The Avatar Thread

[Admiral Huddy]

Looks like I should have seen this at iMAX then.

Aren't most action films a little cheesy.. Isn't that what makes them film? A break from normality.

[Will]

I thought the whole film was cliche and predictable - but I didn't care, since it was captivating to watch. It wasn't that original either - however, it doesn't take away any part of the film. It really was breath taking to watch and see the imagination of someone unfold before your eyes. I was on the edge of my seat throughout, wowed by the scenery and attention to detail, so much so you ignore the loosness of the story.

It's release on DVD will do it no justice though. This is one of thes films that NEEDS a big screen and a good sound system IMO.

[Jingo]

I'm sure most people will agree that it's Blue Pochahontas in Space, but that's easy, enjoyable viewing and purely on a visual level it's truly spectacular.

[Will]

Absolutely. It's hard not to be drawn in and captivated by it.

[leowyatt]

Originally Posted by Jingo

I'm sure most people will agree that it's Blue Pochahontas in Space, but that's easy, enjoyable viewing and purely on a visual level it's truly spectacular.

did you see post 35?

[Blighter]

I can never get on with imax screens.

All the ones I've been to distort as soon as you turn your head to the side :S

Real3D is where its at

[divine]

Originally Posted by Admiral Huddy

Well the experience is obviously clouding people judgement which is why I said it's just a gimmick. Impressive it is, I won't disagree with that, but all I could see is 2d layers giving the appearance of a 3d image.. i.e. background, mid, foreground and a few bits between plus there appeared to be no depth..

For example, when I look a across the room I'm sitting in, everything is in proportion in distance from the foreground to the vanishing point. Depending on what my eyes focus on at the time, either the foreground or background is out of focus. The screen in front of me isn't anymore emphasised than the glass on my desk, or the picture behind that.. yet in 3d film, it gives the impression that everything in between these two points is static. Hey I'm no photographer but it just looked too false.

That's purely down to poor understanding of 3D currently I think and directors inexperience of it. It's caused by shallow depth of field and when in 2D, this works incredibly well to draw your attention to where it should be. Because it is only 2D it doesn't feel entirely unnatural either.

In 3D though, this cause a problem because 3D presents more of an opportunity for your eye to explore the scene, you expect the focus and field depth to change as it would for real but it just doesn't. Limited depth of field shots fail hard in 3D and are the main cause of eyestrain when viewing. Ideally 3D films would be shot entirely (as far as possible) in high field depth shots so everything is in focus, this will feel more natural as you can then look wherever you want.

Trouble is what works for one doesn't work for the other, a film totally made for 3D to that extent would look massively amateur when converted for 2D release and as you experienced, low depth of field doesn't transfer well to 3D. Currently with 2D being so prevalent in the home cinema market I can't see a massive move to properly implemented 3D so what we get now is as good as you can hope for for a while.

[Belmit]

I found that stuff in the very foreground was quite realistic, almost like it was just past the front seats in the cinema. There was one part where someone was sat behind a console and it was like they were actually there. If they could extend that to the rest of the shot it would be very good indeed.

[Mark]

I paid just over £10 for mine - and that's inc. deluxe seat. However, I did go at the cheapest time (4:15 PM on a Tuesday). It showed - I could count the entire audience without running out of fingers.

3D doesn't work on me (never has, never will - I watched the entire film left eye only - as usual). I should have asked for a 50% discount.

Still, I enjoyed that. Would watch again - a few rows closer - deluxe seats aren't all that and they're too far back IMO.

[Goose]

I assume you watched it in Newbury? The seats are terrible there, I had a numb bum after an hour (and I cycle 2 hours a day, so my bum isn't exactly demanding of nice seats). I needed morphine when the credits started rolling.