| Avatar is a fantasy film by James Cameron. The movie was released in cinemas from the 16th of December 2009.
In 1995, James Cameron had written an 80-page script for the film “Avatar”. Cameron stated that the source of his inspiration for penning the script was drawn from “science fiction books, read by him in childhood” and in particular, books written by Edgar Rice Burroughs (“John Carter – Martian”) and the creation by Poul Anderson “Call Me Joe” (James Cameron officially did not refer to the last work, which agitated several admirers of Anderson).
In the film script “Avatar”, written by James Cameron, a paralyzed person, by means of future technology, joins the brain of a human being to the body of a specially created hybrid person and alien (an "Avatar" ), and he then participates in research expeditions on the Pandora planet. Due to this idea, the film received the name – “Avatar".
Plot:
Jake Sully - a former marine infantryman confined to wheelchair. Despite his ailing body, Jake still remains a soldier at heart as before. He is offered a task to travel several light years to a base of Earth dwellers on the Pandora planet, where corporations extract a rare expensive mineral which has a huge value for Earth in overcoming the energy crisis.
Since the atmosphere of Pandora is toxic, a program “Avatar” was created, in which the consciousness of a human being is linked to an avatar, biological bodies with remote handling which help people survive the toxic atmosphere. Avatars are hybrids created by the means of genetic engineering and obtained by the combination of human DNA and the DNA of the Pandora planet's native people, the Na’vi.
Having had a second birth in the form of an avatar, Jake once again can walk. His mission is to gain the confidence of one of the tribes of the Na’vi, whose settlements are located on the richest deposits of valuable ore. Jake was officially entrusted to find a way to persuade the natives to relocate but on the instructions of the military, he also starts collecting information in case the military have to resolve the issue through force. The beautiful native Neytiri saves the life of Jake and all things change after this. Jake is accepted into her clan and he learns to be one of them by learning a certain set of tasks and undergoing numerous tests.
The music for the film is scored by composer James Horner and “Avatar” is his third film with Cameron after “Aliens” and “Titanic”. In March 2008, Horner recorded some parts of the music with a chorus in the language of the alien race Na’vi. He also worked with Wanda Bryant, an ethnomusicologist, to create the musical culture of the alien race. The first session of music scoring on the film were planned for the spring of 2009. Singer Leona Lewis was chosen to sing the theme song of the film, which is called “I See You”. An accompanying musical video on this score is also under production.
Marketing:
James Cameron signed an agreement with “Ubisoft” to create an action-game called “Avatar”, which was released in December, 2009.
The so called “Avatar Day” was celebrated on August 21, 2009. A 2 minute trailer was posted on the internet and some fragments of the film with a total duration of approximately 15 min were shown to audiences in several theatres.
Interesting facts:
* Initially James Cameron planned to direct the film in 1999. However, considering the complexity of the special effects which Cameron needed to create, the budget of the film was to be somewhere around 400 million USD. Despite the tremendous box office success of “Titanic” (1997), not a single studio could allocate such finances. The project was kept on the shelf for about 10 years;
* Michael Biehn wanted to do one of the roles in the film. He met James Cameron several times. However, James did not want the audience to associate the film with “Aliens” (1986) as Sigourney Weaver has already signed a contract for shooting;
* Cameron developed a special technology which allowed him to simultaneously view computer characters along with live actors on monitors while shooting the film;
* According to Cameron, if the film is commercially successful, then he intends to make a trilogy.
* The film is based on 40% live shooting and 60% digital computer graphics.
* In Cameron's original script the foliage was dark blue in color, the same as the skin of the Na'vi, but finally, he decided to use a green color to be more realistic.
* Most portions of the film using natural movement were shot in Wellington, New Zealand, where a huge set was erected. It was similar to a real big building. For constructing the set, a huge substructure was created by using more than 150 building contractors.
* The set included a communication room where the containers for linking the humans to the avatars were held; a bio-laboratory that was the premises for the scientists and a storage place for the tanks with amniotic fluid in which the bodies of the Avatars are stored, the main control room, which is the central nervous system of the base “Hell Gate”, and the military bastion Armor Bay, where the mobile reinforced suits and helicopters are stored.
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It's less than a week until the premier of the world's most anticipated movie of the year - Avatar by James Cameron. The most expensive film in history, it took $500 million and 10 years to make. James Cameron was working on it ever since he released multiple-Oscar-winning Titanic, and we expect nothing but the best from him this time! "This movie is very personal to me", says Cameron. "It was the chance to put together all these vistas and cool creatures that have been knocking around inside my brain since I was a kid."
