James Cameron on 3D, "Titanic" and all things "Avatar"

[Reuters]

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Cameron said converting movies from 2D to 3D — the way he’s converting his blockbuster “Titanic” — is time-consuming when done right. But otherwise, he said, it’s not really 3D.

“Two-and-a-half D is not worth the premium ticket price,” he said.

Then Cameron, at heart a techie, got technical.

In a conversion, he said, objects in the background move farther and farther apart.

“The further apart they move, the more information is missing in the background behind them that has to be painted in,” he said.

He said that the “Titanic” conversion is taking a year because it needs to take that long.

“I said I’m not doing it in less than a year,” he said, explaining that he worries about ensuring Leonardo DiCaprio’s face isn’t flat in any particular shot.

Quickie conversions handle that poorly.

But when it’s done right, he said, “it’s gorgeous.”

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see the full story here: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/22/us-jamescameron-3dmovies-idUSTRE78L0HS20110922