James Cameron plans another innovation for his next “Avatar” installment: shooting at double or more the film speed that has been Hollywood’s standard since the 1920s, a move he says will greatly improve 3-D images.
Cameron, whose 2009 sci-fi blockbuster raised the bar for digital imagery and put the 3-D craze on the fast track, said Thursday that “Avatar 2” would be shot at 48 or 60 frames a second to reduce an effect called “strobing” that can blur moving images, particularly those in 3-D. For more than 80 years, the norm has been 24 frames a second.
In a demonstration for theater owners at their CinemaCon convention, Cameron played 3-D footage he recently shot at 24, 48 and 60 frames a second to show the better quality of high-speed filming.
The footage of medieval dinner and fight sequences shot at 48 and 60 frames a second were noticeably superior.
At 24 frames, blurriness was very evident when the camera panned or dollied along the dinner table and when two knights dueled with swords. The fuzzy images greatly diminished at 48 frames and virtually vanished at 60 frames.
“I was stunned when I saw it, at how clear and crisp it was,” Cameron said. “If 3-D is like looking at reality through a window, we’ve taken the glass out of the window.”
New digital projectors rapidly being installed in theaters can handle the higher frame speeds with no more than a software upgrade, said Cameron, who wants faster filming rates to become the standard for 2-D and 3-D movies.
While 3-D has been a blessing for studios and theaters that charge a few extra dollars for the added dimension, many movie fans complain about eyestrain from blurry 3-D images. Faster film and projection speeds will help eliminate that problem, Cameron said.
“Avatar” is the biggest modern blockbuster, with $2.8 billion in theatrical revenues worldwide. Cameron has no definite timetable for his two planned “Avatar” sequels, but the second film in the franchise still is years away from theaters.
“I’m still just writing the script, so I’m a minimum of 18 months out of having to shoot something,” Cameron said. “I’ve got a bit of time to get this sorted out.”
Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey Launch Production House 34North
Executive producers Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey have teamed to launch 34North. The shop opens with a roster which includes accomplished directors Jan Wentz, Ben Nakamura Whitehouse, David Edwards and Mario Feil, as well as such up-and-coming filmmakers as Glenn Stewart and Chris Fowles. Nakamura Whitehouse, Edwards, Feil and Fowles come over from CoMPANY Films, the production company for which Cicero served as an EP for the past nearly five years. Director Wentz had most recently been with production house Skunk while Stewart now gains his first U.S. representation. EP Clancey was freelance producing prior to the formation of 34North. He and Cicero have known each other for some 25 years, recently reconnecting on a job directed by Fowles. Cicero said that he and Clancey “want to keep a highly focused roster where talent management can be one on one--where we all share in the directors’ success together.” Clancey also brings an agency pedigree to the new venture. “I started at Campbell Ewald in accounts, no less,” said Clancey. “I saw firsthand how much work agencies put in before we even see a script. You have to respect that investment. These agency experiences really shaped my approach to production--it’s about empathy, listening between the lines, and ultimately making the process seamless.” 34North represents a meeting point--both literally and creatively. Named after the latitude of Malibu, Calif., where the idea for the company was born, it also embraces the power of storytelling. “34North118West was the first GPS-enabled narrative,” Cicero explained. “That blend of art and technology, to captivate an audience, mirrors what we do here--create compelling work, with talented people, harnessing state-of-the-art... Read More