http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118043598?categoryid=3996&cs=1&cmpid=RSS
On “Avatar,” the vfx team at Weta couldn’t directly import the “template” footage that came from the virtual shoot. Instead, they’d have to re-create the digital scenes and characters from scratch. On the sequels, Weta will be able to bring that template in as a low-res version of the scene and start working on upgrading the image without having to start over.
Cameron’s next crusade is for higher frame rates — something for which he’s been advocating almost as long as for 3D — but there’s been a question about what the director favors: 48 frames per second (twice the current movie standard) or 60 fps (twice the current TV standard). Peter Jackson is shooting “The Hobbit” at 48.
Cameron said the cost for the higher frame rates is still unknown, mostly because it means rendering many more digital images, but added, “Frankly, I think it can get down to around 10% of the rendering cost, and the rendering cost is typically 10% of the effects cost of a movie, so we’re talking down about 1% (of the vfx cost) if we do it right.”
“I am now leaning toward 60 frames mostly because of broadcast,” he said. “Broadcast is already at 60. We can’t tell people going to the movie theater that you’re going to see less. Now that we have surfaced this idea of frame rates into the public consciousness and into the discourse, we can’t tell people they are seeing less in a movie theater than they are seeing in their home. And they’re seeing 60 right now in their home. Sports broadcasts are 60i (interlaced) moving to 60p (progressive) in the next year. We can’t appear to be noncompetitive.”