silverautumn
BrentonSo What’s the Big Deal About Avatar?
August 22nd 2009 08:24
Really. I want to know. I got the trailer the other night and put it on the front of Inglourious Basterds.The trailer looked impressive. The CGI looked amazing. And it’s directed by James Cameron (Mr. Titanic himself).
But I was still surprised when the movie kept coming up in my new feeds. I honestly didn’t understand what the fuss was all about. It was another computer-generated sci-fi that couldn’t have been too famous ‘cause I didn’t know the story. It didn’t seem to be based on a comic book, short story by Isaac Asimov, or on a TV show.
So what was the big deal?
Then I did my research. Here are some reasons why Avatar is a big deal:
1.) James Cameron. I guess he hasn’t directed a movie since Titanic (Personally, I prefer his work on Terminator 2 ). This will be his first in a long time.
2.) Planning for this movie started almost 15 years ago. This has been Cameron’s baby for years and years. Apparently he wrote a script around 1994. Since then he’s been starting pre-production, putting it off, shelving it and then bringing it back down to toy with for a while before putting it away again. He’s been waiting for the filming technology to catch up with his vision
3.) The Effects. Ok, yea, the CGI looks great but we’ve seen CGI for the past 15 years. What makes this so special? The difference is this: two new breakthrough performance capture technologies that allow almost 100% of the computer generated characters to reflect their live action counterparts. There is an extremely accurate facial capture device known as ‘The Volume’, and a virtual camera that allows the director to see the how the CGI characters interact with the CGI environment instantaneously. Before the director would have to wait until the digital artists finished the CGI which would potential be months into post-production. With Cameron's technology the director can see it all at once.
I don't even fully understand the tech that went into filming this movie.
4.) Filmed in 3D. So not only will it seamlessly unite actor with CGI character and CGI with live-action, but it will be in 3D.
5.) The Detailed Aliens. Cameron worked with a linguist a couple of years back to create a whole new culture for the Na’vi (The aliens) complete with a whole language (very Tolkienesque). James Horner is said to incorporate the language in the music he composed for the film.
6.) Cameron’s Confidence. He’s so confident that this movie will be great that he called August 21, 2009 ‘Avatar Day’ and certain lucky individuals got to see 16 minutes of the film for free if they got to their 3D movie theatre in time before it was sold out. He is also talking about two sequels.
So there are a few reasons I found that make this film a big deal. But I’m still a bit apprehensive. This movie seems to center around a love story – I’m scared. As much as I can respect Cameron for Titanic, I hated the love story in it.
Still, after a little research I’m beginning to see why the web is buzzing. So, till December, I'm going to be optimistic.
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Comment by Anonymous
Hype.
Comment by Anonymous
What silverautumn has written here isn't enough of a reason to go "ga-gah" over for me, but I'll reserve my judgment on how good the movie actually is until I've seen it for myself. Since it's not "special" to me though, I'll probably wait until the DVD comes out to see it.