Well, here it is. I am caving and finally writing a blog about Avatar. I didnt want to write about this topic due to the opinions that some people may have on the film, and the ability for those who love it or hate it to defend their reasoning for wayyy too long…but here I am. After watching this film twice and becoming fascinated by the entire production of the film, the amount of time and effort it took to create this masterpeice (yes, I said it) is amazing. Here is a preview 
Director and Writer of the film James Cameron has stated that he first had the idea for this movie around 1994. He began working on a script shortly after Titanic was finished, and had originally intended for the movie to be shot with all computer generated characters. He put off production for a while however, to allow technology to grow and develop before he created another one of his masterpeices.
Nothing was held back when this movie was finally in the process of being made a reality. An impressive fact…he hired a man from a University in California to create a language for the Na’vi of Pandora! When it came to the visual effects, Cameron came up with a way to show the actor, in real time, what their character would look like. According to Wikipedia “he method allows the filmmakers to transfer 100% of the actors’ physical performances to their digital counterparts”. This new motion capture animation technology was what made the digital creation look so real. This method not only captured the facial expression accurately, but the amount of light that may be hitting a characters face for a particular scene. The only issue with this to the post production workers and animators of the present is that no scenery can be produced digitally until after the actors have played their part. Cameron goes on to say that this alleviates the process of script and lighting changes, and allows the possibility of digital scenery to be in the producers hands. I believe this innovative technology will be used in future movies. It is one less step that the animators have to take in post production, and one less step that could possibly go wrong.
This new form of “animation” is amazing. The mixing of live actors and animation is a step towards the future of film, and with Cameron’s idea used in Avatar, the doors to other films have opened up.
I agree with Becca regarding the future of animation being at the hands of this amazing technique of computer technology. Although, to be perfectly honest, I enjoy the old form at animation (single cell) better, I like cartoons that look.like.cartoons. Don’t get me wrong, the computer animated CGI animation is mind-blowing, but I don’t want to watch animation if it looks so realistic. If I want reality, I’ll watch a movie with real people!