James Cameron's Reddit AMA: Highlights for Filmmakers

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James Cameron is a household name, whether you're a fan or not, you've seen his films. Cameron made his mark with The Terminator (1984), following with the classic horror/sci-fi film,  Aliens (1986) - a personal favourite of mine. This is just the beginning of his career, what we attribute to him now is the development of 3D Technology for his epic, Avatar (2009). He was one of the co-developers of what Hollywood uses now for its 3D flicks. 

And of course, there's Titanic (1997). Not only is he the director of the two biggest films of all time, he is also a deep-sea explorer, producer, editor and environmentalist. 

Yesterday he did a Reddit - Ask Me Anything, one of the best public forums on the internet! Here are some highlights from the acclaimed filmmaker that I feel contain some great advice for aspiring creative types. 

Check out the full AMA here.

 On Creativity and Filmmaking:
seismicor 
Mr. Cameron, what do you like about filmmaking the most?
jamescameronama
I personally love the close work with the actors when we're trying to break a scene, when we're trying to figure out the heart of a scene. I may have written it a year earlier, but the real creative work is that day, when you're going to shoot that scene. I love that we find that magic that was not obvious on the page.

JpDeathBlade 
What do you like to do to help get your creative juices flowing?
jamescameronama
Well, I'll work out or do yoga. Sometimes I'll read or watch something that is in the same area code to the project I'm working on. If I'm in the midst of a project, I'll go back and read what I wrote the day before. I also have an extensive file of images- photographs and art- that I like to consult.

liamquane 
Hi Mr. Cameron I love your work you're an inspiration. can I ask: what has been your favorite film this year?
jamescameronama
This year, 2014, I haven't seen that much that inspired me yet. My favorite film of last year, hands down, was Gravity, and I was hoping it would win best picture, but certainly happy that my friend Alfonso Cuaron won best director. I did think that this new Captain America was an interesting film for its genre, in that it tackled this idea of digital surveillance and the kind of dark side of our hyperconnected society.

ChurchOfJamesCameron 
I have many questions, but one that stands out the most is: Why the shift from Battle Angel to producing more Avatar films? Is it the overwhelming success Avatar generated or the drive to develop the world Avatar exists in more? How much more do we not know about their world/universe?
jamescameronama
My intention when I made Avatar was to do Battle Angel next. However, the positive feedback for Avatar and the support of the message of Avatar, encouraged me to do more of those films.
For me, the success was a factor because I was encouraged by the fact that an environmental film, or a film about nature, could be successful. It's certainly not just about money. I'm considering success to mean the measure of the ability of the film to communicate. Every director wants their film to communicate. The biggest factor, however, is the drive to continue developing the world-- more characters, more creatures with unfettered creativity.

NicolasCageHairClub 
You have made some of the most successful and best films of the last 30 years, or ever for that matter. Where do you want to see the feature film industry go? That could include, but is not limited to, the stories being told, digital vs film, 24 vs 48 fps, reboots, IMAX, you name it. Thanks for,the AMA!
jamescameronama
48 fps to me is not a format, it's a tool, like music it's good to use sparingly and in the right spot. I believe all movies should be made in 3D, forever, but the projection needs to be better, and brighter. I want people to see in the movie theaters what I am seeing in my perfectly calibrated screening room, and people aren't seeing that. Larger formats. I'd love to see screens get bigger. In terms of storytelling, I'd like to see Hollywood embrace the caliber of writing in feature films that we're currently seeing in the series on television - more emphasis on character, and less on explosions and pyrotechnics. And I'm talking the big tentpole movies, I think they're obnoxiously loud and fast.

Snoochie_Noochie
Being the director of a long list of award winning films, what is it that motivates/inspires you every day when you're on set?
Also, any good book recommendations?
jamescameronama
I think that what inspires me when I'm on set is working with people I enjoy working with, whether it's the actors, or the visual artists, or even the engineers and technical people, I enjoy the feeling of a group solving problems together and feeling a sense of accomplishment together. That's why to me the expeditions aren't that different from the feature film projects.
I just read a number of good books on similar subjects. One is called Just Food, and it looks at a lot of the myths around food and sustainability. Another is called the Sixth Extinction, which looks at the one we're in right now. There have been five major extinctions in paleo-history, and we're in the middle of the one we're causing. The book I would recommend to everybody is The China Study, which shows definitively that we can not only survive but thrive without meat or dairy, which I see as the key to solving the climate crisis.

 On the Future of Filmmaking:
Spudly2319
Hello James! I just had a quick question for you- what do you feel is going to be the next innovation in film? Do you have any thoughts on the Oculus Rift and it's use in film making? Thanks!
jamescameronamaI personally would be very interested to find a way to incorporate VR and a narrative filmmaking experience. So a narrative directed experience that has individuated pathways where you have choices that you make in real-time, I think that would be a lot of fun. I think it would be very technically daunting and expensive, to do it as the same quality level as a typical feature, but it would be fun to experiment with. It sounds like a lot of fun. I don't think it would take over the feature film market though. I'm very familiar with VR, but I haven't seen the specific Oculus Rift device. I'm interested in it, I'm meant to see it sometime in the next month or so, but I've been familiar with VR since its inception. In fact, virtual reality is a way of describing the way we work on Avatar, we work in a virtual workspace all day long. We use a "virtual camera" which is how I create all the shots that are CG in the film, a window into a virtual reality that completely surrounds me.

On Working With Actors:
sleeptrouble
What is your response when an actor like Sir Ian McKellen says, “this is not why I became an actor” in reaction to acting in front of a green screen without any other actors?
jamescameronama
Well, different actors have a different tolerance for green screen work. usually theater trained actors have the confidence to work alone, or work in the absence of props and scenery and so on, because they are used to sort of black box theater and/or one person shows, and they know that part of an actor's power and the magic is their ability to create when nothing's there. Other actors simply just don't like it. So it's always good, if you're making a green screen heavy film, to talk to the actors before you cast them about that issue. Because you don't want to have to be buying someone's talent, certainly actors are well-paid, but you also want them to want to be doing that.

And just for fun: 
ContinuumGuy 
Mr. Cameron: A Na'vi, the Alien Queen and the T-800 Terminator get in a fight. Who wins?
jamescameronama
Is the T-800 armed or not armed?
An Armed T-800 with a plasma rifle will clean house, all it has to do is shoot the Alien Queen, and have it bleed on the Na'vi. I would think that all three of them unarmed. Queen beats Na'vi. Queen beats T-800, because the T-800 would tear the arm off a queen, which would dissolve the mantel and shut down the cyborg.
Now a Na'vi riding a leonopteryx, or a Na'vi riding a thanataur, that would be a different story.

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