James Cameron inspires Chinese film students

Director James Cameron's appearance at the Beijing Film Academy on Monday was frenzied.

Hundreds of students camped out in the college's screening room, to welcome the director with applause and occasional screaming. James Cameron, however, was unfazed by the dramatic reaction, and told his fans, or in his words, future film makers, not to idolize him.

"Don't idolize me," said the 58-year-old film master, who directed the epic romance Titanic and sci-fi hit Avatar. "To become excellent film makers, you need to shoot life itself. Find your own voice, that's the most important thing there is. Once you've done that, you don't need to idolize anyone."

Avatar and Titanic are the highest-grossing films of all time at 2.03 billion U.S.dollars and 2.78 billion dollars respectively.

The Canadian director, known for his use of modern technology to create shocking visual effects, however, is not a technocrat.

He maintains that the development of film actually is a process of technological development. In the meantime, however, it needs to be integrated with human creativity and imagination, he said.

He encourages the students to combine "technology" with the "story" during a film shoot. "The technology and the story aren't contradictory. After you have learned about technology, you must remember that films are about human stories. You need to communicate these to the audience with your heart," he said.

He said that discovering a good story is a common problem confronting both Chinese film makers and their American counterparts.

Cameron came to China for the ongoing 2nd Beijing International Film Festival, and hopes to establish more cooperative partnerships with Chinese filmmakers, adding that some projects have been recommended to him and he is interested.

He also revealed that he is scouting locations with "Chinese characteristics" for a potential sequel to Avatar.

As regards China's increased quota of imported American blockbusters earlier this year, James Cameron expressed his joy at the increased openness of China's film market.

He said the move will promote mutual cooperation and communication in the film industry, and will benefit Chinese film producers in the long term. ' "When I came to China in 2010, there were 600 screens showing films," he said. "Now, however, Titanic 3D has been projected onto 2,800 screens.China has a huge film market and huge hope in the film industry."

His "Titanic 3D" marks the first time that a China box office has surpassed the United States for the same film. It grossed an unprecedented 67 million U.S. dollars in China in six days, from its April 10 debut. The film's 10-day box office in North America, in comparison, amounted to just 36 million U.S. dollars.

Even 20th Century Fox President Rupert Murdoch felt compelled to comment on the film's China success on Twitter.

Increasing numbers of film producers want a share of the Chinese market, Cameron announced. But he added that the dramatic increase in the number of screens still can't catch up with demand.

In 2011, China's film market generated around 2 billion U.S. dollars, and is expected by some to overtake Japan, which had a 2.3 billion U.S. dollars movie market last year, according to the Motion Picture Association of America.

On Monday's meeting with Beijing Film Academy students, James Cameron was conferred as the visiting professor of the college, and the homework he left for the students was "to watch the Titanic 3D."