3-D project using visionary new techniques

By Carolyn Giardina

Aug 6, 2008, 08:36 PM ET
With 17 months to go before the release of James Cameron’s sci-fi epic “Avatar,” his first narrative feature since 1997′s “Titanic,” anticipation already is enormous. The wildly ambitious project will be made in stereoscopic 3-D and combine live action and computer animation using visionary new filmmaking techniques.

Slated to open Dec. 18, 2009, the production already has been in the works for 2 1/2 years. When completed, Cameron expects “Avatar” to be about 60% CG animation, based on characters created using a newly developed performance capture-based process, and 40% live action, with a lot of VFX in the imagery.

“It is the most challenging film I’ve ever made,” Cameron said.

Still, the innovative filmmaker and digital 3-D pioneer and champion has never shifted his emphasis from storytelling.

“You have to make a good film that would be a good film under any circumstances,” he said. “You have to put the narrative first. The reality is no matter how many (3-D) screens we get, you are still going to have a large number of people — possibly the majority of people — who see the film in a 2-D environment.”

The live-action principal photography for “Avatar” was shot in New Zealand last fall and winter using the Fusion 3-D camera system. Cameron first used the Fusion to make his 2003 Imax 3-D film “Ghosts of the Abyss”; he and “Ghosts” director of photography Vince Pace invented the camera system for the project. more>>>

I just saw a little movie from 1995 called ‘Virtuosity’. It stars Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. It’s basically and action chase movie. Russell Crowe plays the villian, Sid 6.7, a virtual reality simulation contrived from the personalities of some 200 serial killers. Some corporation stores his personality on a diamond-shaped thing (a future storage medium). When Sid 6.7 is about to be axed by a beaurocrat, a scientist places the diamond-thing into a real-world, life-sized, nano-being version of Sid 6.7. He can’t change into any object like the cop from Terminator 2, but he is able to repair himself by touching glass. His nano-body takes the material from glass, breaks it down, and performs the repairs.

Science Fiction is always ahead of the curve (no pun intended). It explores the results of what might happen if we put our collective mind to it and in many cases, accurately predict future scientific advances.

What would an organism made up of every human personality be like? What if we one day find ourselves joining a collective mind. What if we already have, and it’s just a baby?

-Chris

PS: if you don’t think nanotech isn’t right around the corner, check out this post.

Saw Spiderman the other night. Couldn’t believe the effects. Incredible. The Technological Singularity at work! There is just no way they could have done that even 5 years ago. The sheer amount and quality of the effects is just as amazing as Spiderman!

Unfortunately, my same gripe about the past two Spiderman movies is the same as this one…not enough spidey screen time! At least Spidey 3 was less of a soap-opera than #2. I just don’t remember Peter Parker being such an emotional wimp. Sure he was nerdy and anxious about MJ all the time, but this kid playing Peter Parker seems like he’s on the verge of crying all the time. I could be wrong, it’s been a looooong time since I’ve read a Spiderman comic book. I also remember Spiderman being funny. I used to crack up as a kid when he made fun of enemies but the movies barely do that at all.

Anyway, if you like these new Spiderman movies this one is the best so far. It’s closer to the comic books than the previous two.