Cameron to bring 3-D HD feature to screens by 2008

Nine years after his blockbuster hit Titanic, Canadian-born director James Cameron finally has a date for the release of his next feature.

Avatar is scheduled to bein cinemas by summer 2008.

The film, to be made with 20th Century Fox, will be based on Cameron's script,which centres on a love story between a female alien and a human-alien hybrid, set against the backdrop of racial discord.

Avatar will take advantage of a new digitalhigh-definition 3-D camera technology he has been developing for six years with the help of cinematographer Vince Pace.

Cameron says he plans to use performance capture techniques to create a film that breaks new ground visually.

It won't be mere motion capture, but will capture all of the actor's performance, he said.

"With performance capture, you're capturing exactly what the actor does and translating it to the[computer-generated] character without the interpretation of animators," he said in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter.

He has begun casting for the feature, and says he is considering "everybody."

Cameron said he wants mainly unknown actors for the film, although there may be some bigger stars involved.

"It's more of a thrill to find people who are just about ready to break and recognizing what they have and then moving them to the next level," he said.

Nature films

Cameron won an Oscar for Titanic, and has spent the time since working on high-definition 3-D projects, including several nature films.

The camera rigs he developed with Pace are being used on Eric Brevig's Journey 3-D, which is being shot inVancouver, and an Imax feature Ocean Frenzy, being shot in South Africa.

Avatar will be Cameron's first feature-length test ofhis own technology.

He said he's had the idea for the Avatar project since he wrapped Titanic, but it's taken this long to develop the necessary technology.

"Believe it or not, the shooting is a very small part of it," he said.

"It's a very, very big project where the shooting is like a month and a half not really very much. There's just so much CG [computer-generated], and the visual effects are a huge component."