Movies - TV
How Avatar's Remastered Re-Release Was Enhanced By This New Technology
By WITNEY SEIBOLD
Over the weekend of September 23, James Cameron's 2009 ultra-blockbuster "Avatar" was re-released in theaters with a brand new visual remastering. Thanks to a recent visit to Pixelogic studios in Burbank, CA, /Film was made privy to the fineries of TrueCut Motion, and what exactly a team of hard-working technicians were doing to improve the visuals of the complex "Avatar."
What TrueCut Motion did for "Avatar" was twofold. Firstly, using a very complicated mapping and visual creation technology, they converted the film from 24 fps — how it was shot — into 48 fps, and then, using their adjustable technology, they added a certain kind of visual blending that balanced the cinematic "heft" of a classic piece of cinema with the oily smoothness of a 48 fps presentation.
The people at the TrueCut Motion studios certainly heard the criticisms about "The Hobbit," but they also understood that 48 fps was still going to be the ideal way to assure a smoother, better filmic motion with the projection technology available. They sought to improve cinema's visuals by creating a 48 fps master and making it look more acceptably "cinematic" to the eye.