With the home release of Avatar I've been coming across a lot of interviews with Cameron and a lot of hate for his "small nation's gross or box office take" fame. But what no one has yet done is actually said what Cameron has specifically done to cinema.
He has not revolutionized stories. Everyone knows the story in Avatar and has most likely seen it in at least a few movies before. He also has not revolutionized directing or writing or anything else that gets a big Oscar. What he has done is created a new format for storytelling.
It's not as big a shift as that sounds and it will most likely take a while for his process to catch on, though it's already pretty popular for documentaries. His recessed 3D, virtual camera monitors and exquisite mapping are what he's added. Notice that none of that is particular to Avatar. But think of it this way, when e-ink readers started coming out, like the Nook and the Kindle, no reviewed them based on what book they read while testing it. Similarly I wouldn't make the mistake of confusing Avatar the story for Avatar the movie. The movie revolution that Cameron promised with Avatar is wrapped up in the production as a process. It's not the plot nor was it ever supposed to be.
And that's it. Revolutionize isn't my word and I think it's a bit strong. It will certainly change movies, well at least big budget movies. For those of you who like smaller scale films you shouldn't worry. He's much more likely to be courted by studios for his system than by film makers themselves.
2 comments:
This isn't too different to how I'd describe George Lucas' impact on film. Goodness knows, the man can't write a script, and the story of the original Star Wars trilogy was your basic journey of the hero epic. ILM and its bag of tricks, on the other hand, was definitely something new. All you have to do is compare miniature modelling before and after 1978 to realize how Lucas changed the world. Cameron's contributions are likely to play out the same way.
I actually think that Lucas did more for storytelling... way back with the original trilogy. Now he's a savvy businessman who created the amazing Skywalker Sound and Lucasfilm Studios and kills dreams.
But yeah, they both now do more for film making technology than they do for film.
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