Avatar

 The avatar takes us into a spectacular world unimaginable. On it, a newcomer from Earth embarks on an epic adventure and finally fights to save an alien world that eventually became his home. James Cameron, the director and Oscar winner for Titanic, began thinking about the film 15 years ago when the means to realize his vision did not even exist. Now, after four years of production, Avatar, a feature film with a new generation of special effects, brings a whole new film experience into which the viewer is immersed. The revolutionary technology they invented for the film dissipates into the emotions of the characters and the dimension of the story.

We enter the extraterrestrial world through the eyes of Jack Sully, a former Marine confined to a wheelchair. Despite his disabled body, Jake is still a warrior at heart. He is being recruited to travel to a human outpost on Pandora several light-years away. There, a mighty corporation is mining a rare mineral that is crucial to resolving the Earth’s energy crisis. Because the atmosphere on Pandora is toxic, they created the Avatar Program, in which the consciousness of human “drivers” is linked to the avatar. An avatar is a remotely-controlled biological body that can survive in a deadly atmosphere. These avatars are the fruit of genetic engineering of human DNA and the DNA of the Pandora-Na’vi natives.Avatar Movie Trailer 

Born again in his avatar Jake can walk again. Itsmission is to infiltrate the Navi, which have become a major obstacle to the extraction of valuable minerals. But the beautiful woman of Navi, Neytiri, Jaku saves her life and that changes everything. Jaka accepts her clan among them and learns how to become one of them, which is associated with many trials and adventures. As Jacob’s relationship with his hesitant teacher Neytiri deepens, he begins to respect the Navi way of life and finally takes his place among them. He will soon be faced with the most difficult test as he leads them into an epic battle that will decide the fate of the entire world.“Avatar is the most challenging film I’ve ever made,” says screenwriter and director James Cameron. And that statement says a lot, given that Cameron is a world-renowned master of storytelling: his films Titanic, Terminator, Terminator 2, Eighth Passenger 2, The Abyss, and True Lies were groundbreaking, a mix of spectacle, exceptional stories, characters, and technology. the magic that served the story and the emotions."With Avatar, I wanted to create a familiar kind of adventure in an unfamiliar environment," Cameron explains. I dreamed of making a film like this, a film set in a different world of great danger and extraordinary beauty, ever since I devoured Shunde science fiction and comics as a child and drew extraterrestrial beings during math classes, hiding I'm behind the textbook. I finally got a chance with AvatarJEM. "Cameron was not interested in using a mask when creating an alien species. Humanoid Aliens have been played by masked actors for decades, from the B movies of the 1950s, through the four decades of Star Trek and their spin-offs, and other science fiction movies and series. They have already tested every design and method of applying the mask to the players' faces. On top of that, this is also limiting. You cannot change the size and shape of the eyes. You can’t change the proportions of the body, nor the size of the character. A player wearing a rubber band and other types of masks is also restricted in playing, as the mask is a barrier between the player and the camera lens. With the method they used at Avatar, the method of trapped movement, these negativities do not occur. With computer graphics, avatars are similar to the players they play, but their basic proportions are different. Navy's eyes are twice the diameter of human eyes and there is a larger gap between them. Navi is much slimmer than humans, with longer necks, have a different bone and muscle structure, including, most obviously, three-fingered palms. As computer characters, Navi and avatars can be much bigger than humans. With a blue mask, their skin would be dull, and with computer graphics, it is translucent and behaves like real skin, where the pigment on the surface does not cover the redness of the blood beneath it, as seen when strong sunlight shines on the back of the characters' ears.

All these little things together allow the creation of seemingly living beings. Cameron was looking for a way to create aliens for the 21st century. In 1995, he saw rapid progress in the field of computer-designed characters and thought he would be able to film his dream project happening in another world. Having already created a whole new generation of computer characters for Abyss and Terminator 2, Cameron wanted to take computer graphics to new heights and thus write a visually ambitious Avatar. However, when the script was worked out by special effects experts, he realized that the technology needed for photorealism was still a few years away, so the project roamed the shelves. When Cameron revived the project in 2005, all the necessary techniques seemed to be around the first corner. At the time, they were still worried that the characters would not look completely alive and that the victims of t.i. a dead-eye effect from earlier films with the technique of "capturing the performance." Cameron’s team decided to go beyond all the initial experiments and ensure the complete reality of the characters. They developed a completely new technology with which to capture facial expressions. Players wore special football-like helmets to which they attached small cameras. These recorded even the tiniest movements of the facial muscles. And most importantly, the camera recorded eye movements, which previous systems could not. Of course, they shot with the actors and under Cameron's direction also all the scenes in the film: no scene, no costumes, they just played, which to most seemed superb.Another innovation, created specifically for Avatar, is a virtual camera that allowed Cameron to shoot scenes within a computer-generated world as if he were filming in a Hollywood studio. Through the visual camera, Cameron did not see Zoë Saldana, but her giant blue-skinned character Neytiri. Instead of Sam Worthington and Sigourney Weaver, he saw their giant avatars, along with their tails and giant golden eyes. Instead of barren gray space, however, he saw the lush Pandora rainforest, the floating Hallelujah mountains, and the human colony at the Hell’s Gate.

The effects were created by WETA Digital from New Zealand, who created characters in The Lord of the Rings and King Kong

If you ask animators at WETA, they will tell you that avatars and Navi are animated. If you ask Jim Cameron, he will tell you that the characters were played by actors. The truth is, they’re both right. It took great animation skills to get the characters to “play” exactly as the actors did. At the same time, they did not take any freedom in the game. They did not embellish them or exaggerate with them. The animators added something with the movement of the tail and ears, which the actors couldn’t. But even so, the goal was to stay in tune with the emotions created by the actors during the first shoot,

“The players ask me if we’re trying to replace them,” Cameron says. "On the contrary, we try to give them more power, give them new methods of expression and create characters without limits. I don't want to replace actors. I like working with them. I do that as a director. the emergence of characters like aliens, werewolves, witches, demons, and so on. Now you can be whoever and whatever you want, at any age, you can even change gender without wasting time craving in a mask chair. "

In addition to all the complexity, Avatar is filmed in stereoscopic 3D, which again required the creation of special technology, i.e... Fusion Camera System. Cameron developed it together with Vince Paco. It took them seven years.

Due to the different levels of technology they developed specifically for AvatarJA, this was the most demanding Cameron film to date. The filmmakers found themselves in unfamiliar territory and kept looking for answers.

But all of these revolutionary technologies are just Cameron’s tool that always serves story, emotion, and character. Producer Jon Landau says, "The avatar won't impress the audience because of the technology. The point is the characters and the story Jim created." Cameron adds, "The only question that always matters, in the end, is: Is the story good? In the end, people will talk about the characters - aliens and humans - and their travels."

About the central character, Jak Sully, Cameron says, "The trick was not in how to write it, the trick was to find the right actor to play it." They spent months searching the United States and finally found Sam Worthington - in Australia. He was initially reluctant to accept the offer, as the project was shrouded in secrecy. He has not yet been told who will direct it. “It seemed like a waste of time,” Sam says. A week later, he was called again and invited to come to Los Angeles for an interview with James Cameron. "It's okay - but a conversation about what?" he was still interested,

Even after Cameron described the story and Jacob’s character to him and asked him if he was ready to embark on an adventure, Sam had another urgent task before embarking on the trip to Pandora. "I told Jim, yes, of course, I'm going on an adventure - but first I have to fix the brakes on my car."

Cameron and Landau knew Worthington was worth the wait.

The character of Neytiri, played by Zoe Saldana, once again highlights Cameron’s affection for the powerful female characters he loves to create. Neytiri thus joins the classic Cameron heroines who have become real icons, The first is of course Ellen Ripley from the second part of The Eighth Passenger. She was played by Sigourney Weaver. Her acting and her performance became an example of an action heroine. Sigourney is working with Cameron again after more than 20 years in Avatar. Then there are the outstanding female characters, Sarah Connor from both Terminators, Rose DeWitt Bukater from the Titanic, Lindsay Brigman from the Abyss, and Helen Tasker from True Lies. None of these characters were just for the ornament in which the main male character is gazing. According to this rich tradition, Neytiri is strong, elegant, sporty, beautiful, sensual, vulnerable, and emotionally direct.

Zoe, like most other actors, exercised a lot before filming began. She rode, practiced martial arts, and shot. Along with other actors and Cameron, she also traveled to Hawaii, which was environmentally reminiscent of Pandora. "We lived without sophisticated technology, tools, and other comforts. I was almost naked for three days. I bathed and climbed and was all made of mud. I missed the comforts of civilization and complained that I couldn't do it. And Jim told me, 'Oh, Come on, Neytiri, grit your teeth! "

All participants desired to offer a unique experience to cinema visitors with Avatar. “Jim doesn’t make movies for himself,” Jon Landau says. "He records them for the audience." Cameron adds, "I wish the audience had the perfect movie experience. I hope when people come out of the cinema they'll say, 'I haven't seen the movie. I've experienced the movie.'Sam Worthington (Jake Sully) graduated from Sydney’s prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in 1998. After graduation, he starred in the theatrical production of Jude’s Kiss.

He had minor roles in the films Hart's War, The Great Raid, and Rogue. He then competed for the role of James Bond at Casino Royale. Although he didn’t get it, it was a good rehearsal for the following year when James Cameron personally chose him for the lead role in Avatar after a lengthy search.

He also starred in Terminator: Salvation, which grossed $ 370 million worldwide.

He recently finished filming the dramas Last Night with Keira Knightley and The Debt with Helen Mirren. Also, he recorded Clash of the Titans, which is set to premiere on March 26, 2010.

Worthington debuted in the Australian film Bootmen. He has also made Australian films Dirty Deeds, Getting ’Square, Macbeth, Somersault.

He has appeared on television in Love My Way, The Surgeon, Delivery Man, Two Twisted.

Zoë Saldana (Neytiri) has made Star Trek, Center Stage, Point of Advantage, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Terminal, Dirty Deeds, Temptation and Constellation, Get Over It, Crossroads, Snipes and Drumline.

She has appeared on television in Keeping It Real and in Law and Order.

Her upcoming films include Death At A Funeral and The Losers.

Sigourney Weaver (Dr. Grace Augustine) has created a whole host of memorable film characters, both serious and comic, from Ellen Ripley from The Eighth Traveler to Dian Fossey from Gorillas in the Mist. She charmed the audience and gained recognition as one of the most respected actresses both on stage and on the big screen.

She made her film debut with the first part of The Eighth Passenger. She was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for her role in the second part. Ripley is also portrayed in the third and fourth parts.

She also filmed the unforgettable Gorillas in the Mist, in which she portrayed primate expert Dian Fossey and the comedy Working Girl (both roles earned her an Oscar nomination, the first for the lead, the second for the side, for both roles she won at least a Golden Globe). Her remarkable filmography also includes Ghostbusters, The Impersonator, Jeffrey, Death and the Girl, Half Moon Street, 1492, One Woman or Two, Eyewitness, Snow White, A Map of The World, Galaxy Quest, Heartbreakers, Holes, The Guys, Village next to the forest, Imaginary Heroes, Infamous, The TV Set, Snow Cake, The Girl in the Park, Point of Advantage, Baby Mama, Wall-E, and Despereaux.

Her upcoming films include Crazy on the Outside, Paul, You Again. Director, screenwriter, producer, and editor of Avatar.

He was born in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada, and grew up near Niagara Falls. In 1971, he moved to Breo, California. He studied physics there and during his studies he first worked as a mechanic and then as a truck driver. When he decided to pursue a career in film, he left his truck driver job in 1978 and raised money from a consortium of local dentists to produce his first short 35mm film with it.

The visual effects in this film led him to star in Roger Corman’s Battle Beyond the Stars (1980), in which he was the set designer and director of visual effects. He then directed the second team in Corman’s sci-fi thriller Galaxy of Terror (1981).

In 1983, Cameron wrote three screenplays: Rambo 2, Eighth Passenger 2, and Terminator. In 1984, he directed Terminator with Arnold Schwarzenegger, became an unexpected hit, and was named one of Time magazine's best films of the year.

Cameron then directed The Eighth Passenger 2 (1986) and wrote the screenplay and directed The Abyss (1989). He was then the screenwriter, producer, and director of Terminator 2 (1991), True Lies (1994), and Titanic (1997). He was also the co-writer and producer of Point Break (1991) and The Last Days (1994) and the producer of Solaris (2003).

His films have paved new paths for visual effects and set numerous rating records at home and around the world. Titanic is still the most-watched film of all time, grossing a total of $ 1.8 billion. Cameron’s films have been nominated for numerous accolades.

In 1999, Cameron co-authored the Dark Angel series. She was filmed for two seasons.

He has also made documentaries Ghosts of the Abyss, James Cameron’s Expedition: Bismarck, Aliens of the Deep, and Last Mysteries of the Titanic.