Ok, I just got back from seeing Avatar
So, what needs to be said about it…

3D

Ok, first up, this is the first proper 3D film I have seen (other than the odd fairground ride and a crap attempt at being clever that work tried to pull off at a company meeting about 5 years back which failed abysmally but left me with a set of polarised glasses to put apart and play with.)

I made a point of grabbing a decent spot in the middle of the cinema so that I could see the screen head on and I did not get a headache or suffer any ill effects.
The film itself does not try to jump out at you, so there are time when you do wonder if the film is in 3d at all. Most of the scenes are really subtle and the cuts did not jar you from one focal length to another.

The scenes where the 3d dragged me out of the film were really silly things like the water droplet at the start, or the blades of grass which were too close so that they appeared to be between me and the screen, which my brain was happy to tell me was impossible because I should be able to see them continue down below the screen. This became irritating because I was trying to follow the story (see below) and bits of disembodied grass were floating in front of the screen.

That screen is still important, it is our portal into the other world, putting something between us is fine just so long as it does not go below the height that the projector can support.

The only other 3D thing that can distract you from the story is having stuff fly out at you, and this was kept to a minimum which was a relief.

Was the 3D needed? Not sure. Will find out when it comes out on bluray as that is when I will see it in 2D.

CG

The biggest problem in creating CG characters is something that is known of as the uncanny valley.

This is that feeling you get that, no matter how life like the 3d animation may look, there is something nagging at the back of your brain telling youthere is something wrong with what you are seeing. This is why the best 3d films up to now have been cartoons. You are not asked to accept that the King and Queen in Shrek are real people, they are fairytale characters from far far away, and the main characters in toy story are all toys, the human characters all look fake.

The first time I remember a film try to make CG people look real was Final Fantasy The Spirit Within. A still shot from this film can look really good, but as soon as the characters start to move it becomes very very unreal. The expressions do not look quite right, and the movement is wrong. Not so bad that you can point to anything and say hat that is the things that looks wrong, but there is something nagging at the back of your head telling you that they are not real. The uncanny valley.

The 10′ tall blue people seemed quite real in this film. I was quite happy to accept that they could be actors painted blue.I really think they have cracked it!

Bows and Arrows

Ok, so this is my subject, so I will keep it brief.

Why oh why do all actors have to draw the bow with two fingers and their wrists twisted with the palm facing out. It just looks so awkward.

storyline

Yes there is one.

It has been called Dances with wolves in space and Pocahontas in space. It is certainly not the most original storyline ever, but it’s a good old love story with an alien invader and a protagonist that turns native…

… in space.

Camera Moves

The camera moves in the CG world seemed quite natural, and I know that there were several clever techniques used to capture those moves, but because they did not drag me out of the film I can’t comment on them much as I didn’t really notice them. I guess thats a good thing.

Right, thats my thoughts, time to read the Cinefex article and listen to Mike, David and Mark and Ian’s views on the VFXShow.