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AVATAR and 3D in general....

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Okay, this is for the sake of all things 3D-related in general, considering I reckon it's gonna stick around this time....

Having now seen the (much better) 2nd trailer for 'AVATAR', I've no doubt things will look impressive enough in 2D, but I reckon it's going to be worth donning the glasses for a fully-IMMERSIVE viewing of the movie in 3D eventually -  http://www.avatarmovie.com/

Thankfully, things have moved on dramatically from the days of the old 'anaglyph' red and green glasses, with the quality much-improved, using a 'polarised' technology now.  One aspect of this latest 3D revival that I'm personally very interested in, is the new 'conversion' process that has been developed which transforms existing 2D footage into 3D....

Looks like we'll be getting the chance to revisit some old favourites on the big screen again in this format in the future....with the promise of 'home viewing' versions over the next few years too!

I can think of quite a few movies and scenes that I'd like to see in this process eventually....  :)

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I eager to see how they re-rendered the Toy Story movies for 3D.  Both the final product and what its like going back to something-like 18 year old files and revisiting them.  I'm curious to see if any of the movie is actually "revisited" or corrected (not that I've noticed anything wrong).

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Trailer is good and beautiful, but the creatures are not "photo realistic" at all. Maybe on the big screen (and in 3D) it will looks better though. (like the CG Arnold in T4 who looked nice on the big screen, but kind of fake on the trailer playing on my PC. CG needs the little details to been seen)

 

EDIT: 720p and 1080p version looks way better.

Some movements still looks odd to me but the level of details of the CG characters is very good. I guess I need to get used to the design.

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Fuck 3d. We don't need it. Stupid gimmick. I wish George Lucas would stop going on about putting Star wars on 3d and restore the OOT instead. And filmmakers should focus on making good films rather than trying to sell us a silly gimmick that people rightfully rejected years ago.

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Underwhelmed by the trailer.

Don't care about 3D in any way - talk to me when we have *real* 3D, as in holograms, preferably ones you can physically interact with.

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I feel the same way about 3D as I do about IMAX: needless gimmick.

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I disagree about IMAX, but only if the film is *shot* in IMAX.  Blowing up 35mm (or worse, digital) film to IMAX (which is 70mm turned on its side) is completely pointless.  But I guarantee if you compare something that was shot on 70mm/IMAX to anything shot on 35mm, it completely blows it out of the water.  If it weren't so damned expensive, I'd prefer that everything were shot on 70mm.

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I think stereoscopic 3-D for animation is a neat concept but for live action films i could care less.  Except the fine line between what is live action and what is cgi animation is very thin these days.  90% of New hollywood blockbusters these days could be considered animation with all their cgi fackery and nothing real.

 

As for the Avatar film itself i think it could have a nice element of romance as well as be an action epic, the terminator meets titanic.  Can Cameron pull it off, i would be willing to give him more of a shot than lucas or spielberg who have proven time and time again in recent years that they lost the touch for making good films.

Not that Cameron is perfect either.  Season 2 of dark angel was pure shit, and his script for spider man was almost as awful as jj's was for superman.

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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ChainsawAsh said:

I disagree about IMAX, but only if the film is *shot* in IMAX.  Blowing up 35mm (or worse, digital) film to IMAX (which is 70mm turned on its side) is completely pointless.  But I guarantee if you compare something that was shot on 70mm/IMAX to anything shot on 35mm, it completely blows it out of the water.  If it weren't so damned expensive, I'd prefer that everything were shot on 70mm.

 

I don't like the fact that you have to shoot in one aspect ratio for IMAX.

But, yes, 70mm would absolutely be preferred.

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Well, 70mm only has two options, 2.20:1 (2001: A Space Odyssey, Lawrence of Arabia), or (with a special anamorphic lens) 2.76:1 (Ben-Hur).  I do agree that IMAX's 1.44:1 is far too close to 'Academy' ratio (1.33:1).  I've never been a huge fan of anything between 1.33:1 and 1.85:1 - 2:1 or higher is my personal preference, though 2.76:1 is pushing it a bit ...

I wonder what an anamorphic IMAX aspect ratio would be, or if that's even possible ... I doubt such lenses currently exist at all.

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I'm a 3D nut.  It is a gimmick, but it works for me.

I'm excited for the 3D at home boom that's supposed to occur in 2010.  I think mixing stereoscopy and head tracking will be very immersive for video games.

IT'S MY TRILOGY, AND I WANT IT NOW!

"[George Lucas] rebooted the franchise in 1997 without telling anyone." -skyjedi2005

"Yeah, well, George says a lot of things..." a young 1997 xhonzi on RASSM

"They're my movies." -George Lucas. 19 people won oscars for their work on Star Wars (1977) and George Lucas wasn't one of them.

Rewrite the Prequels!

 

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I was watching the Avatar trailer thinking Maybe this is how they should do John Carter of Mars.

Something tells me Avatar has a chance of being a masterpiece of digital movies, and Disney's John Carter movie will be absolute shit.

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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I have all of this faith that Avatar will be good despite the fact that nothing I've seen or heard warrants that.  I think all of my faith can be summed up with "Hey, it's Jim Cameron.  He can do no wrong."

Reminds me of a younger version of my self and placing such trust in one George Lucas.

Or assuming that Spielberg would somehow keep Indy IV straight.

So... I'm just not so sure anymore.

But, I did go to the 15 minute preview on Avatar Day.  The 3D I thought was really good.  I expect all big summer and Christmas movies after this will have to think VERY hard about 3D if they want to make any money.  And it's nice for the studios since it's a good way to back-door a $4 hike in ticket prices.  :(

IT'S MY TRILOGY, AND I WANT IT NOW!

"[George Lucas] rebooted the franchise in 1997 without telling anyone." -skyjedi2005

"Yeah, well, George says a lot of things..." a young 1997 xhonzi on RASSM

"They're my movies." -George Lucas. 19 people won oscars for their work on Star Wars (1977) and George Lucas wasn't one of them.

Rewrite the Prequels!

 

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xhonzi said:

 

Reminds me of a younger version of my self and placing such trust in one George Lucas.

Do you mean before you saw the Phantom Menace?

Because obviously Lucas had already done the star wars holiday special and Howard the Duck.

As for Steven Spielberg that man is not immune to making a turkey either, he made this big budget disaster called 1941 that almost made sure he would never direct another movie.

Lucas and Spielberg seem to have godlike powers these days and are invulnerable, they can make horribly crappy films and still get very rich doing so.  War of the Worlds and Crystal Skull were absolute shit and so were the star wars prequels.  Lucas can make anything Star Wars and Indiana Jones and make money on it it seems, well except for Young Indy that was an experiment that did not make lucas tons of money, and all the networks and fans thought it was a turkey despite showing some promise.

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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It was definitely before I saw Phantom Menace.  It was probably the Special Editions or when they came to tape... It might have been the revisionist history interviews with old George at the beginning of the tape...  I don't know.  But I still had no concept of how terrible Episode 1 was going to be.

At the risk of diverting this back on topic... I still hope Avatar is good.  I just hope Cameron doesn't destroy his reputation like some others...

IT'S MY TRILOGY, AND I WANT IT NOW!

"[George Lucas] rebooted the franchise in 1997 without telling anyone." -skyjedi2005

"Yeah, well, George says a lot of things..." a young 1997 xhonzi on RASSM

"They're my movies." -George Lucas. 19 people won oscars for their work on Star Wars (1977) and George Lucas wasn't one of them.

Rewrite the Prequels!

 

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I still think the 3D HD video and the effects make this look like an incredibly expensive animated movie or videogame, but i don't love cgi unless it is minimalist and serves the story.

I am sick and tired of movies that are cgi effects reels and pyrotechnics reels/videos than an actual story being told.  And i blame people like Lucas and his cohorts for starting this alarming chain of events.

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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Fang Zei said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHsn_PPDrEw

This will likely get found and taken down by the end of the day, but there will only be more people to come along and post it again!

 I missed this.  What was it exactly?

IT'S MY TRILOGY, AND I WANT IT NOW!

"[George Lucas] rebooted the franchise in 1997 without telling anyone." -skyjedi2005

"Yeah, well, George says a lot of things..." a young 1997 xhonzi on RASSM

"They're my movies." -George Lucas. 19 people won oscars for their work on Star Wars (1977) and George Lucas wasn't one of them.

Rewrite the Prequels!

 

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http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/26/091026fa_fact_goodyear/

Your link didn't work for me.

IT'S MY TRILOGY, AND I WANT IT NOW!

"[George Lucas] rebooted the franchise in 1997 without telling anyone." -skyjedi2005

"Yeah, well, George says a lot of things..." a young 1997 xhonzi on RASSM

"They're my movies." -George Lucas. 19 people won oscars for their work on Star Wars (1977) and George Lucas wasn't one of them.

Rewrite the Prequels!

 

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I've seen the trailers. Doesn't look like something that would interest me. Looks to have the requisite, calculated, pseudo-deep dialogue, and tough guy bravado in place. You can just about hear what the next line is going to be - many of them seemingly written specifically with quotable catch phrase in mind.

I'm also not a fan of CGI characters in a live action setting i.e; Jar Jar & Gollum. They look just like what they are - drawings added to live action. Fine on their own, but distracting when placed out of their drawn world. Truthfully, I don't really care for CGI films in general. Films using CGI to enhance a scene (the way matte paintings used to) are fine, I'm all for that. However, I don't care for things like Transformers, the last two Star Wars prequels, 300, etc - films that almost look like Pixar pieces.

Now, all that said - to paraphrase Oprah Winfrey - here's what I know for sure; James Cameron must be a huge Roger Dean fan. The film looks like it takes place within a Roger Dean world. Being a HUGE Yes nerd for the past 35 years, I'm intimately familiar with Dean's work. The similarities in Avatar jumped out to me almost as soon as the trailer started. Where that part of the film is concerned, it's nice to see Roger Dean's world realized.

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With God as my witness, Roundabout just came on the radio as I was previewing this post before hitting "post reply". Very fitting.

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