Avatar: The Game Changing Experience

Yesterday evening i watched Avatar the movie in 3D. And i can unequivocally say that it was the best cinematic experience of my life.

It wasn’t just about the technology–which no doubt was innovation at its finest. It wasn’t the story alone, which was really just the typical love story that has been done to death.

What was amazing about the Avatar experience (note how i don’t call it a movie) was how such fantastical elements can now be woven into modern day story telling. The sky is not the limit anymore. Any story that resides in the fringes of our imagination can be told now. And that will unleash a floodgate of creativity and entertainment into our lives t. I can’t wait.

As technology gets cheaper, this will become more and more common place in the movies we see and in the games we play. In fact i read somewhere that James Cameron wanted to do this movie 10 years ago, but it would of cost him almost double, and he would have to settle for a little less quality—so he decided to wait. I also heard that no studio would back him at almost $600 million budget. Today he made it for $300 million–which still goes down in the books as the costliest film ever made. And undoubtedly the best film ever made.

But boy was it a game changer. Did he ever push the boundaries of what is possible. He joined the cinematic arts and computer science in a marriage made in heaven. Or shall i say–Pandora.

Watching it in 3D added to the experience. I found myself ducking under branches, and dodging guns, and marveling over floating  jellyfish hovering over my head. Like i said–it was not a movie–it was truly an experience.

My enthusiasm for 3D was revived. It really has the ability to make an experience more immersive, more real, more engaging.  Blurring the lines between you and the characters and settings of the film. It takes you the viewer out of the third person, and brings you into the first.

This reaffirms my belief and my desire that 3D is really the future of the entertainment…work and the web. I also feel that it will change the very way we work and play. And i look forward to being an evangelist to the introduction of 3D particularly in our mundane workplaces. Good bye cube farms–hello 3D rigs!

Its just a matter of time before CGI and motion capture technology becomes cheaper, and more ubiquitous. We will eventually see a motion capture kit very much the same way we see a webcam today. I look forward to being able to control my avatar’s gestures and mannerisms as easily as i do on my own body.

Imagine being able to wear a motion capture suit, and as a result emote yourself into your avatar all from the convenience of your own home…

What do you think that will do to the experience of virtual worlds as a whole? Will it make it more engaging? More real, and less virtual?

Can we all go to a virtual office, regardless of where we are in the world, and work with the best in the business, the brightest minds in the science and the deepest pockets in the industry–regional proximity being no bar? Can we create a virtual workplace where we can work and still have those water cooler conversations that are so important to our social network development?

Can we all travel to fantastical conference centers in lush gardens or at the bottom of oceans and congregate…ideate…collaborate…and co-create in ways that we never were able to do before? Allowing us to create better than we ever have before?

I guess time will only tell. But in the meantime–hats off to Cameron and the Avatar Experience team for changing the game–and expanding the boundaries of what we think and believe is humanly possible.

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