James Cameron's Avatar Sets Goals for CGI

James Cameron’s epic scifi vision Avatar is set for release on December 18, 2009. This space adventure has been the brain child of Cameron’s since the 1990s, and is now finally a reality. Although versions of Avatar have been in development for over a decade, Cameron has held off on getting the production ball rolling until the special effects and digital technology was up to par with what he had planned visually.
Avatar is the product of the heavy influence that science fiction literature had on Cameron growing up. It is also a reference to western civilization’s history of displacing indigenous peoples and systematically wiping out their culture. The film takes place 200 years in the future after humans have discovered a new planet they call Pandora. The plot revolves around Jake Sully, a wounded ex-marine sent to the planet to help with Earth’s conquering and settling of it. Pandora is rich in biodiversity and is the home to a race called the Na’vi. Sully realizes that what the humans are doing is disastrous to this exotic culture, and leads the Na’vi in a revolt in order to preserve not only their livelihood but also their lives.
Cameron worked with Paul Frommer, linguist and Director of the Center for Management Communication at USC, to develop an entire language system for the Na’vi.
And when it comes to the world of Pandora, Cameron is using a motion capture animation technology, which allows him to see how the actors movements interact with the virtual world instantly and in real time. It’s just like shooting live action, and cuts down on time and mistakes. It’s also a way to allow his photo-realistic characters to interact instantly as well. Cameron’s goal for the film is to leave the audience stumped as to what is real and what is CGI. “Ideally at the end of the day the audience has no idea which they’re looking at.”
This latest project from Cameron should be visually stunning and help push special effects technology even further. Avatar stars Sam Worthington, as Jake Sully, Sigourney Weaver as Dr. Grace Augustine, and Zoe Saldana as a completely CG character, Neytiri. Giovanni Ribisi and Michelle Rodriguez also star. We will keep you updated on new developments as the release date closes in.