Sunday, January 10, 2010

5 AVATAR's Nicest Touches

I just came back from the theater after the 3 hour long AVATAR movie in IMAX 3D. It was just beyond awesomeness. The picture quality was by far the best I've ever seen and the sound effects literally shook the floor. If you haven't seen it, go watch it. And if you have seen it and didn't see it on IMAX 3D, go see it on IMAX 3D. Wait, did I mention IMAX 3D. GO SEE IT ON IMAX 3D

This marks my first experience of IMAX. Yes, as a "nerd", this is kinda weird, but late is always better than never right? :) I'm so glad that I saved my IMAX experience for AVATAR. I don't want to spoil for people who has not seen the movie, so I'm not going to share any in-depth details of the movie, however, as I'm so excited, I will share some of the nicest touches from the movie (don't worry, they won't spoil the story).



Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.


Nicest Touch #1
The bugs in the forest of Pandora. The little insects were really nice touches on the 3D screen. As characters moved by them, they were flying in all directions just like the real ones. It was so real that I lifted up my hand started to "shuuuu" them off.

Nicest Touch #2
The ashes and burning ambers. This is potentially a story spoiler, so I'm not going to share which scene it was. However, you can try to put together a disaster movie image where ashes and ambers are being blown by the wind, flying across the screen. I'm sure this is not going to be as fun for a lot of the Californians who lived through the wild fires because the scene was that surreal.

Nicest Touch #3
The movement of the AVATARS. You think the movie is a huge CG'ed project? Then you're wrong. Every character in the movie, this includes the AVATARS, is real. Even though you know the AVATAR has to be CG'ed, but you just can't feel the stiffness movements generated by computer at all. Why? Because no movements were emulated by computers. They were all recorded using motion censors. That's right, every single movement, including the mouth. When the AVATARS talk, their facial muscles move just the same way as a human, there were no differences at all.

Nicest Touch #4
The scorpion helicopters. This again can potentially spoil your experience, so I'm just going to hint it. The mechanics of the helicopters literally followed the laws of the physics. I won't be surprised that taking the same mechanics into real life and we can build a scorpion helicopter that flies in the same way.

Nicest Touch #5
The computer screens. This whole story is based on 150 years from now. The fictional technology presented were absolutely amazing. The screens were like sheets of glasses and they can be bended and wrapped around you. I'm working on a nice 24" here and 2 23" at work, but i still find myself always run out of space and I hate dual or triple monitors because of the disconnect between them. The fiber glass like screens in the movie was just like a dream come true. I wish I can have that tomorrow. :D

This is as far as I'm going to share as it is already mid-night here. As of today, every show was still sold out. We had to watch the 8:30 show because the 4:40 show were completely sold out at 3:30. When we left the the theater, there were still lines of people ready to watch the 1:00 show.

Go see the movie, and definitely go watch it on IMAX 3D. You'll not regret the $15, it is definitely money well spent. As for the movie itself, the controversial $500 million cost in my opinion is also money well spent. This movie carries so many achievements that no others could compete and will be able to compete with for a long time.

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