James Cameron hasn't been seen since the Titanic sank, but work is well underway on his next project; and adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Over the last few years, Cameron's been embroiled in developing the technology to create photo realistic "syn-thespians" on the cinema screen. While a lot of progress has been made with characters like Gollum and King Kong - and possibly even in Beowulf, although Avatar is looking to blend live action, unlike the animated mythological tale - the clamis Cameron is making have yet to be fully experienced.

Speaking at the Microsoft Advance '08 conference, he had this to say about the film's development. "Avatar will make people truly experience something. One more layer of the suspension of disbelief will be removed. All the syn-thespians are photo-realistic. Now that we've achieved it, we discovered CG characters in 3D look more real than in 2D. Your brain is cued – it's a real thing not a picture – and discounting part of the image that makes it look fake"

He even dared to admit that so much of his time has been spent on perfecting the CGI techniques, he's not had the chance to consider the movie's potential success on more established levels; such as plot and character.

"Avatar is the single most complex piece of film-making ever made," said Cameron. "We have 1,600 shots for a 2.5 hour movie. It's not with a single CGI character, like King Kong or Gollum. We have hundreds of photo-realistic CG characters. I don't know whether this will be a great film from a narrative and critical standpoint. The experience of Avatar will be an experience unlike any other movies"

Of course, Cameron fans out there will also be aware of his next rumoured project after Avatar - a big screen adaptation of the hit manga series, Battle Angel Alita. The director has previously stated that he intends to make Alita a CGI character, so any progress forged during the Avatar - whether it's a success or not - will hopefully all build toward a better realisation of Alita.

Exciting times ahead in the Cameron ranks. 

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