I guess), they copy each frame a few times and project it at a very high framerate or something, so you don't notice it. This wouldn't work on TV though, would it?

[K]

Guys, you're doing a bang-up job of revealing exactly what the spoiler is through the follow-up comments.

[lordcookie]

This wouldn't work on TV though, would it?

Sadly not.

Guys, you're doing a bang-up job of revealing exactly what the spoiler is through the follow-up comments.

I've gone back to edit my post. Although I doubt anyone would be too upset if they read the spoiler as it will probably appear in the trailer in some form anyway (if true).

[K]

It's not a massive spoiler, no. I'm ill, I probably sounded a bit narkier than I anticipated.

[Goose]

Apparently the article was quoted incorrectly (or transcribed incorrectly)

UPDATE: TIME has updated its article with the following correction: "The original version of this story misstated the cost of the film Avatar as being in excess of $300 million. The correct figure is in excess of $200 million."

[Alex W.]

Will Avatar be full-colour 3D then, and use special glasses I presume? I was reading up about that RealD thing which uses one projector and polarized glasses, and alternates the view for left and right between each frame. Because switching between each frame at 24fps would be very noticeable (you'd see it flashing between each eye, I guess), they copy each frame a few times and project it at a very high framerate or something, so you don't notice it. This wouldn't work on TV though, would it?

No, unfortunately. However there are some domestic shutter-glasses 3D systems coming on the market that are reasonably effective and quite cheap. You have a transmitter box which syncs with the glasses so that they swap back and forth properly, and you need to have a TV which can do quite a high refresh rate to pull it off (cinemas use alternating left-eye and right-eye pictures, three times for each frame, for a total of about 72fps per eye or 144fps total, meaning you would need a 200Hz-compatible TV).

[Paulando]

Aye, I just did a bit of digging around and it seems you'll need a brand new TV with a high refresh rate and a special Blu-Ray player

Presumably the film will be played back at a very high framerate like through a RealD projection system, so I guess the player will need to be able to cope with that. Sounds like a very expensive deal then, I guess proper 3D films in the home for everyone are a long, long way off.

[Major Britten]

Aye, I just did a bit of digging around and it seems you'll need a brand new TV with a high refresh rate and a special Blu-Ray player

Presumably the film will be played back at a very high framerate like through a RealD projection system, so I guess the player will need to be able to cope with that. Sounds like a very expensive deal then, I guess proper 3D films in the home for everyone are a long, long way off.

Maybe not as long off as you think, Sony were showing off their 3D technology at CES (I think) this year which included demos of PS3 games in full 3D (GT5, Guitar Hero ans Motorstorm) plus showing off special blu-rays in 3D, not sure if they were using special TVs but all of the demos AFAIK were running from PS3s

[Goose]

Interesting...From the new issue of Empire

Cameron spoke about the technology he is using on the new film, claiming that it was the inspiration for Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson to take on the "Tintin" trilogy.

"With the capture technologies we developed, the actor can be any character they can imagine and the director can create any world, any time and any space," explained Cameron. "I invited [spielberg and Jackson] over while shooting 'Avatar.' I put the camera in their hands and they basically became two kids. They were running around the stage, working the camera, and that's the moment when they both kind of looked at each other in the eye and said, 'Let's make 'Tintin'."

[JohnC]

I'm not clear on how this is something new...?

[Vemsie]

It's all new tech, including a new camera system, co-developed by Cameron himself. There are some geeky articles that really dive into the tech, I'll see if I can unearth one.

One thing is for sure though: it's pretty damn big.

Or to quote Steven Soderbergh:

“Yeah, I went to the set,” said Steven Soderbergh, when Total Film quizzed him recently. “I can tell you that shit was mindblowing. The shit I saw was crazy. Like, craaaazy.I I think it’s gonna be gigantic. It’s gonna be another one of those benchmarks. There’s gonna be Before that movie and After.”

[Nick R]

I remember the LOTR making ofs showing clips of Peter Jackson walking around a green screen stage with a camera, planning out camera movements and shot compositions (in that example the cave troll fight in Moria). The camera's position and direction were automatically combined with motion capture data and a low-res CG model of the scene and its characters, so that while he wandered round he could look through a VR helmet at a roughly-rendered version of the shot in real time.

That was 10 years ago, and the little I've heard about what's being used on Avatar doesn't sound that revolutionarily different from that system - but clearly it must be, if it's impressed Peter Jackson that much!

[Despin]

Hey there.

I can't wait to see all of these films. But I'll be honest I'm more excited to see it because it's a new James Cameron film than I am because of the technology.

If I'm honest I can see this being a tool for lazy rich older filmmakers. Guys who are fed up getting up at 5am and stomping out into the cold and the rain to shoot scenes and having to wait for the real world to get in line with their vision.

Now they have control of EVERYTHING. And can keep tweeking/changing it infinitely.

This is looking like the tool for the ultimate control freak.

And it's completely changing filmmaking process.

Where it used to be you would prep, shoot and then then have the choice of editing your footage.. Now the directing part is never over. At least Cameron/Spielberg seem to be getting their rocks of running around with the camera (now there is no need for any big equipment. The camera is 100% scalable. They can hand hold a microscopic macro shot all the way up to the worlds most insane crain shot. It will all be smoothed out and polished later.

Robert Zemeckis doesn't even bother with that on set. He just sits back and has the actors perform their shit like a stage play and then "directs" all the camera moves in post. In a nice warm office, with a brew and away from the early mornings and the natural world..

I dunno. It's early days.. But I do think will are losing something by making things 100% synthetic like this.

Despin out.

[Vemsie]

People are always wary of change. Well, many people are.

In this case though, basically everybody who visited the set and saw the tech at work thinks it's the future of movie making. Not just Spielberg and Jackson, but folks like del Toro, Soderberg and Favreau as well. Favreau always struck me as a pretty old school kinda guy, but after seeing Cameron at work, he had this to say to AICN:

"He's sort of tireless in how much he invests into it as far as his time and effort. You know, he doesn't make a lot of movies, so a lot of thought and effort goes into each one. And I think that he's trying to present this format in a way where it is a game-changer and in seeing it I think it's the future. I don't think it's a flash in the pan. I think it's going to open up a whole new door and I think more so than the glasses it becomes about how many screens could actually present it in its pristine form."

"The amount of screens is just growing at a very, very fast rate in the States and I think in Europe as well and I think Avatar is going to be the kind of movie that's an event that you have to go see and you want to see again just to understand what you're looking at. And then you still have his very effective storytelling. He really creates an adventure and draws you into it in the hero's journey sense of storytelling, the Joseph Campbell sense of storytelling."

I think it's all very exciting, I just hope I don't have to travel miles and miles to see it the way it is meant to be seen.

[JohnC]

Just heard that the local cinema is getting a digital 3D projecter in next month too

[BlinkyBear]

Interesting...From the new issue of Empire

This is odd...I remember reading something like this month's ago, but from Spielberg's POV. It could have been in the TinTin thread, but he suggested that it was his set visit to Avatar that gave Spielberg cause to fight for the budget for Tintin. I also saw the Avatar tech being used on set as someone ran around with the camera with what looks like a green-screened set and then the 'regular' camera cutting to the directors monitor as it created the 'Avatar world' in realtime 3D.

Ummm, I didn't dream all this, clearly, so any idea where I saw it? I seems a bit odd that it hasn't really been discussed before given the magnitude of the tech.

[Major Britten]

Well you cant get more old school than Spielberg so for him to be blown away by it and want to use it I think it will be something special. Same thing goes for Ridley Scott who has said that after seeing Cameron's Avatar footage that he is going to direct the Forever War in 3D.

"I'm filming a book by Joe Haldeman called Forever War," Scott reportedly said. "I've got a good writer doing it. I've seen some of James Cameron's work, and I've got to go 3-D. It's going to be phenomenal."

I dont think its going to replace normal film making, as the budgets will still be huge and only big hollywood blockbuster will use the tech for the next few decades. Its going to be the next big advancement since colour and its the thing that will revive the cinema industry as it will be impossible (for now) to pirate the film with the effects plus you can only see it at the cinema and not at home.

[JohnC]

Wow, he's had a lot of set visits.

[Vemsie]

Wow, he's had a lot of set visits.

I guess everybody wants to see what Jim is playing with.

[Major Britten]

I guess everybody wants to see what Jim is playing with.

Well seeing how he had his hand in developing the tech Im sure he will get quite a bit of money if a lot of directors start using it.

[barkbat]

I'm a little confused.

Is this revolutionary in the developmental sense - as in even more green screens and virtual cameras for directors?

Or is it revolutionary for the audience - as in are we getting some kind of 3D effect beyond the typical IMAX film today?

To be honest this all sounds like a load of typical Hollywood over-hype. We've had virtual worlds and virtual characters and 3D screens for decades. It's like Cameron has turned everything to eleven and now its some kind of fucking revolution ushering in a new era of cinema.

[cassidy]

I'm a little confused.

Is this revolutionary in the developmental sense - as in even more green screens and virtual cameras for directors?

Or is it revolutionary for the audience - as in are we getting some kind of 3D effect beyond the typical IMAX film today?

To be honest this all sounds like a load of typical Hollywood over-hype. We've had virtual worlds and virtual characters and 3D screens for decades. It's like Cameron has turned everything to eleven and now its some kind of fucking revolution ushering in a new era of cinema.

From what I can gather the biggest impact for the film making is the immediacy of the new technology, in that the director can instantly see on the monitor what the finished shot/scene looks like,(obviously not at a completed FX level)

[lordcookie]

It still sounds like a more advanced system used in films like AI where you could see the characters interact with a CG background instantly.

[BlinkyBear]

It still sounds like a more advanced system used in films like AI where you could see the characters interact with a CG background instantly.

Yep, that's exactly what it is.

But to refer back to my other post on the last page-how have I seen this on-set?!

[barkbat]

I suppose it will raise the potential standard of scenes where humans and CGI character interact - but really its just going to mean a lot more unecssary CGI infused shite appearing. I can see how some one like Cameron making vast alien vistas will reap the benefits, but if anything, film makers like Speilberg are already swamping thier films with artificality and the results speak for themselves. I see no reason to celebrate.

[Vemsie]

But then again, you were the only person on this forum who didn't like Speed Racer.