ABU DHABI // Good storytelling remains the most important aspect of entertainment, even as hi-tech 3D filmmaking takes centre stage, says the director James Cameron.
At a masterclass with an audience of Emirati students and global media executives, Cameron yesterday revealed some secrets behind shooting 3D films such as Avatar, his latest release.
But he said technology should never get in the way of a good story.
"It still begins and ends with storytelling. If you're not telling a great story ... then you're going to fail, no matter how much the technology changes," Mr Cameron said.
The director was speaking on the final day of the Abu Dhabi Media Summit, which was hosted by Abu Dhabi Media, the owner and publisher of The National.
Cameron directed the two highest-grossing films of all time: Avatar, which had worldwide box office takings of US$2.8 billion (Dh10.2bn), and Titanic, which grossed $1.8bn.
Just as shooting films in colour is now commonplace, creating 3D entertainment will one day be as popular, he said.
"We went from silent films to sound films ... we went from black and white to colour," said Mr Cameron. "And now we're making the transition to 3D."
Cameron and a fellow director, Carlos Saldanha, who was director of the popular Ice Age series of films, gave the audience an insight into ways moviemakers should use 3D techniques.
Mr Cameron said the "same basic rules" applied to 3D and 2D filmmaking.
"The trick is to not change how you do cinema for 3D, in the same way that you don't change how you do cinema moving from black and white to colour," he said.
Overuse of 3D effects could diminish the experience, he added.
"You don't want to rip the audience's eyes out of their heads by showing them stuff that is poorly photographed in 3D, or you're going to work against the effect you've created," said Mr Cameron.
"I try to use 3D in a fairly unobtrusive way. [Otherwise] you're just reminding people that they're sitting in a movie theatre with glasses on having a 3D experience."
Mr Saldanha said 3D should not "feel gimmicky". He also outlined some of the visual references he used to create characters for his upcoming computer-animated film Rio.
Nicolas Forzy, a writer and producer based in the UAE, agreed that 3D should not overshadow the plot.
"3D is a tool - it will never replace a good story, it will never save a bad story," he said. "When used right, it can enhance your story ... you've got to use it carefully."
Forzy also agreed that 3D would soon become the norm in entertainment. But he said the "last hurdle" in this was eliminating the need for audiences to wear special glasses.
Forzy recently co-directed a short 3D film for Abu Dhabi Police, which he said was the "first 3D stereoscopic production in Abu Dhabi". The public service film was made to promote safe driving.
"I want to push 3D very much," Forzy said. "The UAE is in a great situation where, because they are not tied down to processes or ways to film and produce, they can leapfrog straight to the cutting edge."
bflanagan@thenational.ae
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Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Men from Barca's class of 99
Crystal Palace - Frank de Boer
Everton - Ronald Koeman
Manchester City - Pep Guardiola
Manchester United - Jose Mourinho
Southampton - Mauricio Pellegrino
