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AVATAR - Sci-fi epic by James Cameron @ COMIC-CON

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Hmmm... looks like the Nvidia's Stereoscopic player 'converts' 3D YouTube videos. If a 3D version of Avatar is released there some of us might get small, unoptimised home taste.

Is there a way to watch youtube 3D content with the NVIDIA glasses.

Example:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuQXPdoxxrY

The only way I see to view those, are to download them, convert to wmv and watch with stereoscopic video viewer.

Any other Idea?
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No, there is no need to convert them to anything...

You just need to download the MP4 version of the clip from youtube and you can play it with Nvidia's Stereoscopic player.
To be able to download the needed MP4 version of the video you can use a free web service like this one: http://www.youtubemp4.com/

Although you might need to first setup the codec list of the 3d stereo player in order to add the installed MP4 splitter/decoder in your system (Settings / Decoder / MPEG4 Stream Splitter).
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Edit: Though there's absolutely no need for Nvidia 3D vision for this if you should have old Red/Blue glasses directly (which YouTube 3D seems geared for, old cheap anaglyph 3D).
 
For everyone guessing if the Avatar Day will really be worldwide, the distributor here in Brazil has already confirmed the 15-minute trailer in some cities, but only in normal 3D, not IMAX 3D (which is perfect for me since there's no IMAX in Rio :D ).
 
-TRN- said:
For everyone guessing if the Avatar Day will really be worldwide, the distributor here in Brazil has already confirmed the 15-minute trailer in some cities, but only in normal 3D, not IMAX 3D (which is perfect for me since there's no IMAX in Rio :D ).
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I wonder if it will really be free...will have to check with my theaters.
 
MarketSaw's Jim Dorey has the Comic-Con spy footage where those screens came from yesterday, and while he is not posting the footage he gives a pretty detailed description of the first scenes.

I won't quote due to the detail in the description as to avoid (mild) spoilers, but here's the link:

http://marketsaw.blogspot.com/2009/08/jim-has-seen-spy-cam-clip-of-avatar.html

I have to say that I'm pretty much as hyped as one can be but I like what I read very much, it adds a few hype-centimetres (hype-inches for those so inclined). :):)
 
FirewalkR said:
MarketSaw's Jim Dorey has the Comic-Con spy footage where those screens came from yesterday, and while he is not posting the footage he gives a pretty detailed description of the first scenes.
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oh, so it's ok for him to watch it but not us plebs.
 
FirewalkR said:
MarketSaw's Jim Dorey has the Comic-Con spy footage where those screens came from yesterday, and while he is not posting the footage he gives a pretty detailed description of the first scenes.

I won't quote due to the detail in the description as to avoid (mild) spoilers, but here's the link:

http://marketsaw.blogspot.com/2009/08/jim-has-seen-spy-cam-clip-of-avatar.html

I have to say that I'm pretty much as hyped as one can be but I like what I read very much, it adds a few hype-centimetres (hype-inches for those so inclined). :):)
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If that shot looks that unreal from an off screen view of a 3D movie then I have no clue what the naysayers are watching.

and by unreal i mean the holy fucking shit kind of unreal
 
Memphis Reigns said:
If that shot looks that unreal from an off screen view of a 3D movie then I have no clue what the naysayers are watching.

and by unreal i mean the holy fucking shit kind of unreal
Click to expand...

Well, that shot is live action, it's a real person. :) Background could be CG but it's probably also a set given the scene.
 
FirewalkR said:
MarketSaw's Jim Dorey has the Comic-Con spy footage where those screens came from yesterday, and while he is not posting the footage he gives a pretty detailed description of the first scenes.

I won't quote due to the detail in the description as to avoid (mild) spoilers, but here's the link:

http://marketsaw.blogspot.com/2009/08/jim-has-seen-spy-cam-clip-of-avatar.html

I have to say that I'm pretty much as hyped as one can be but I like what I read very much, it adds a few hype-centimetres (hype-inches for those so inclined). :):)
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What a little cocksucker that marketsaw guy is. I hope someone leaks the footage.
 
I hate the marketsaw guy for the sole reason that he really cannot give unbiased impressions. You guys like to exaggerate my enthusiasm for the film, but every time this guy posts anything, even if its about the logo for AVATAR (which is shitty btw) he throws in 'reovlutionary, changed filmmaking forever, before - in this case, bolding 'MAKES YOU FEEL LIKE A CHILD AGAIN'.

Every single fucking post this guy makes. And he starts ragging on any director that isn't an advocate for 3D. He will hype any piece of shit movie so long it has been filmed in 3D.
 
Scullibundo said:
Every single fucking post this guy makes. And he starts ragging on any director that isn't an advocate for 3D. He will hype any piece of shit movie so long it has been filmed in 3D.
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He's gonna be a big fan of Saw VII. :lol
 
Yeah, he's a bit annoying. What makes me hyped about Avatar isn't even all the 3D talk...I'm just pumped to see a movie going to a different place. There aren't many movies showing different worlds in a really detailed way. Plants, animals, just the life and everything. I love that kind of stuff. I don't care if it's revolutionairy but I hope it's and experience rather than just a film I'll watch and forget. From what I hear this shouldn't be the case with Avatar. :)
 
Does anyone know if they'll be showing this 15 minutes in London (UK)? I assume they will since I hear they're doing it worldwide, just wonder if it has been confirmed 100%

If so does anyone know where it'll be showing, and whether I'll need to book tickets?
I don't want to miss this :D
 
The product manager of Nvidia 3D is joining my cause heh (if you write @ in front of a username it's like directly messaging them in the world of twitter).

Wollan: @officialavatar Will the Avatar trailer release for Nvidia 3D vision (stereoscopic 3D for PC) on August 21st? http://tinyurl.com/9zv8ug
Wollan: @nvidiadeveloper Will the Avatar movie trailer release for Nvidia 3D vision on August 21st? Would be a great demo.
andrewfear: @Wollan @officialavatar Im the product manager for 3D Vision and I would love to be able to have the 3D trailer to shoe people. Let me know
 
Wollan said:
The product manager of Nvidia 3D is joining my cause heh (if you write @ in front of a username it's like directly messaging them in the world of twitter).

Wollan: @officialavatar Will the Avatar trailer release for Nvidia 3D vision (stereoscopic 3D for PC) on August 21st? http://tinyurl.com/9zv8ug
Wollan: @nvidiadeveloper Will the Avatar movie trailer release for Nvidia 3D vision on August 21st? Would be a great demo.
andrewfear: @Wollan @officialavatar Im the product manager for 3D Vision and I would love to be able to have the 3D trailer to shoe people. Let me know
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I'd buy the glasses pronto. Should even work with my trusty old 17" CRT, which is capable of way more than 120Hz. :)
 
Instead of ruining the trailer by cheap 3D conversion through a company that has nothing to do with the selective encoding of the 3D in the trailer, why not just go to the 15 minute preview if you can't wait to see the 3D?

2D trailer will have to do for me until Dec 17.
 
Scullibundo said:
Instead of ruining the trailer by cheap 3D conversion
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I believe Nvidia 3D vision offers solid tech.
Sure, Polarized screens > Shutter glasses but it's still very good stereoscopic 3D (and probably close to benchmark stuff for use in the Home in the nearer future).

I think you may be too wary against what isn't necessarily the very best of the best. I'm betting many of those 4-5000 3D equipped cinemas in the states have 'average' equipment.

Scullibundo said:
why not just go to the 15 minute preview if you can't wait to see the 3D?
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It doesn't look like I may be in the vicinity of a 3D cinema on August 21st anymore.
Also, I would love to have a 3D trailer I can watch over a hundred times in the comfort of my home.
 
Wollan, I would agree with you if FOX had themselves encoded the 3D trailer - choosing what does and doesn't pop out, but I mean cheap conversion as in conversion that isn't supported by the distributor. Cheap conversion as in conversion random artifacts of the image to 3D as opposed to specifically selected. It will represent something that is not indicative of the film's own 3D selection.
 
Isn't it just raw frames/video though? Stereoscopic angle and such is set in filming.
I believe the Nvidia 3D movie player takes normal .mp4 as well (so if Fox were to provide one in that format with every other frame being left/right angle it should be no problem?).
I'm not sure how they could mess it up.
 
Wollan said:
Isn't it just raw frames/video though? Stereoscopic angle and such is set in filming.
I believe the Nvidia 3D movie player takes normal .mp4 as well (so if Fox were to provide one in that format with every other frame being left/right angle it should be no problem?).
I'm not sure how they could mess it up.
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Any CG artifacts are set in post-production, or they might be set as a rough render whilst filming.
 
Given the nvidia partnership with the game, it seems like a logical step to have official nvidia 3d.
I really want to see 2d footage to see how it will look, give how after the theatrical release that is how 80% of people will see avatar.
 
I wonder if the 15 minute trailer will basically be a summary of the whole movie haha. If there smart it will be a 13 minute scene from the film + a 2 minute trailer at the end.
 
I decided not to watch the trailer or go to the Imax preview for this. Or see any screencaps or commercials for that matter. Can I really pull it off, hell knows, but it sure will be interesting seeing a movie this big not having seen a single scene from it beforehand. I think the last time that happened was probably with first Alien or maybe even Terminator 2 for me. Needless to say, both movies left me speechless. So I'm going to try it again.
 
I'll definitely be at my IMAX on the 21st. As much as I want to hold out until Dec 19, the thing is I have been waiting 12 years for this movie. 12 damn years! If I had known that after Titanic I would have to wait over a decade to see my favorite director's next film, I would have cried. Having waited nearly 12 years, I think it's ok to watch 15 minutes of the film a little early. My memory isn't so good, so by the time the full movie is released 4 months later, what I had seen probably won't be too fresh in my mind anymore anyway.

The wait for this movie has been nothing short of excruciating for me, and I cannot wait to see the king of the world make his big comeback and raise the bar yet again.
 
Don't know if it's old or not but here's the second poster for AVATAR:

avatarzoe.jpg


Hmm I'm not liking her design for now, maybe the full-body design is better.
 
What they need to do is have half Sam Worthington's face half his AVATAR's face. Keep the Director of Titanic because that will make thousands of people interested just for the sole fact that he hasn't made anything since. It's so I can trick my mom to see this movie with the family as long as I say it's from the guy who made Titanic.
 
Sculli. I hope you and Wollan make one epic thread for this movie when the rottenwatch time comes around.
 
Jibril said:
Sculli. I hope you and Wollan make one epic thread for this movie when the rottenwatch time comes around.
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you should totally do the thread first to see if they start raging like Dax :lol
 
Anticitizen one: The preview should be all from the 1st half of the film, as all of the footage from Comic-con was. I'm sure it will be more of an outline of the general premise, and show us some Pandora. Probably coupled with the trailer in glorious IMAX 3D.
 
Short interview with Cameron from Quint at AICN:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/41920
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with one of the biggie interviews I was lucky enough to snag at this year’s Comic-Con. I had gotten the chance to interview James Cameron back in 2006 right before he announced what his Project 880 was and I tried to keep my geek in check as best I could. Read that here if you missed it.

I don’t know how well I succeeded then, but this time I didn’t have time to freak out. The interview below is really short, but considering very few people got 1:1s with Cameron at the Con this year (and also given Fox’s track record of (not) working with AICN) I’m still very grateful for the opportunity.

Before the recorder was turned on there was some small talk about how awesome Weta is. Cameron mentioned that he’d seen some of their design work on THE HOBBIT (his exact words were that it was “the shit”) and that it really is the original trilogy world created by Weta and Peter Jackson, but with a slight influence of Guillermo del Toro’s style. Cameron said the two styles mix perfectly together.

That began our talk about the design phase on AVATAR in which Cameron mentioned joining in with the Weta guys to design a few specific creatures in the movie (keep in mind he got his start doing design work with Roger Corman). That’s where we begin. Hope you enjoy the chat!








Quint: Which creatures were you more hands on in terms of designing or can you say?
James Cameron: Sure, well the Thanator is my baby. I told everybody “Just step the hell back. That’s mine!” The Viper Wolf I did some early drawings for and that ended up being about ninety percent what I had sketched out. The other ones evolved from the group, like the Sternbeast, the Banshees, the Leonopteryx. Wayne Barlowe even got a little of his scent on the Leonopteryx. He was one of our first designers, but he didn’t stay with the project very long, but the big kind of double crest that it has on her… We haven’t released any art on the Leonopteryx yet, but it’s a major player story-wise.

[Quint note: They may have not released any official art, but the toy was on display on the Con floor and Kraken snagged a photo of it:]








You know, everything that they saw in there today is all first half of the film. I want thh3 to have a good foundation, but their imaginations are going to have to build on that for the next few months, because there is a story in this film as well, besides just the complexity and completeness of the world.

Quint: Yeah, so then this presentation was more of introducing the fans to the world and to the tech…
James Cameron: It’s a learning curve.
Quint: The 3-D is pretty incredible. What I loved about your footage was that it’s not just a window into your film. The way you frame your shots, you also frame the distance between the audience and the screen as well. I see a lot of 3-D now is just kind of that just looking through a window in 3-D…
Click here to read along with the next bit in Amazing Sound-O-Text!
James Cameron: You have to know you are making a 3-D film, but the style that I’ve always used has gone foreground/background compositions, there’s always something kind of intruding in the frame in the foreground or sort of framing the action compositionally and I tend towards the shorter focal length lenses which work well in 3-D, because I’ve always been interested in the characters in an environment, not the characters against an out of focus bunch of lights that you know is a city, but you can’t actually see it, which is how let’s say Michael Mann would shoot MIAMI VICE. That style would not translate into 3-D at all. It just wouldn’t work, but the style that I used on TITANIC let’s say, or even ALIENS translates perfectly; I don’t even have to rethink how I do things.

Here’s a question for you. You’ve seen the material presented in 3-D. Is the story 3-D or is the story the world and the characters? Let’s say we hadn’t made the movie in 3D at all, who would care? Would it still be cool?

Quint: Honestly, once we’re on Pandora I wasn’t paying much attention to the 3-D.
James Cameron: Exactly! If you are doing your job right in terms of lighting and composition and just kind of the way you set a shot, it should cue the eye. Depth should be cued in terms of the image elh3ents that are not actually stereoscopic. I’ve been doing that my whole career, so adding the stereo is adding a layer, but it’s not some whole new thing.
Quint: Yeah, it’s just another piece for storytelling, another tool in the toolbox.
James Cameron: It’s like better sound. It’s not going to hurt your film, but you don’t rely on it.
Quint: Exactly and you didn’t have a lot of “Poke ‘em in the eye” stuff, but like I said I liked that you placed 3-D between the audience and the screen, because that I think that kind of 3-D work is being automatically dismissed by most filmmakers, especially with animated films in 3-D.
James Cameron: It’s gone from every shot having to be a “Poke you in the eye” gag or the “paddle ball”…
Quint: Yeah, the SCTV bit…
James Cameron: Yes, exactly. “That’s so last century” and a bit “classe” and now “let’s just be an aquarium” where everything is happening beyond the frame and really the answer is if the stereo camera is three feet from you, you are going to feel as an audience, like we are three feet from you. That’s how it works!
Quint: That’s how it should be! Let the story dictate what is in 3-D and what is not.
James Cameron: The space is the space, so it’s whatever space you want the people to experience. Do you want them to feel very close to the characters? Do you want them to feel immersed in the moment? When you are tracking down a corridor, do you want to feel like you are in a corridor? Or are you interested in a more stacked composition that’s very long lensy? I’ve done both in this film and sometimes what you are saying artistically at a given moment maybe is not best served by 3-D, in which case I just sort of forget about it. Who cares? Every shot doesn’t have to be the best 3-D shot in history.







Quint: Story-wise, I think what’s really interesting about AVATAR is you originally envisioned this quite a while back and then you revisited it, came back to the story. Did that help you shape it to what it eventually became or was it more of a challenge to merge your present day self with your ideas a decade or more ago?
Click here to read along with the next bit in Amazing Sound-O-Text!
James Cameron: No, no. I had sort of forgotten about it, to tell you the truth. I wrote it back in the mid nineties in order to be a sort of catapult to fling Digital Domain ahead of ILM and some of the other houses in terms of 3-D character development, because that’s where we were weak. At the time we were ruling on 2-D composite. We had the best color space around and the best composite system around, but we were way behind on creature development, because we were cutting our teeth on films like TRUE LIES and APOLLO 13 and TITANIC that didn’t have any of that.

So I thought “Alright, fuck it. I’m going to go way out in front,” so I created something that was like way, way out in front and when I took it to the Digital Domain guys to break down, they said “Dude, you are out of your mind.” They really did. They said “We can’t do this. It’s going to either cost an insane amount of money, like building the pyramids, or it just simply won’t be possible,” so I said “Alright fine,” so I shoved it in a drawer and forgot about it.

Quint: And the technology caught up.
James Cameron: It did. And then I was watching I think the second LORD OF THE RINGS film where Gollum has the soliloquy with himself and I thought “Oh, we can do it now. If they can do that, then we can do AVATAR.”

Now we’ve got to look at economies of scale, because that’s one short scene and can we do a whole film that way? But at least it was now officially possible.

Quint: Because you can see Andy Serkis in that performance.
James Cameron: Absolutely. Now it turns out that a lot of that was keyframe and it was inspired by Andy, but it was actually a lot of keyframe work. We have eliminated a lot of the keyframe steps, or at least we have enslaved keyframe to the actors in a way that is 100% what the actors are doing. I mean really 100%, not 95%. We thought we would be lucky if we got 90% when we started down this road, but it’s a hundred percent actor driven what you’re seeing there, which is why the characters are quite humanoid, maybe to the disappointment of some hard science fiction people that would say “We are tired of all of these Klingons and everything that look like people because they are makeup on an actor and now you are doing CG and making it look like a person.”

But if you really look at it carefully, Neytiri’s eyes by volume are four times the size of a human eye. Sam Worthington’s Avatar character, his eyes are twice as far apart as his real eyes. It’s not a look that you could actually accomplish with makeup and other physical features like ear replacement and nose and length of face... All of those things just are not possible with make up and because makeup is additive and they are these ecto-morphic continuated figures… It wouldn’t look like that.

Quint: Alright, well I think they are wrapping us up, but thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us.







Like I said, way too short, even if we’re only really discussing 24 minutes of footage.

I have no idea if we’ll be invited for further Avatar coverage, but speaking for myself I’d love another shot at picking Jim’s brain about this film and the technology he’s using, but more importantly, the story he’s telling. Obviously that’s a conversation for closer to release (or maybe even after release), but if we have another shot at discussing this film with Cameron you better believe we’re on it.
Click to expand...
 
Scullibundo said:
Short interview with Cameron from Quint at AICN:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/41920
Click to expand...

I thought it was a pretty interesting interview, I'm so glad Cameron isn't treating the whole 3D thing as a gimmick, though I'm sure the higher-ups at the studios won't be too pleased to hear that 3D is simply equivalent to "better sound" rather than the full-blown revolution they were probably hoping for.

Someone's gotta realize that people are going to the movies less, and 3D simply isn't going to change that.
 
This thread is large and intimidating so I'll just ask this here: What are the details about the Avatar Day sneak peek? Is it first come first serve, can you reserve tickets, will they be doing normal 3D as well and not just IMAX 3D?
 
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