Cameron's AVATAR movie promises hi-tech wizardry in front of and behind the camera.
Once you’ve directed the highest grossing movie ever you can afford taking your time with future projects. James Cameron has waited more than 14 years to get his latest creation, AVATAR, into theaters. The director of Terminator, Aliens, and The Abyss, Cameron is no stranger to science fiction, and the recent Comic Con previews in San Diego revealed that Cameron has spared no expense in creating the next scifi epic that will redefine the movie-making process. AVATAR utilized a new technique to merge recorded and synthetic images, allowing Cameron to alter and edit a blend of the two in real-time. The results? The AVATAR movie is a mind-blowing 3-D experience of a futuristic war on a distant alien planet, full of lush environments and unparalleled special effects.
Cameron specifically set out to create a project that would test the limits of digital animation in 3-D and IMAX. As such, AVATAR is set in the far future when humanity is exploring distant planets using life-like artificial bodies called avatars. These avatars enter into a conflict on the exotic world of Pandora inhabited by human-like aliens called Na’vi. These aliens are ten-feet tall, blue, sexy, and a composite of actor’s movements and digitalized appearance. Whether or not the story will wow me, I’m impressed by the potential for amazing digital effects.
When it comes to the Na’vi aliens, Cameron and his team have put a lot of work into making AVATAR a success. Besides the virtual camera filming technique, a completely new language was invented and taught to actors. Movement coaches allowed alien characters to move naturally in non-human patterns. Composer James Horner has choirs of aliens singing during the soundtrack. When you watch AVATAR’s alien environment you are going to be immersed in the Na’vi’s world and culture. The blend of familiar and foreign in space is something that Cameron does well (as seen in Alien) and you can trust in his blockbuster effort to make this film impressive to even the most jaded of science fiction movie-goers.
A new way of making movies
Maybe the intrigue of learning how those brain-melting special effects were created can get you out to the theatre even if the promise of 3-D alien scapes cannot. Cameron’s new filming technique works something like a video game. In traditional CGI scenes, motion capture is used on actors, and the images are blended into synthetic environments in post-production. In AVATAR, Cameron uses a virtual camera to explore how characters look in the environment as they are being filmed. In other words, the director can see and manipulate the final product while he is still shooting the movie. This allowed Cameron to find the most realistic camera angles, the most intense movements, and the right flow between recorded and artificial.
I get the feeling that Cameron isn’t just aiming for the next billion dollar grossing movie, he’s also out to set a standard for how digitalized movies will be recorded. Reportedly he invited Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, and George Lucas to explore the technology while he shot the film. (Tactful, no?) 30 years ago, Lucas and the original Star Wars trilogy changed the way that special effects were used in Hollywood. 10 years ago, the second Star Wars trilogy ushered in digital filming and screening. Now, Cameron and AVATAR look to introduce the next industry trend.
During the filming of AVATAR, James Cameron was able to view the blend of his recorded and synthetic images in real-time.
Of course, blending recorded and synthetic environments in real-time isn’t a completely new concept. Augmented Reality from Total Immersion has done similar work for baseball cards, business presentations, and advertisements. In fact, AVATAR and Total Immersion are teaming up for an interactive movie marketing campaign, similar to the online AR demonstrations for the latest Star Trek movie. AVATAR is certainly the first full-length feature film to use this technology during main production, post-production, and advertising.
Hollywood has been making the slow transition to green screens, CGI, and digital animation. Audiences only accept this transition when they can believe the reality of what they see on screen. Though there have been some stumbles (Van Helsing, anyone?) the trend is continuing towards completely digitalized entertainment that is as life-like as classically recorded film. AVATAR is likely to be another great step into the next stage of movie-evolution. Not only will it have an incredible alien world for audiences to experience, it will forever change how directors use digital animation. By giving directors another tool to help create more realistic digital scenes, James Cameron has edged us closer to science fiction that seems completely real. Whether or not AVATAR is ultimately a success though, Cameron’s changes to the industry will likely be titanic.
Tags: aliens, augmented reality, avatar movie, CGI, Comic Con, James Cameron, science fiction, total immersion
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Speaking of stumbles and green screens, the Star Wars ‘prequels’ should get counted among them.
The problem is the green screens and the actors. There’s nothing to look at. No environment to interact with. When you’re staring at the horizon, you’re staring at a bright green wall.
Personally, my money is on Moon. Sci Fi almost always suffers when the money rachets up. If the movie 2001 was produced now? Forget about it. It’d be a cinematic footnote.
“I’m unsure whether or not the story will wow me”
I’m unsure whether you really know anything about Avatar other than what you lifted online to write your article. (Van Missing, anyone?)
That ‘Avatar teaser trailer’ is a fan trailer.
Your research is awesome! (Tactful, no?)
That video is a fan made teaser trailer, it has no real connection with James Cameron or Avatar, there is no official trailer or teaser yet.
[...] film Avatar uit van James Cameron. Een Sci-Fi film die de grenzen van het filmmaken verlegt. Lees hier al vast een artikel over The Making [...]
Thanks Sommo and Ben for pointing out the mistake. I’ve fixed it.
Everyone, meet my pet parrot…. I call him Ben
[...] design your own virtual stand-in. Heck, we can start taking bets on whether or not Surrogates or AVATAR will be the biggest blockbuster starring remote controlled androids this year. The future may hold [...]
Alien was directed by Ridley Scott. Cameron directed Aliens.
Avatar (2009) movie was a action packed movie lot of faction too included In the movie and it was more interest on fans all ready I heard of this movie and go ahead to see the movie trailer because every time after a good trailer we have a fair knowledge of what we going to experience in the movie this movie trailer was high quality and I like it so much
Source
http://www.onlinemovieshut.com/movie-reviews/avatar-2009-combat-for-survive
this is gonna be the best movie ever hopfull there will be another airbender which ang finds and battles with the fire lord
i hope the avatar is tank because he looks so sexy in the cartoon series chow add me rednut333@hotmail.com
Aww im sure by now you know that this isn’t avatar the last airbender
[...] Avatar Movie Obsessed With Making Unreal Real [...]
[...] to finish, the trailer seemed almost as anticipated. We’ve been waiting for it since our original story on the Avatar movie. Having watched the trailer, I’m impressed by the life like nature of the synthetic characters [...]
I dare not draw comparisons between Delgo and Avatar, but how could you not? Look at the visual similarities just based on the trailer. Time to get the lawyers involved!
Link to images:
http://img.denihilation.com
[...] to finish, the trailer seemed almost as anticipated. We’ve been waiting for it since our original story on the Avatar movie. Having watched the trailer, I’m impressed by the life like nature of the synthetic [...]
[...] Avatar Movie Obsessed With Making Unreal Real [...]
[...] VR is harder than it looks. Or maybe everything else we encounter, cutting edge video games, CGI films, and high definition projectors, just make VR seem less real than we would like. Check out the [...]
ini akan menjadi film terhebat menurut saya. namun saya yakin setiap film ada suatu cacat tersendiri.
This film looks fantastic. I am dying to see what this new 3D technology looks like.
[...] to form a single new media. The technology perfected by James Cameron to film his new movie Avatar may hold the key to this future. As James Cameron himself says, he used “a big, powerful game [...]
Guys, fret no more the new avatar trailer is here on full 720p. Way better than the 1st trailer.
source: http://pinoytutorial.com/lifebytes/leaked-official-avatar-second-trailer/
Kudus to Cameron team. Judgment day on 12/18/09.
[...] right up our alley. From a technical standpoint the Avatar movie gains our attention because it represents a radical shift to more realistic, more immersive movie animation. The Avatar movie has amassed the budget, the [...]
ossumm movie,,,,,,,,,
i know becoz i am animator
unbeliveable movie i give 101 out of 100 u r soo i have no words to say about this movie
hatsoff
[...] Avatar 19 12 2009 Hey! Ich bin gerade zurueckgekommen, war wieder mal im Kino. Heute ist der neue Film Avatar rausgekommen. Das darf man sich ja dann auf keinen Fall entgehen lassen. Ich weiss nicht wann der in Deutschland rauskommen wird, aber dann sicherlich im Januar ode Februar. Natuerlich sind wir wir in die 3D-Vorstellung, wenn schon denn schon… und ueberhaupt. Das woertlich, die 3. Reihe ist nicht all zu angehnem fuer die Halsmuskeln. Aber mal ehrlich, das knapp 3 stuendige nach oben starren hat sich mehr als gelohnt. DAs ist ein Film den man sehen MUSS!!! [und das mit verdammten 3 Ausrufezeiche] Im ernst, das ist ein Film von einer Topqualitaet und kann 100% u einem der besten Filme gezaehlt werden die jemals gemacht wurden. Es rangiert ganz oben, gleich neben Herr der Ringe und weit ueber Harry Potter. Es gibt keinen Film, der erstens in 3D ist, zweitens eine geniale Story hat und drittens eine Action und special Effects hat die die welt noch nie gesehen hat. Der Film leutet wirklich eine Revolution im Filmemachen ein. Und das in allen Bereichen. Mehr als die Haelfte des Filmes ist am Computer entstanden und das schlimme ist das du es nichtmal mitbekommst. Wer vielleicht StarTrek gesehen hat hat einen leichten Vorgeschmack was ich meine, aber der Film schlaegt es nochmal um laengen. Der Film ist ein muss, wer nicht hingeht der verschwendet seine Zeit, einfach ein muss. Im deutschen kann man das gar nicht so gut in Worte fassen wie im englischen. z.b: mind-blowing; brain-melting; standards setting; movie-evolution… Nur ein paarkurze Fakten, es dauerte 14 Jahre um den Film zu produzieren, fuer eine Sekunde im Film wurden 72h im Studio benoetigt, Kosten belaufen sich auf etwa 300 Millionen Dollar, Filmlaenge 2.45h! Wahnsinn! Wenn das noch etwas mehr interessiert, schaut hier: http://singularityhub.com/2009/08/03/avatar-movie-obsessed-with-making-unreal-real/ [...]
really hats up to james..this is the heights of imagine and to put it into real on screen.. superb movie.. best ver movie after titanic.. nothing can be more than this and nobody can make more than this..again salutes to james and his team.. thanks for giving us such a winderfull movie
After watching the movie; Avatar. I must say, this is by far the best movie I have ever expierenced. The way animation incorparetes with reality is insane. I felt as if the movie was directed on a far away planet and I was apart of it. All movies should comprehend with the standards of this movie. Although there most likely won’t be a sequel…I hope to god there is.
Very impressive movie!!!! I must admit, it was the best movie I ever watched. It’s really “making the unreal real!”
[...] project. In my opinion, i have never come across something so majestically portrayed. As seen on singularityhub, Cameron’s AVATAR movie promises hi-tech wizardry in front of and behind the [...]
—And NOW we learn even the script for this
over-produced mess was worse than unoriginal
—in fact, was ripped-off almost page for page
from the equally mediocre Disney 'Pocahantas'.
TRUE
A showcase is NOT a story —your screensaver
is NOT God.
The ever-corrupt, ever-corrupting Boomers
have had us —YET AGAIN!
—Not lookin' good kids. NOT lookin' good.
This is an great movie… is amazing how someone think to make something like this.
AVATAR movie has somthing for everyone, action, romance,humor,and more.I recommand this movie to everyone out there(the right age). Cameron like always did a great job.
If anyone is interested, I have done a 45 minute on making of Avatar. It has some really cool footage and some new information. Hope it is OK to post links here
http://seqmag.com/2010/01/exclusive-45minute-ma...
Making of Avatar
http://rapidshare.com/files/345734757/Making_of...
http://rapidshare.com/files/345751107/Making_of...
http://rapidshare.com/files/345756395/Making_of...
Making Of Avatar
http://rapidshare.com/files/345734757/Making_of...
http://rapidshare.com/files/345751107/Making_of...
http://rapidshare.com/files/345756395/Making_of...
http://rapidshare.com/files/346222400/rapidshar...
[...] world of humans and programs projecting themselves as digital avatars is a common theme in movies (Avatar) and TV shows (Caprica), and truly exists in the real world to a certain degree (Second Life, [...]