MarketSaw brings us a ton of new info from James Cameron 3-D epic, Avatar featured in Empire Magazine. Below are some of the images and quotes from the article.
Above is a picture of Cameron adjusting some controls on “The Volume” – he can see the actor in the green screen environment (with dozens of cameras surrounding him) and he can see what that very same actor looks like in a rough rendering of the CG environment in real time.
Below is a blown-up pic of the what is on the top right monitor:
Aside from an intricate, and very alien, ecosystem with predators large and small, Cameron’s idea revolved around a race of indigenous sentient aliens called the Na’vi. Nine feet tall, blue skinned and feline in appearance, they would need to be entirely computer-animated yet interact seamlessly with the live action.
Cameron says:
“With the capture technologies we developed, the actor can be any character they can imagine and the director can create any world, any time and any space.”
Cameron on Spielberg and Jackson:
“I invited them over while shooting Avatar. I put the camera in their hands and they basically became two kids – on the inside every filmmaker is really just a complete geek. The amazing thing for me was just watching that seminal moment. They were running around the stage, working the camera, and that’s the moment when they both kind of looked at each other in the eye and said, ‘Let’s make Tintin.”
Below is a photograph of Cameron working the Fusion 3D Camera System
Empire Magazine also states that other than Spielberg and Jackson (who we already know are using Cameron’s technology for shooting Tintin right now), there are two others that have “signed up” and got “swept away” by the possibilities – J.J. Abrams and Guillermo Del Toro. Could this mean that Abrams’ next Star Trek could be 3D and the two Hobbit movies in 3D?
All this info is fantastic. I can’t wait for Avatar. The idea that Abrams and Del Toro could be using this technology brings astounding possibilities. I’m looking forward to the trailer for Avatar and these are not the only scans, so make sure you pick up the next issue of Empire Magazine.
Avatar is scheduled for a December 18th, 2009 release.
What do you think of these new photos?