| Catching Life on Avatar 3DOverall, I would say that the past year saw a lot of movies playing in front of my eyes. Last year was perhaps the biggest year I have ever had for the movies, considering that I probably watched more than a dozen films last year.~~ These movies, however, are nothing compared to the biggest movie I have seen so far, which is (surprise surprise), Avatar, directed by James Cameron. You gotta give it to the guy, he really has a penchant for making epic movies that attract billions of dollars in revenue. Sometimes I wonder why some people are that of a genius. He already has the 2 top-grossing movies in his pockets (Titanic and Avatar)! As we all know, Cameron used 3D technology in filming Avatar, which requires the use of polarized glasses to see the movie in its realistic form. Many observers say that the higher ticket prices associated with 3D films is one of the main reasons why the movie immediately boosted its sales to the billion-dollar mark. But the increased ticket price is worth it, in my opinion. The movie raised the bar for "performance capture" technology, which creates animated images from human action caught on camera. A year ago, I was taught how this is made, and I found out that this involves intense computation for every single pixel. Multiply that by a few million, and you get a few minutes used for every single frame--yes, that's just a single frame. No wonder these films take months, nay years, to develop and release. The experience was just awe-striking. I couldn't help but try to grab the realistic images that flash in my skin. The imagery is enough to make on speechless. A lot of people agree. It is not your typical 3D film. And I feel great that I was able to catch this cinematic wonder on screen. The decade-and-a-half wait was all worth it. The billions of dollars of sales was well-deserved. |
