“Star Wars” creator George Lucas predicts 3-D filmmaking eventually will take over at the movies the way color replaced black and white.
But Lucas and fellow technology pioneers James Cameron, the maker of “Avatar,” and DreamWorks Animation boss Jeffrey Katzenberg said Wednesday that digital filmmaking is only in its infancy and will bring vast improvements to how movies are made and seen.
Digital technology in general is revolutionizing filmmaking the way sound did in the 1920s, Lucas said. The new digital 3-D craze has had hits and misses but should one day become the big-screen standard over 2-D presentation, he said.
“So now when you’re watching a movie and it’s not in 3-D, it’s like watching in black and white,” Lucas told a crowd of theater owners at their CinemaCon convention. “It’s a better way of looking at a film. … I totally believe now that 3-D will completely take over just like color did.”
Lucas spoke at a digital-film panel alongside Cameron and Katzenberg. The hour-long discussion touched on new filmmaking tools, enhancements to theater sound, and how badly presented 3-D movies can sour audiences on digital 3-D films in general.
Such bad 3-D experiences generally have resulted when studios took movies shot in only two dimensions and did hasty conversions to give them the illusion of depth so they could charge the extra few dollars that 3-D tickets cost.
“You disappoint our audiences once, OK, great we fooled them. Do it twice, shame on us,” said Katzenberg, who decided years ago that all DreamWorks Animation movies, such as last year’s “How to Train Your Dragon” and this summer’s “Kung Fu Panda 2,” would be in 3-D.
Cameron, who shot “Avatar” in 3-D and plans to do its two sequels that way also, is converting his blockbuster “Titanic” to 3-D for release next year. Lucas is doing the same with all six of his “Star Wars” films.
Done properly, 2-D movies converted to 3-D can look fantastic, Cameron and Lucas said.
Lucas drew hearty applause several times from theater owners when he told them that home systems or portable video devices will never replace the moviehouse as the best place to see films.
“We have our third generation now of kids who are under 12 years old who have never seen ‘Star Wars’ on the big screen,” Lucas said. “And I am betting a lot of people will go see a movie that they have seen on television a million times and they have the video at home, and they will go and see it because they want to see it in the theater in a social experience.”
Cameron waited for years to make “Avatar” until digital technology had caught up to the ideas in his head for the sci-fi epic about a struggle between greedy humans and noble aliens on a distant world.
Now that the tools are there, filmmakers are confined only by their imaginations, Cameron said.
“We’re really at a point where if we can imagine it, we can create it,” Cameron said. “There are no limitations now.”
By David Germain, Movie Writer
Britt Nolan Named CCO For McCann Worldgroup, North America
Britt Nolan has been hired as chief creative officer at McCann Worldgroup, North America. He will report to Javier Campopiano, global chief creative officer of McCann Worldgroup and McCann.
Nolan will work directly with the network’s creative leadership in the U.S. and Canada to lead the development of ideas that solve clients’ business challenges, guided by the creativity of the network’s founding philosophy of “Truth Well Told.” Key to this effort will be fostering collaboration across capabilities and agencies, leveraging the network’s talent and expertise in strategy, design, commerce, branding and production to bring its best-in-class offerings to bear for each client.
“Britt is without a doubt a leader and a point of reference for excellence in our industry,” said Campopiano. “He has led some of North America’s very best work in recent years with incredible range--creating eye-catching, smart, authentic, and funny ways of connecting brands with people. He has a rare track record of success across both creative and business, with a unique understanding of how they power each other. And most importantly, we share a common belief that brand-building is right now more important than it ever was, and the only way to do it is through radical creativity based on human truths. He embodies the very essence of our Truth Well Told philosophy.”
Most recently president and chief creative officer of Leo Burnett Chicago, Nolan comes to McCann Worldgroup with a track record of creative achievement and business impact, both for his clients and the agencies at which he’s worked. Over the years, his work has won Grand Prix or Best in Show at every major international award show, including over 50 Cannes Lions, as well as recognition... Read More