Bret McNee

Alright so before I write this post I just wanna say a few things:
1. These are my opinions, who knows if they hold water.
2. There is a lot of Avatar hype right now, and many blogs going on about Avatar.  I have not read anything on what I am about to write, but if I missed it and it is out there I would love links!  I looked long and hard for a similar opinion.
3. If you have not seen the movie this post may spoil things for you.  Also shame on you for not seeing Avatar, you should be horse whipped. 

I had been following Avatar for quite some time.  As a 3D/CG nerd and some one who dreams of being a 3D/CG guru someday, Avatar was top on my list of films to watch.  So like a good student of 3D I read and followed as much as I could on this film.  Well the film came out, and I was able to watch it the night after opening night with some family members.

Did it live up to the hype I was giving it for myself?  Did it live up to all the hype I was reading about?  Did my head explode a little during the first few CG scenes?  The answer is yes to all of these questions.  So much in-fact that I had dreams for like three days that I was a blue warrior running around in a neon glowing forest.

Ok, so here is the deal.  I obviously had some head start on preparing to see this movie, but before I get sucked into the awesomeness that is Avatar and go ramble about the coolness of blue jungle people, I need to make my point.

To me, I feel this movie is the Star Wars of my generation.

Now this is a BIG claim.  So big my uncle (who is an avid 3D/CG fan and Star Wars nut) told me I was very wrong and then explained why.  He said the opening scene of Star Wars was so unlike anything to hit the movies it shook the foundations of cinema.  Like the jump from radio to TV.

I was not there to witness the emotional level of awe that was Star Wars: A New Hope.  But I can only imagine as even when I was a young lad I would about pee myself in excitement when watching Star Wars.  So maybe I should rephrase my original thesis.  How about this: When it comes to technological advancement in movies, Avatar is the Star Wars of my generation.

Better?  I think so.  Now the facts to back up this thesis.

I did a little Internet surfing to find the technology behind the first Star Wars.  There was so much of it, and so much of it was ground breaking, I think I could write a book on it.  Instead of doing that, let me just highlight some important ideas of that time:

• Models themselves became a set: To create spaceships or alien creatures, his artists built small models and hoped for audiences with vivid imaginations. The first Death Star was made of plastic.
• He used a new type of camera that allowed for more depth than ever before used.
• Lucas aspired for something much more grand, and after the first movie was released in 1977, he gathered a small group of computer artists and told them to spare no expense in creating a system that would include software capable of rendering images in three dimensions.
• First, the computer team created EditDroid, the first digital-editing system. It allowed movies to be transferred to computer discs so editors won’t have to fiddle with cumbersome film reels. Lucas sold that technology to Avid Technology Inc., which went on to sell the forerunner of modern movie-editing bays.
• Then he sold the computer division – later to become Pixar.

In short.  He abandoned what Hollywood was doing for 50 years prior and took special effects into the realm of the digital.  New cameras, computer programs, and technologies.  And once again this is just a summary of what he accomplished. 

So now, how does Avatar stand up to this?  What has been done to make this film the Star Wars of my generation (in-terms of technological advances)?  Well, it is a little more subtle than the jump was for Star Wars, but I assure the movie industry has been changed.

• Cameron, and camera whizzes Vince Pace and Patrick Campbell built the Pace/Cameron Fusion Camera System to capture images the same way as a human eye does. Cameron then used a virtual camera to walk—or fly—around in the virtual world to record any shot of the Na’vi that he wanted and combined that with the real-life footage. 
• Actors, weapons and props marked with reflective dots move around the stage while the camera grid tracks only the dots. A computer records the dots’ movement, triangulates their location, and assembles these data points into wire-frame skeletons that in Avatar will be “dressed” with computer-generated Na’vi bodies.
• This FUSION digital 3D camera system, developed by Cameron and Vince Pace, would capture live action shots, allowing Cameron to see the virtual characters as he is filming. Cameron could direct his virtual creations as if they are real people on a live action set, rather than making adjustments in post production.
• Weta Digital, the company responsible for Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, helped create a motion capture head rig that maps facial expressions (for pure photo realism). In the past, actors had to apply hundreds of tiny dots to their faces for the camera to track, a time consuming and sometimes frustrating process.
• The green screen was 6 times the size of a normal green screen.  This allowed for massive scenes and for Cameron to really direct the 3D/CG created content and real people like they were both on the set at the same time.

Basically all of these technologies paved the way for the most photo realistic movie to date.  Cameron believes full photo realism will be achieved in a few years because of these new technologies. 

A review I read said it best.  Avatar to movies is how the iPhone was to cell phones.  It took everything and flipped it upside down.  The iPhone created a new standard and elevated the cell phone market.  Avatar has now raised the bar for movies.

Star Wars was the forerunner and really pioneered the way for new technology.  I am sure Avatar owes much of its inspiration to Star Wars.  But like Star Wars, Avatar has raised the bar for technology.  So in closing my personal opinion is:

Star Wars revolutionized the way we look at movies.  And now Avatar has done the same.  Maybe on a smaller and more subtle scale, but because of Avatar the 3D/Cg and photo realism will become the norm in movies.  Hence Avatar is the Star Wars of my generation (technologically speaking).

Please comment below.  I would love to hear some thoughts.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 at 3:34 am and is filed under Bret's Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave your thoughts, or trackback from your own site.

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