James Cameron makes film to push the boundaries and develop technology. Each of his films get bigger and bigger, more money is spent on them and incredible new technology found to enable the film and editing of them. Cameron introduced the first “motion capture” characters and included the first human movements in CGI in Terminator 2.
It took 4 years to make Avatar, about two thirds of it being computer generated. However, live action filming was also used. Footage was filmed on sets, against green-screen backgrounds. Computers (called Simulcams) transformed the actors into their Avatar characters in real time, so that director James Cameron could see exactly what the final shot would look like. He was able to change the computer generated image immediately, while still on set, such as moving scenery or even location in the virtual world. Essentially, it is a similar technology to what computer games use. Cameron said “it is the most difficult thing I have ever done”.
The production team spent the first year and a half perfecting the translation of facial expression from the actors to their CGI Avatars. They had to develop a whole new technology, as previous methods produced unconvincing results. In the end, the actors wore special head rings, which consisted of thousand of camera only an inch from their faces in order to capture every slight movement.
Avatar was also filmed in 2D and 3D. For this, James Cameron and Vince Page, camera expert, developed a new, lightweight 3D camera called Fusion.
The technology used to make Avatar is extremely convincing: cinema-goers are truly immersed in the world of Pandora, the 3D effects are far from gimmicky. The fact that the technology is unique to Avatar means that it attracted a massive audience.
Do you have comparative material like this on TBTR?
Do you have comparative material like this on TBTR?
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