"Avatar": Future of Tech in Movies?

nytimes.com:

Many in the movie industry -- [James] Cameron, [the director of "Avatar"] among them -- assume processes he uses in the film, especially the technique known as 'performance capture," will revolutionize cinema, and that the Cameron-devised Fusion Camera System (a single camera that shoots live action in stereoscopic 3D), will redefine three-dimensional cinema.

Read the whole story: nytimes.com

Comments

[katekid]

11:28 AM on 12/14/2009

Soon, we will be warming up in front of the tube
as "commercial" cable TV Avatars spew their
masters agenda.

[bookon]

10:01 AM on 12/14/2009

It has a 91% at Rotten Tomatoes. One critic’s opinion may be meaningless, but if you aggregate many, it tends to tell you something.

[Fabini]

03:04 PM on 12/15/2009

The aggregation of many is the loss of individuality. The sum of individuality is one. - Leopold Spinozki.

[bookon]

03:44 PM on 12/15/2009

I would say that aggregation can be used as an indicator of quality. I am not saying that selling tickets is, I am saying that many people agreeing a thing has merit is.

[Palemoon]

07:20 PM on 12/13/2009

Every bit of this was already used and pioneered a decade ago when "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" was released. But the Asians don't get any credit, instead, it's the American guy backed by Fox's News Corp that is given all of the credit for stealing technique that have been used, in some cases, since the 1980's when it was first pioneered on the Amiga computer through the use of the "Video Toaster" product created by the company NewTek. Many of the movies and tv shows we watched used it, including some very big, very famous ones. ;o)

[Balzac]

07:37 PM on 12/13/2009

Palemoon, the first I ever heard of it was in Vernor Vinge's book True Names, almost 30 years ago. The internet, "virtual reality" and "augmented reality" were all conceived long before the technology existed for them to be realized.

[Palemoon]

07:45 PM on 12/13/2009

I agree.

[bookon]

04:40 PM on 12/15/2009

Cameron INVENTED the tech he is using. Saying he stole this from the Video toaster is like saying Philo Farnsworth stole TV from the guy who invented fanning cards with sequential pictures really fast.

[naturallight]

12:51 PM on 12/13/2009

If it replaces the dawful CGI we've been looking at for a decade I am all for it. Replace stuntmen, replace pyro men, what's next? Is there a differece between movies and video games nowadays?

RIP Kubrick

[Fabini]

11:35 AM on 12/13/2009

Should motion pictures that contain a heavy percentage of digital remastering have a name to describe them? We already do - cartoon.

We are all fascinated by technology and I do believe even Orson Welles would have embraced it. But would Touch of Evil been as good or as memorable?

[snoopjohnny]

04:25 AM on 12/15/2009

Great question. People have always wondered about CGI and where is was going, ever since it appeared. In my opinion, CGI is only another "tool" with strengths and limitations. To create 10 seconds of realistic human figures talking as they run might take a team of hundreds a whole week to produce; why bother if two actors on a sunny afternoon will suffice? "Monsters Inc" or "Up" use exaggerated characters to take advantage of the strengths of animated "models", but don't attempt to reinvent the photo-realism of "Touch of Evil". It's the same with Tim Burton's "stop-action" animated features.....In the end, "Realism" is overrated in story telling. Interesting characters and a convincing story are what make a movie "Real". Just ask Charlie Brown and Snoopy. Or Orson Wells...