lensblog

Well, I finally got to see it last night at Montecasino… Tickets were a bit dear but, in retrospect, well worth it.

I’m not going to spoil the story for those that haven’t seen it yet, but I will elaborate on some of the elements of the movie that I really enjoyed.

Firstly, let me get the science fiction aspect out of the way. I’ve seen a lot of complaints in reviews regarding the science in the movie and it saddens me that the general concept of Hollywood science fiction has been limited to extreme sci-fi such as blasters or lasers, robots and outlandish alien spacecraft. And as for aliens… not every alien needs to be Giger-esque.

Science fiction to me has always been the vision a writer has, casting their mind’s eye forth to what they feel could be a possible and sometimes plausible future. Looking back at some of the grandmasters of sci-fi in the last century, even they admitted that if they knew then what they knew now, their stories would be very different. (I’m almost positive this was said by Arthur C Clarke…)

Science has moved in leaps and bounds in the last few years, but not so much so that we can abandon all logic when it comes to constructing a possible future scenario. Sure, some folks seem to think that given the gap in time between present and depicted future that we’d have come up with something better… Personally, I’m of the opinion that we, as a race, tend to grasp at a concept then spend the next century making it better. One needs only look at our present modes of transport. At it’s core, the mechanics are not that far removed from the original. We’ve simply made them faster, stronger, hopefully safer, more intelligent. Sure there have been some outlandish alternatives and hybrids that have been proposed over the years, but they tend to die out after a while due to various reasons such as funding, price, odd energy requirements, overall feasability or mainstream acceptance.

So, taking that into account, let’s look at some of the human science in the movie:

a) Amplified Mobility Platform or AMP Suit – yep, the big walkers that act as extensions of the pilot’s body. It’s not a stretch of the imagination to think that this might be possible considering the current exo-skeletons in research and production at present. That and I think it’s a nice tip of the proverbial hat to the power loader exo-skeleton from Aliens…

b) The Scorpion Gunship – I’ve always had a fascination with VTOL flight and VTOL/conventional flight hybrids. Helicopters are great but their design feels a little dated. The Scorpion is, to me at least, a refreshing update that borrows aspects of the aggresive Apache and Hind choppers and throws in a little UNSC Hornet VTOL gunship from Halo 3.

c) Similarly, the Samson has taken it’s cues from the old faithful multipurpose Bell UH-1 “Huey” and Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk, a design that has been echoed in Command & Conquer’s Orca bomber/fighter, Halo’s AV-14 Hornet, Fallout’s Vertibirds and Starcraft 2′s Banshee.

d) The Dragon, in my mind, is a large VTOL version of my old favourites, the versatile “death from above” C-130 Gunship. Large enough to be a troop transport or carry vehicles and other payloads or outfitted as an aerial artillery platform.

One of the big “Wow!” factors for me was the holographics. Yes, it’s been overdone so many times, but I still marvel at them. Especially if they make sense. So often, in science fiction movies, the user interface they’re tapping away at makes no sense.

Ok, enough drooling over the hardware… Onto the software!

I’m a big fan of the Adobe product suite. I’ve been Photoshopping since 1996 and it’s still my preferred image editing platform. The other programs in the suite are a bit foreign to me, but having seen their usage in this film as well as in other projects, I’m astounded at the results.

The other (and major factor in the movie) was the motion capture, specifically the facial expressions and fluidity of movements in the Na’vi. We saw what was possible with Gollum in Lord of the Rings. This… this was just better than anything I could imagine.

Finally, the mixing of CG and ‘normal’ camera work. I pride myself on being fairly critical of CG artistry, having spent many many hours, days, weeks on my own admittedly simple projects, and browsing through others’ online projects for inspiration. After a while you can spot elements that seem out of place, superimposed or added in after the fact. With Avatar, in this initial viewing at least, I could not tell the difference between real and CG. Maybe in a second or third viewing where I can ignore the action sequences and concentrate on the overall graphics… but even then, I don’t think I’ll be disappointed.

I’ll say this… this movie is not for everyone. Some, will avoid it purely because of the hype. Some, will scoff at the movie, calling it “Dances with Smurfs” or something along those lines because they feel that the story has been overdone. Others will not be able to watch it because they cannot sit through 2 and a half hours of 3D without getting a headache or eyestrain.

However, for those that do go see it and enjoy it, it’s fast becoming “that” movie that they talk about, marvel over or go to see numerous times.

If Pandora was real and the Avatar program existed, I’d sign up today! Until then, I’ll eagerly await the DVD or Blu-ray release so I can relive the adventure!

At first glance, the two topics seem to have no connection at all, to most people, but to folks like myself and a few others out there, one is the cure for the other…

I’ve always loved synthesizer music. I remember, as a wee lad, my folks buying a 4 CD boxset – Atmospheric Synthesizer Spectacular -  for me (which I still have and play now and again when I’m feeling nostalgic). I remember losing myself for hours on end, listening to covers of well known 80’s groups and artists, featuring mostly movie soundtrack themes like Dune and Beverley Hills Cop.

That led me to listen to many of the artists’ original works and so my fascination with synthesizer and electronic music in general began. Back then, the range of artists available was limited to the likes of Jean Michel Jarre, Mike Oldfield, Tomita and Vangelis. These days, you have artists like Magnus Birgersson aka Solar Fields added to their ranks.

I first encountered Magnus’ work in the soundtrack work done for EA’s Mirror’s Edge – to be more specific, in my hunt, at the time, for extra information and downloading every conceivable trailer I could get my hands on, I noticed at the end of one of the ‘official’ trailers, mention of remix work done by Solar Fields and then a website URL. I browsed to the site and while I didn’t find much regarding ME there, I bookmarked it nonetheless as something of interest for later.

A while later though, while browsing emusic.com (thanks to Dave Warner from Dave’s Lounge Podcast for pointing me in that direction) for more music to download (I have a basic membership allowing me to download 30 DRM-free songs a month), I found Solar Fields under the electronica section. So I downloaded the latest album, Movements…

Now, the music in ME is very much up my alley. Soft ambient tracks here. Slightly harder synth tracks there. It all depends on the setting and what is about to happen to you. I could listen to it for hours (and sometimes do, now that I’ve unlocked all of them in the game).

Movements follows on that and leaves me with chills running down my spine and goosebumps all over my body… it’s that good! I have had it on repeat now for more than a week and I still can’t get enough of it.

Now, traditionally I’m a headphone-man. And as such, I tend to buy myself relatively decent headphones, be they earbuds or full-earmuff types. My one main criteria is decent bass and depth of sound. If music starts distorting, I get frustrated.

Sitting here at the office, listening to tracks like “Sol”, I can forget about the arguments, the politics, the piercing shrill sounds of desk- and cellphones ringing, as the music thrums and soothes my frazzled nerves. I can feel myself drifting away on an electronic ocean where I need only close my real eyes and open my mind’s eye to visualise the soundscape that have been so beautifully presented to me.

Now, as I said, I’m an earphone fan… but that is not to say that I don’t have a decent set of speakers at home, or that they’re incorrectly setup to enjoy music like this… it’s just that more often that not, my time in the lounge is so limited, due to the hours I work, that I often just collapse on my bed at home and lie there listening to music via my laptop until I fall asleep. However, the other night, I played Movements through the 5.1ch Dolby hi-fi…

All I can say, is WOW! What a difference. Such depth. Such range. It feels like the music reaches out and encompasses you.

I look forward to next month when I can download some more of Magnus’ work. And I’m keeping an eye out for the official Mirror’s Edge game soundtrack as well.