New Book: "The Making of Avatar" ... Available 9/15/2010

[Toruk Makto]

http://www.avatarmovie.com/avatarprogram/exclusives/_vol8/

Some previews of the book:
http://www.avatarmovie.com/avatarprogram/exclusives/makingofavatar/toma.pdf


And... Tewti! The Na'vi in the book appears to be Frommerian!  Hopefully the whole thing is devoid of ASG-style jibber-jabber!

UPDATE! The book appears to be available for pre-order on Amazon!

[omängum fra'uti]

If it isnt frommerian, it is at least someone paying attention ... I don't think tìspe'e has apeared anywhere else yet.  Maybe I am a fool but I have some hope in this book after seeing that.

[Txur’Itan]

Oh my!

[Lisa]

Txantsan! 

I searched Amazon for "The Making of Avatar" and saw this, which may be a book version of the Cinefex article.    And it's got a different cover and release date (October 1) than the Avatar Program announcement.   Does anybody know if this is the same book?



Ah, given the image at the top of this page, I guess it is the same book. 

[Eltusiyu]

Txantsana Fmawn

Oe seiyi irayo ngar

[Le'eylan]

TEWTI!!

OE NEW OE NEW OE NEW!

[Payoang]

Awesome! And the books up for pre-ordering. *buys*

[Toruk Makto]

Maybe a new link in the LN shameless commerce section is needed?

[Nyx]

Great! I need to get my hands on this ^^

[Txonä Unil Stä'nìyu Rolyusì]

Is this also available on E-Bay? I have only seen it on Amazon.

-Txonä Rolyu

[Lisa]

Woohoo!  Just got my email notification from Amazon that this has shipped.     

[Toruk Makto]

If you feel up to giving us a short review, we would irayo si ngaru!

[Lisa]

If you feel up to giving us a short review, we would irayo si ngaru!

Will do!   

[Lisa]

When I got home from work last night, my book was there!  That was fast.   

I haven't had a lot of time to really go through it yet, but here are some first impressions:

The Making of Avatar, by Jody Duncan and Lisa Fitzpatrick

Jody Duncan is the author of the extensive Cinefix article, "The Seduction of Reality".   Lisa Fitzpatrick is the author of The Art of Avatar.

Making is very large and heavy; a really substantial book.  It's about the same size as Art, but a lot thicker.  Definately a "coffee-table" book; it's really well done and gorgeous.

Making seems to be based on a partial combination of Art and Cinefex but takes the story much further than either one alone. It has the basic look and feel of the Cinefex article with the photographs and narrative, but contains significantly more of both.  Interestingly, there are some photos in Cinefex which do not appear in Making, but many of the photos are the same.   It has many of  the drawings in Art, but is not a duplication of it in any way as the drawings which also appear in Art tend to be smaller (in Making), and Art contains some really beautiful fold-out pages that Making does not have. Art (IMO) is still a better book for the actual art.   The emphasis in Making is definitely on the photos, a large number of them "real life" (stage/actors/cameras, etc.) and there are a lot of rendered images, many of them gorgeous full two-page spreads.    So from a style perspective, maybe 2/3 Cinefex, 1/3 Art, with a mega-dose of steroids.   

Many photos have the rendered Na'vi scene with an live-action inset showing the actors during the same frame.   Some also have the partial rendering.

Spoiler

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Spoiler

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There are hundreds and hundreds of photos... from every aspect of the film, design, sets, props, you name it, it's probably here.  Very extensive. 

Spoiler

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Sadly, almost no Na'vi language ... the chapters have Na'vi titles and there is about a half page where the Na'vi language is covered.    Some quotes from Dr. Frommer, but nothing new.   (p133)  That's all I could really find.

The chapter names are as follows:

One    Sngä'ikrr: beginning
Two    Äie: vision
Three Tìspse'e: capture
Four   Kem: action
Five   Untiltìrantokx: avatar

That's about it as far as actual Na'vi goes.  A bit disappointing, but then it's not a language book, after all. 

Neytiri's ikran is called "Tse'zey" ... I don't know if this is a mistake but I always thought her name was Seze?

I've always wondered how they filmed Jake's legs (particularly the scene when he's wheeling himself down the corridor in the shack); obviously they aren't really his legs but they look so real.  There's a page with pictures that show how they did that.   The legs themselves "were molded from the legs of a paralyzed man whose height matched Worthington's .  This ensured medical accuracy regarding muscle atrophy due to long-term paralysis"

Spoiler

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I haven't sat down and read any of the text yet, just scanned it briefly, but it looks very detailed and interesting.  And extensive.  No index, though.

One thing that really shines from the pages is James Cameron's incredible attention to detail.  Absolutely everywhere.   

All in all, an excellent book and I highly recommend it.  I think between this book and Art, the story is well covered.

[Plumps]

Interesting. I wondered about the legs as well...

Thanks for the review, ma Tirea Irkan!

BTW (and maybe a bit OT) does anybody know if Frommer is listed in the credits of the movie? Last time I wanted to check, I couldn't find him...

[Carborundum]

Interesting. I wondered about the legs as well...

Thanks for the review, ma Tirea Irkan!

BTW (and maybe a bit OT) does anybody know if Frommer is listed in the credits of the movie? Last time I wanted to check, I couldn't find him...

Yep, he's credited as: Na'vi Language Created by Paul Frommer, Ph.D.

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

Sadly, almost no Na'vi language ... the chapters have Na'vi titles and there is about a half page where the Na'vi language is covered.    Some quotes from Dr. Frommer, but nothing new.   (p133)  That's all I could really find.

The chapter names are as follows:

One    Sngä'ikrr: beginning
Two    Äie: vision
Three Tìspse'e: capture
Four   Kem: action
Five   Untiltìrantokx: avatar

That's about it as far as actual Na'vi goes.  A bit disappointing, but then it's not a language book, after all. 

Mine came while I was out of town last week, so the first opportunity to look at it was last evening. One of the first things I noticed was that the Na`vi name for chapter 3 is spelled wrong. It should ne Tìspe`e. not Tìspse`e. I am hoping as I read it that there is at least a mention of the Na`vi language in the book. Otherwise, the 'odd' chapter names will mean little to most readers.

What I really liked about the book, as much as I have been able to look at it, is the thorough treatment of the technical end of the production. Working in a related field- television- much of the information is very relevant to what I do as a living. Give it ten years, and a lot of the technology you see on a movie set will end up in a television studio.

In any case, I am looking forward to having some quality time to actually read and enjoy the book.

[archaic]

'Na'vi Language Created by  PAUL FROMER, Ph.D.' appears at the bottom of the screen at 2:30:41, leaves top of screen at 2:30:50 on the DVD.
He's between .....
    Chief Technology Officer  TIM BICIO
and
                  Dialect Coach  CARLA MEYER

[Kemaweyan]

Yeah, I saw it

[Tsu'tey]

wow very intressting Book I will buy as soon as possible