Transcript James Cameron - Gertz

James Cameron
Early Life
• James Francis Cameron was born August
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16, 1954 in Kapuskasing, Ontario,
Canada.
Later moved to the United States in
1971.
Is an Director, producer, screenwriter,
editor, cinematographer and art
director.
Son of an engineer.
Majored in physics at California State
University, however, after he graduated,
he drove a truck to support his
screenwriting ambition.
His start in the movie business
• His first film he ever directed is
Xenogenesis, a short film made in 1978.
• Though, he landed his first professional job
as an art director on Roger Corman's Battle
Beyond the Stars in 1980.
He also debuted as a director with Piranha
Part Two: The Spawning (1981) in the
following year.
Xenogenesis full movie, Battle Beyond the
Stars trailer, Piranha 2 scene.
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Success: Terminator
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In 1984 he wrote and directed
Terminator (1984) starring Arnold
Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn,
and Linda Hamilton.
The film was a huge success,
grossing over $38,371,200 dollars
at the box office.
Because of this it lead a string of
successful science-fiction action
films such as Aliens (1986), The
Abyss (1989), and Terminator 2:
Judgment Day (1991)
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Terminator 2
Made in 1991
Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda
Hamilton and Edward Furlong
The cyborg who once tried to kill
Sarah Connor is dead, and another
T-101 must now protect her
teenage son, John Connor, from an
even more powerful and advanced
Terminator, the T-1000.
The sequel is an improvement from
the first film in every aspect with
better acting and special effects.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day Trailer
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Aliens
Made in 1986.
Starring: Sigourney Weaver,
Michael Biehn and Carrie
Henn.
About a woman named Ellen
Ripley who is enlisted by "The
Company" to aid a rescue
team to find survivors of the
colony on LV-426 after the
colony lost contact.
Earned $10,052,042 dollars in
the Box office.
Aliens Trailer
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The Abyss
Made in 1989.
Starring: Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth
Mastrantonio, and Michael Biehn.
A civilian diving team are enlisted
to search for a lost nuclear
submarine and face danger while
encountering an aquatic species.
Because of the film, Cameron has a
fascination and affinity of deep sea
life adventure as demonstrated by
3 documentaries he soon :
Expedition: Bismarck, Ghosts of
the Abyss, and Aliens of the Deep.
The Abyss Trailer
Titanic
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Made in 1997
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet and
Billy Zane.
A boy and a girl from different social
backgrounds meet during the ill-fated
maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic.
The movie broke all box office records and
earned 11 Academy Awards as well as
became the highest grossing movie of all
time with $28,638,131 dollars not including
Worldwide box offices with $2,185,372,302
dollars (and counting) as of June 2012.
Thanks to the film, James Cameron is one
of the most sought after directors in
Hollywood.
Titanic Trailer
Avatar
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Made in 2009
Not to confused with Avatar: The Last
Airbender.
Plot: A paraplegic Marine dispatched to the
moon Pandora on a unique mission becomes
torn between following his orders and
protecting the world he feels it is his home.
Stars: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana and
Sigourney Weaver
There is some criticism of the film that the
plot is simplistic as in "nature vs. the (allAmerican) Corporation representing
destructive technology." Despite the
criticisms, the film did well enough in the
box office to warrant two sequels.
Avatar Trailer
Coming soon to a theater near you.
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As of October 2012, James Cameron had
announced five films, one of which are in preproduction and the other in post-production.
(Based on IMDb website)
The announced are Avatar 2 & 3 and The
Informationist.
One of the films in pre-Production is Battle
Angel adapted on a japanese animation of the
same name in 1993 which is also adapted from
the manga Battle Angel Alita
The other in post-production is an Untitled
James Cameron/3D Diving Documentary.
Major Talent
James Cameron
Frequently use
Michael Biehn,
Jenette Goldstein,
Lance Henriksen,
Bill Paxton, and
Arnold
Schwarzenegger
Style/Vision/Significance/Trade
Mark
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Strong Female Leads.
Nature scenes filmed in deep blue filter.
Plots or events involving nuclear explosions.
Close-up shots on vehicles, especially during chase
scenes. And of feet or wheels.
Zoom in shots during fight scenes, achieving a
claustrophobic effect.
Video monitor as a point of view in sequences.
Extreme long shot of large explosions, crashes,
gunshots etc. People running away in the background.
Water or the ocean as a central theme.
Use of machines as an important plot.
Mostly Science Fiction and Action genres.
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Trivia
His production company is Lightstorm
entertainment.
One of the founders of visual effects company
Digital Domain
Wrote a screenplay for Spider-Man (2002) but was
turned down by studios claiming that his version of
Spider-Man was "too violent".
He is a huge Japanese anime fan.
Members of the American Cinema Editors (ACE).
He is left-handed.
After seeing Star Wars (1977), Cameron quit his job
as a truck driver to enter the film industry.
The nickname "Iron Jim" came from him being very
tough and demanding.
Cameron reached the bottom of Mariana Trench
(the deepest known point o earth) on March 25,
2012, the first person to do so in a one-man craft
as a research project by Acheron Project Pty Ltd.
Awards
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2007 - Ranked #3 on EW's
The 50 Smartest People in
Hollywood.
Merited a place in Time
magazine's - The 100 Most
Influential People in the
World ("Artists" category)
Won 3 Oscars. Another 47
wins & 37 nominations.
An Oscar for Best Director,
Best film Editing, and Best
Picture for Titanic.
Quotes
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"People call me a perfectionist, but I'm
not. I'm a rightist. I do something until
it's right, and then I move on to the next
thing."
"...you can read all the books about
filmmaking, all the articles in American
Cinematographer and that sort of thing,
but you have to really see how it works
on a day-to-day basis, and how to pace
your energy so that you can survive the
film, which was a lesson that took me a
long time to learn."
"Curiosity - it's the most powerful thing
you own. Imagination is a force that can
actually manifest a reality."
Current Life
• He is currently living with his spouse
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Suzy Amis (June 4, 2000 - Present) 3
children
Had 5 Spouses, 4 of which, are divorced
and one of them with one child.