Trailer Tuesday: Avatar

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It's been 12 years since Titanic but James Cameron is FINALLY back with his directorial follow-up to the most successful film of all time. Anticipation levels are stratospherically high, but fortunately Avatar takes Cameron back to a genre he excels at: Action Sci-fi Adventure. Don't forget, he gave us the highly influential combo of Aliens, The Abyss and Terminators 1 and 2.

Anyway, Avatar has been James Cameron's dream project for 14 or so years but he was forced to wait until special effects evolved to the point where he could use new technology to realise his vision. Avatar combines live-action with realistic computer-generated characters created through the use of motion capture technology. This approach of course isn't new - Peter Jackson used it for Gollum in the Lord of the Rings movies, and Robert Zemeckis has been playing with his dead-eyed human-CGI hybrids in Beowulf, The Polar Express and, now, A Christmas Carol.

Cameron, however, spent the last decade spearheading the development of an entirely new motion capture system. Lifting an explanation straight from Wikipedia, "Unlike previous performance capture systems, where the digital environment is added after the actors' motions have been captured, Cameron's new virtual camera allows him to observe directly on a monitor how the actors' virtual counterparts interact with the movie's digital world in real time and adjust and direct the scenes just as if shooting live action."

Cameron is also using better, more intricate facial expression capture technology in Avatar.


Unfortunately, the movie geek community, and Cameron himself, have been over-hyping Avatar as "The Future of Cinema" for a good few years now. The result was that when the trailer debuted online (and in US cinemas) last Thursday many people were disappointed.

I am not one of them. The world presented in Avatar is just too jaw-dropping for that. Take this comment as you will, but the trailer makes me think of a video game - sort of a Morrowind meets Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee... with mechs, and a dash of World of WarCraft Night Elves. And I honestly do believe Cameron is going to pull off what is even more important than pretty, never-before-seen graphics: CGI-people capable of conveying genuine emotion, and gaining audience empathy in a way that hasn't been accomplished since Gollum (unless I'm forgetting a similar character since Return of the King).

For the record, I believe that many "normal" moviegoers have been quite badly alienated by the Avatar trailer. Without any base knowledge of what the film is about, they have no understanding of what they're seeing. "WTF?" seems to be the common reaction.


For those of you who are a bit confused, here's a basic rundown of what you need to know:

Avatar stars Sam Worthington (a definite reason to get the ladies into the cinema!), Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriquez, Giovanni Ribisi, CCH Pounder and Stephen Lang.

The film is set in the distant future, where humanity discovers the alien moon of Pandora. Jake (Worthington), a crippled ex-marine is recruited into a pioneering scientific programme that will help him regain the use of his legs. His consciousness is transplanted into a genetically-engineered Avatar, enabling him to infiltrate the powerful, blue-skinned humanoid race, the Na'vi, who make the jungles of Pandora their home. Since humans are unable to breathe the ammonia-rich air on Pandora, Jake's purpose is to scout out the mineral-rich planet, and pave the way for human encroachment for financial gain. Soon though Jake is forced to choose sides, between the greedy military-industrial forces of Earth, and the ferocious but nature-loving Na’vi, who he comes to respect.

Avatar opens in the United States and South Africa on 18 December. It will be screening in the traditional 2-D cinema format, IMAX and IMAX 3-D.

Comments

MJenks said…
All I can say is: "Oh look, George Lucas, computer-generate backgrounds that don't look completely fake!!!"
3:02 PM
Pfangirl said…
Hear, hear!
10:25 AM
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