Teresa suggested I go see Avatar yesterday while she did some school work. I discovered that the IMAX 3D version was playing, so off I went.
It is a stunning film for its visuals, audio, and technical effects. But it’s a simple, predictable story. I enjoyed it, and I even hope for a sequel where I can re-immerse in the flora and fauna of the planet Pandora, but it’s more like a video game than compelling literature.
However, I believe that Avatar is a glimpse of the future of movies – the very near term future. A future where voice acting dominates, and what the actor looks like is completely irrelevant. Through computer graphics and motion algorithms, any character played by an actor can have whatever physical attributes and abilities the production designers can imagine. For the last few years, I have predicted that computer graphics would become sophisticated enough to completely obviate the need for real actors. We have achieved that for the visual aspects.
Cyberpunk and certain other sci-fi genres have always played on a future where our silicon-wired brains provide us individual experiences that surpass and overwhelm reality. Between movies like Avatar and video games, this future has arrived, at least for the audio-visual. Next up: fully synthesized acting, no humans necessary. Smell, taste, and tactile experiences are a little further out, but on their way as well.
