I thought this was a great letter to the editor sent in by someone in response to a regular columnist's dissing of Avatar;
Posted by
Loyola
Jan 28 '10, 09:37
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"Madam, � When Fintan O�Toole says, in relation to film, and James Cameron�s film Avatar in particular, �that real emotional power still lies in language, narrative and acting� (Culture Shock, January 23rd), he is wrong.
Film is primarily telling a story with pictures by way of shots and edits � pure and simple. If the shots are bad and the edit is poor; no amount of brilliant acting, wonderful scripting or great music, will save the story � that goes for the emotional content too. I tell my animation students this on their first day at the national film school in the Institute of Art, Design Technology, D�n Laoghaire, as does every film teacher on the planet. It is that basic.
Furthermore, Mr O�Toole�s assertion that �Hollywood can�t combine technological innovation, good storytelling and human beings� is way off. Avatar �s animation supervisor, Richard Baneham, has remarked that the method that was developed during the making of Avatar has pushed motion capture animation � where a computer animation figure responds to captured human movement � to a new level he calls �performance capture�. In Avatar the animated creations have acted as never before � although not, it seems, to everyone�s liking.
Mr Baneham, a former animation student of mine from my Ballyfermot Senior College days, is one of Ireland�s leading cinema exports, greatly sought after by big directors and the major studios as much Liam Neeson or Colin Farrell are. Perhaps why we don�t know his name so well is because the commentators like Mr O�Toole don�t take enough time to appreciate his craft. � Yours, etc,"
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