AVATAR Trailer is HERE!
Jim here early on AVATAR Day: UPDATE to Michael's post - STUNNING Trailer! I can feel movie poster and Blu-ray quotes coming on: "AVATAR is this generation's STAR WARS. A movie you will not see but experience. Brace yourself, storytelling will never be the same again."
Getting ahead of myself, but what the heck - everything I have seen to date points to me saying that after a full screening. In fact I will go on record now as saying them. I am THAT confident.
The trailer is amazing and wonderfully cut. It's a symphony really. I wonder if Mozart felt this way after composing a piece he knew would be resoundingly embraced and then playing only a few teasing bars for fans. Sure he would be nervous but at the same time absolutely thrilled to finally see the public's faces light up with emotion and wonder.
Again I will go back to Jake looking at his AVATAR for the first time as being the most moving point in what I have seen so far - a moment not unlike a parent seeing their child for the first time in a delivery room. The smile says it all.
Throughout the trailer I was imagining the 3D and how it would be fulfilled and I have to say the potential is enormous! But of course it is - look who directed it with stereo fully in mind. I made the right decision not posting that Comic-Con clip and I can boil it down to one scene - when Jake sits up on his gurney and looks at his feet. The focus is pristine and undistorted - the exact opposite of the bootleg clip. It is a pivotal scene as well - again Jake's emotions shining, this time through his avatar as he finally feels motion in his feet and comprehends the power that he now controls. AWESOME stuff.
Make no mistake though, the way to see AVATAR is in 3D. Those with AVATAR Day tickets are in for a special and unprecedented treat.
Michael here. UPDATE: My initial reaction: I love this trailer. The imagery is spectacular, and it ends on a perfect note. And there's a bunch of stuff that hints at the sheer scale and epicness of the final battle. But the extended scenes from Comic-Con hyped me more, especially since in those we get to see the awesome chemistry between the characters, some of the already-classic dialogue, the *perfect* performance capture in the extended scenes between Jake and Ney'tiri, and the magical, jaw-dropping run through the nighttime Pandoran jungle.
James Cameron has created a movie that, from the extended scenes I have watched, looks to be filled with those applause-worthy and emotionally affecting scenes that he is famous for.
This trailer is packed with amazing moments (my jaw dropped when Jake's avatar bares his teeth to the Banshee, when the ship drops through the clouds, and when the gunship lands in the jungle, among many other outstanding shots), but leaves out much of the best stuff from Comic-Con. As a series of shots with only one line of dialogue, it serves as a great tease, and as a teaser trailer it succeeds beautifully in providing an introduction to the world of Pandora and giving a glimpse at the story, characters, and action. But I think you would need a more dialogue heavy trailer with some longer scene portions for maximum emotional effect, and I see that coming with Trailer #2. As for the CG, the Avatar Day footage will be a better platform for showing off the 100% translation of the incredible nuances of detail of the actors' performances. I forgot that these characters were 0's and 1's after the first few seconds, simply because I connected to them. Cameron hooked me emotionally, and I was along for the ride.
I think the general public needs to see that at its heart Avatar is a classic, archetypical tale- a hero's quest, a love story. I'm hoping Fox releases a complete scene online. Cameron is a master storyteller, and I guarantee that what I saw in Hall H was as great as anything he has ever done in regards to creating feelings in an audience by drawing them into characters and story.
Still, this trailer gives me goosebumps, especially in the context of what I have already seen at Comic-Con. And this begs to be seen in 3D.
UPDATE: Direct download Apple.com links to HD English versions!
480P: http://images.apple.com/movies/fox/avatar/avatar2009aug0820a-tsr_h480p.mov
720P: http://images.apple.com/movies/fox/avatar/avatar2009aug0820a-tsr_h720p.mov
1080P: http://images.apple.com/movies/fox/avatar/avatar2009aug0820a-tsr_h1080p.mov
Michael here.
http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/avatar/
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This is history in the making.
A few of my favorite shots from the trailer(720P):
