The point is a technological advance may be true from a technological perspective, but unless it’s meaningful to people, it’s dubious.  For years, we watched video graphics improve from boxy 8-bit representations to breathtaking vistas and reasonably convincing human movements.  And our TV sets have grown to be wider and thinner, progressively adding more lines of resolution to erase the fuzziness inherent in antenna reception or VHS tape.

And then came Blu-Ray.  Blu-Ray is staggering visual technology.  I’ve enjoyed “Finding Nemo” dozen times with my daughters over the years, but Blu-Ray let me appreciate its level of artistic detail at an entirely new level.  The experience was nothing short of breathtaking.  Blu-Ray images are incredibly razor-sharp.

But what works for Pixar (and Lord of the Rings and Avatar and other popcorn movies), is absolutely counter-productive in smaller, more human fare like say, The Hangover.  Watching the boys galavant across the Nevada desert in hyper resolution lends this epic tale of debauchery an ordinariness.  It feels like a stage play, like something you might find on Telemundo HD.  The near-metallic edginess of the picture distracts from the story, and that’s not a good thing.

Combine that with the news that theater chains will be jumping their admission price as much as 10% to take advantage of the popularity of 3D and it appears that once again, hopeful advocates are placing dangerous bets on technology.

Alice in Wonderland is a spectacular visual fantasy and a charmingly imaginative story–THAT is why the movie has proven so popular.  And Avatar was a singular achievement in filmmaking–a story that looks nothing like anything we’ve ever seen before.

Simply because they are 3-D doesn’t mean you can count on the same reaction to Clash of the Titans.  Great movies start with great stories, not great visual effects.

By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79

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Fact: Avatar grossed $1.3 billion worldwide in less than a month.

Prevalent Speculation: Including marketing, the project represented a nearly $450 million bet.

Tactic: In this week’s Advertising Age, a cover story discusses the way 20th Century Fox marketed the movie: traditionally, with a $150 million ad spend, and big promotional partners.

Conclusion:  Don’t dismiss mass marketing yet.

Krakow, Poland

Yes, we live in radically altered times.  Opinion enjoys new mass channels as consumers actively dis-integrate old mass channels.  And yet, given a good story that piques our interest, raises some classic themes, and gets everyone talking, a compelling mass market message can still drive outrageous success.  It’s just now, when that advertising gets the whole world talking, individuals have places to further the discussion: Twitter, e-mail, even self-important blogs like this one.  When a story captures peoples’ imaginations, they pick up and pass it along for you, expanding the coverage and radically extending the media buy.  Today, if you generate good word of mouth, you get something mass marketing can rarely buy: sustainability.

People who’ve seen the movie, rave about it.  And that drives more sales, as positive word of mouth sways people who were considering seeing it, particularly in the pricier IMAX 3-D.

So Avatar’s wildly successful initial weekend box office results were not driven by social: there was no official Twitter account to follow.  And there was no viral digital experience (those lost favor when the Snakes on a Plane hysteria failed to drive audiences to theaters).

Just a lot of TV–including long format buys and major sponsor support–and some really strong PR.  Clearly, Avatar is a mass brand.  And it advertises that way.  Pepsi meanwhile, has loudly announced its decision to shun the Super Bowl.  Hmm…

By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79

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Instead I saw this twelve and a half minute piece called “The Third and the Seventh” by Alex Roman on Vimeo.  Do yourself a favor and cleave off the time to watch this on your computer in full screen and HD.  If you can’t afford the time but can find a minute and a half, watch this.  And then remind yourself that despite the natural lighting, despite the seemingly hand-made erraticism of some camera moves and depth of focus changes, regardless of the incredible details of wear and tear on vintage film cameras and the botanic splendor of deciduous trees and waving shafts of wheat and grass…heck, notwithstanding even the appearance of a photographer in some of the scenes…none of it is real.

You really have to force yourself to fully absorb that.  None.  Of.  It.  Is.  Real.

Should you doubt that, watch this.  And if you want to see exactly how the filmmaker uses 3dsmax, Vray, After Effects and Premiere, he shows you here.

In these times of Harry Potter and Transformers, the most remarkable cinematic effect of all is to see something utterly believable rendered staggeringly perfect through entirely artificial means.  The very invisibility of the effects in this piece will blow your mind.  What it means for the future of Hollywood and commercial set building remains to be seen, but this will be used.  And we’ll have more actors scampering across blue screens, only later to be turned into fantastic images and landscapes.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Alex Roman (real name Jorge Seva) is a classically trained painter who spends his days working in the world of arch viz: architectural visualizations created through computer graphics.  Some amazing masterpieces of architecture appear in his film, including MAM, Milwaukee’s fabulous art museum designed by Santiago Calatrava.  For more information on this filmmaker, here’s the only substantive interview I could find, conducted early in the process as he was creating various pieces before they all coalesced into his final film.

“The Third and the Seventh” refers to pillars of Art: Architecture (third) and Cinema (seventh).  I’m not familiar with the entire list of pillars or their ranking, but I can speculate on the foundation of Art…

Awe.

By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79

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