Cameron Teases 'AVATAR' Sequels in 3D 'With No Glasses'...

[humble3d]

Cameron Teases 'AVATAR' Sequels in 3D 'With No

Glasses'...

 

James Cameron Promises Innovation in ‘Avatar’ Sequels

as He's Feted by Engineers

Cameron and Douglas Trumbull were honored at the

Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers'

Centennial Gala.

James Cameron promised to “push” innovation in service

of storytelling in his Avatar sequels as he accepted

an honorary membership in the Society of Motion

Picture and Television Engineers on Friday night

during the society’s black-tie Centennial Gala.

The distinction is the society's highest honor and has

been reserved for such influencers as Walt Disney, Ray

Dolby and George Lucas.

For the sequels to Avatar — the most successful movie

ever made — the filmmaker, tech innovator and explorer

said, “I'm going to push.

Not only for better tools, workflow, high dynamic

range and high frame rates — the things we are working

toward.

I’m still very bullish on 3D, but we need brighter

projection, and ultimately I think it can happen —

with no glasses. We’ll get there.”

VFX pioneer and motion picture innovator Douglas

Trumbull also was awarded the SMPTE Progress Medal,

the society's most prestigious award, during the

ceremony at the Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood &

Highland.

The program, hosted by actor John O’Hurley, celebrated

the pioneering spirit and innovation of motion picture

and TV engineers, highlighting advances of the past

century from the first recorded images to virtual

reality.

During the ceremony, Cameron, Trumbull and others

emphasized that science influences art by giving

filmmakers the tools they need to tell their stories.

Cameron told the estimated 500 guests that movie

“magic has to amaze … and that involves constant

creation of new tools and techniques.

The audience’s eyes adjust to what we did, and so we

need to up our work.”

The director — who was presented with his honor by his

Avatar VFX supervisor, four-time Oscar winner Joe

Letteri — received enthusiastic applause as he told

the room full of tech experts, “You’re my peeps. …

To be acknowledged by engineers is so much more

meaningful to me, truthfully, than all the glitz of

the artist side of Hollywood. …

I like sitting in a room with a bunch of smart people

and solving technical problems.”

He also gave a shout-out to his fellow honoree, saying

Trumbull's VFX on 2001: A Space Odyssey inspired him

to become a filmmaker.

Accepting his award from four-time Oscar winning VFX

pioneer Richard Edlund (Star Wars), Trumbull — who is

launching his MAGI Pod system that supports 4K, 3D at

120 frames per second in an effort to draw people out

of their houses and into theaters — also addressed

evolving cinema technology.

He noted that Ang Lee’s Nov. 11 release Billy Lynn’s

Long Halftime Walk, which used an approach to 4K, 3D

at 120fps, is “getting mixed reviews because this is

shocking a lot of reviewers. …

They don’t quite know what to do with it.” But he

reminded the crowd that “2001 got terrible reviews

when it opened.”

Today, Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi classic is revered as

one of the most influential films of all time.

Trumbull asserted to applause, “It’s time to give [new

cinema technology] a chance, because everything is

changing."

CinemaCon: 'Avatar' Producer Jon Landau Says Film

Industry Needs to Adopt High Frame Rates

One of the reasons influential filmmakers such as Lee

and Cameron are exploring high frame rates (HFR) is to

learn how this tool might reduce or eliminate the

issues in 3D that can cause viewing discomfort.

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter on the red

carpet, Cameron elaborated: “I think [high frame

rates] is a tool, not a format.

I think it’s something you want to weave in and out

and use it when it soothes the eye, especially in 3D

during panning, movements that [create] artifacts that

I find very bothersome.

I want to get rid of that stuff, and you can do it

through high frame rates.

“In terms of that kind of hyper clarity, there may be

some films that benefit from it," he continued.

"But I feel you still have to have a little bit of

that veil of unreality that comes with [today’s

commonly used] 24 frames per second.

This is my conclusion now. I don’t think you do it

wall-to-wall, I think you do it where you need it.”

As for the sequels to Avatar, Cameron said in addition

to HFR, he’s working on “HDR, 4K for native stereo

reduction, all the plethora of things we can do with

CG that we couldn’t do or were so difficult.

I’m going to need a lot of water [simulations],

dynamics sims.

And merging water, air, fire, all that sort of stuff

together into complex simulations is going to be

essential for the Avatar films."

He asserted: “Movies are going to look better than

they’ve ever looked.

They already do and they are going to continue [to

look better].

Anything we can imagine, we can put on the screen.”
 

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/james-
cameron-promises-innovation-avatar-sequels-as-hes-
feted-by-engineers-942305