Digital beginnings...

The transformation of an analog signal to digital information via an analog-to-digital converter is called sampling. Most digital media is based on translating analog data into digital data and vice-versa. Digital media can range anywhere from Television, to CD's, to that alarm clock sitting on your dresser that says 10:45 instead of having a clock face with hands that circle around it. But for movies, its kinda different. Take James Cameron's Avatar for example. He took technology that existed already, and tweaked it to make it fit his dreams of a futuristic sci-fi world.

James Cameron wrote his first treatment for the movie in 1995 with the intention of pushing the boundaries of what was possible with cinematic digital effecrs. In his view, making Avatar would require blending live-action sequences and digitally captured performances in a three-dimensional, computer-generated world. Part action-adventure, part interstellar love story, the project was so ambitious that it took 10 more years before Cameron felt cinema technology had advanced to the point where Avatar was even possible. (Popularmechanics.com)

The movie uses digital 3D technology, which requires audience members to wear polarized glasses. It is a vast improvement on the sometimes headache-inducing techniques that relied on cardboard cutout glasses with red and green lenses and rose and fell in popularity in the 1950's. (Msnbc.msn.com) Unlike ast methods that captured dots placed on human faces to trace movements that are reconstructed digitally, now each frame is analysed for facial details such as pores and wrinkles that help re-create a moving computerized image. Cameron’s technology, basically a sphere of cameras that captures each and every movement from every angle imaginable. The technology is fairly new, but James Cameron’s Avatar grossed 1.8 billion dollars total, so he must have been doing something right.

In the first generation of 3D films, back in the analog era, it was hard to control the alignment of the cameras. Today, it’s much easier for all kinds of films. And for those created using computer graphic rendering, the alignment can be perfect. 3D technology is a brand new era, replacing almost all former digital media... whats next?