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Katarn07

New member
Hrm, I'm looking forward more the Battle Angel Alita (which I guess is pushed back even further now?). I don't read Manga, but the premise intrigues me and it's supposed to be a really good story. I can't get over the artwork though....

Both Avatar and Battle Angel will use revolutionary film technology that's gonna blow our minds or something. If nothing else, I'm excited for that.
 

The Man

Well-known member
Cameron's Avatar

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i6ec60c14937dc20da6960fa2dd95937c

'...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.

...With "Avatar's" principal photography completed, Cameron is focused on CG production. The helmer said his team has completed the performance capture (sometimes referred to as motion capture) of the actors and is in the post process of performance capture 3-D.

The CG involved a large amount of additional R&D that afforded the director new creative options and flexibility. For one, the film used a new performance capture production workflow.

"The way we developed the performance capture workflow on 'Avatar" is we have our virtual camera, which allows me to, in real time, hold a camera -- it's really a monitor -- in my hands and point it at the actors and see them as their CG chartacters," Cameron said.

The actors wear leotards and a "head rig" with a tiny standard-definition camera that takes an image of an actor's face. "That is going though facial algorithms and going back into the camera as a real-time CG face of the character," the helmer said. "You see it talk; you see the eyes move. It is pretty phenomenal.'


December 2009. Tick-tock...
 

Crusade>Raiders

New member
I have been looking into this movie for well over a year now, and I was so mad that it got pushed back from March aaaaaaall the way to December :(

James Cameron made some of my favorite movies with Aliens/Terminator 1/T2/True Lies. Haven't seen The Abyss yet, although I heard its rather good. The only reason he hasn't top Spielberg and Scrosece in my fave directors because its been like a decade since he did anything. Dude took like a ten year break sitting on his money from the Titanic lol.

Safe to say, I have high hopes for Avatar.
 

The Man

Well-known member
Crusade>Raiders said:
I have been looking into this movie for well over a year now, and I was so mad that it got pushed back from March aaaaaaall the way to December :(

James Cameron made some of my favorite movies with Aliens/Terminator 1/T2/True Lies. Haven't seen The Abyss yet, although I heard its rather good. The only reason he hasn't top Spielberg and Scrosece in my fave directors because its been like a decade since he did anything. Dude took like a ten year break sitting on his money from the Titanic lol.

Safe to say, I have high hopes for Avatar.

This could/should be quite astonishing...(y)
 

TheMutt92

New member
Defintly sounds interesting. But I'm really waiting for a trailer in order to get hooked onto this (anyone know when that might be???)
 

The Man

Well-known member
TheMutt92 said:
Defintly sounds interesting. But I'm really waiting for a trailer in order to get hooked onto this (anyone know when that might be???)

Haven't the foggiest. Maybe a teaser in late Spring?
 

The Man

Well-known member
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117991656.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

The director, working with VFX whiz Rob Legato, showed the studio advance pre-viz footage demonstrating how high-def video cameras could track actors moving inside a virtual CG set. Initially budgeted at $200 million, the sci-fi epic was pushed back from May to December 2009 to give the director more time to combine in the computer all necessary elements: 3-D motion-capture data of the actors on bare sets, CG environments, and final animation of the human avatars (Sam Worthington and Sigourney Weaver) and alien characters (Teresa Saldana, CCH Pounder). The photo-real digital film is 20% live-action with humans shot on location and 80% live-action mixed with CG elements. "It's a CG film with live-action in it," Legato says.

The later release date leaves exhibitors time to add more 3-D screens. The movie could go out on a three-tiered basis: high-ticket super-charged Imax 3-D, regular 3-D and old-fashioned 2-D -- unless Cameron gets his way and refuses to show the movie on 2-D. That's a tough one, as there are about 1,000 North American screens and only a few hundred 3-D screens overseas.

More are scheduled to be built in the next year, but several senior execs at rival studios predict that Cameron will persuade Fox to push the movie back, because the prospect of releasing a $300 million movie on 1,500 screens worldwide is too nerve-wracking.

Push it back again?! Nooooooo!
 

glorbes

New member
All the technology in the world will mean nothing unless there's a good story and performances to back it up. This project has been on the radar for a long time now, and while I'm curious to see what it will amount to, I'll reserve my excitement for a glimpse of what this is about. That being said, my curiosity is piqued...perhaps as much as when I first heard Peter Jackson was going to be the man behind the Lord of the Rings films. Here's hoping the 11 year hiatus hasn't stunted Cameron as a filmmaker.
 

The Man

Well-known member
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/38281

Stan's influence lives on in their work, which you loved in IRON MAN and will soon see to some extent in James Cameron's AVATAR (due out December 18, 2009). After twenty minutes of talking IRON MAN (more on that next week), Swift began discussing the future of practical f/x in an increasingly digital world. That led to a question about the all-CG AVATAR, which yielded an interesting answer.
 

The Man

Well-known member
http://chud.com/articles/articles/16654/1/CGI-ON-AVATAR-IS-LIKE-TRENCH-WARFARE/Page1.html

The director recently appeared on CBC's program The Hour, and while he didn't reveal much that is new about the film, a few comments are worth paying attention to. In addition to referring to the post-production process on this movie as 'trench warfare' there are a few other tidbits. "We're trying something with this film," he says. "We're working with computer-generated characters that we want to be photo-realistic...We set the bar high. We're just now getting confidence that it's going to work."

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The Man

Well-known member
http://www.canmag.com/nw/12655-jon-favreau-avatar

Jon Favreau has had the chance to get a glimpse at Avatar and the actor/director has no problem discussing it...

And in watching the way that James Cameron is approaching AVATAR? he?s really pushing the boundaries on motion capture, he?s integrating live action with motion capture and CGI. It takes a painstaking and technical approach to that. And he really wants to make it a very visceral, emotional experience and he?s? he?s a bit of a P.T. Barnum in the sense that he likes to put on a big show.

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 Man

Well-known member
http://www.movieweb.com/news/NELCBPOSXcAgPT

IMAX Corporation and Twentieth Century Fox today announced that they have reached agreement on material terms to release the highly anticipated 3D motion picture Avatar in IMAX 3D simultaneously with the motion picture's premiere in conventional 3D theaters on December 18, 2009. Avatar is directed and written by Academy Award Winner James Cameron and stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez and Sigourney Weaver. Cameron will also produce with his Lightstorm Entertainment partner, Jon Landau. Avatar will be digitally re-mastered into the unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience.
 

The Man

Well-known member
http://marketsaw.blogspot.com/2008/11/wow-more-avatar-concept-art-from-navi.html

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The Man

Well-known member
The Man said:

Update...

http://www.canmag.com/nw/12889-avatar-trailer-december

James Cameron WILL HAVE a video teaser ready for early December and it will have visual effects and CGI! We are not certain if it will be shown before Day The Earth Stood Still (DTESS), but the actual footage portion will be 2 minutes and 15 seconds long. I am guessing that the additional time will be filled with perhaps Cameron talking about the project and how awesome it will be, or even past box office successes from Cameron - we all know that the teaser containers said 3 minutes and 57 seconds. Or we could actually see the full 3:57 - the big message here is that we should expect to see this teaser. I still am hazarding a guess for the 3D Summit in LA or a teaser trailer for DTESS.
 
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