Much has been said about the stunning technical wizardry on display in Avatar: The Way of Water, and it’s hard to argue against director James Cameron’s decision to wait more than a decade for proper filmmaking technology to arrive before starting work on his semi-aquatic film. sequel.
In an exclusive interview with TechRadar, Daniel Barrett, Senior Supervisor Animator at Wētā FX, explained the method behind the magic of performance visuals raising the bar for The Way of Water, and we asked the veteran animator how he and his team pulled off a specific shot — one that sent the internet into ecstasy. after being included in the first trailer for the film. Check it out in the tweet below.
This is crazy CGI… pic.twitter.com/tbafxgyhUxMay 10, 2022
“It’s almost human,” reads one of the comments below the post. Another reads: “It could just be a guy painted blue.” Best answer ever: “Pretty sure it’s not CGI. Cameron actually went to Pandora to shoot that movie.”
For context, the shot in question shows Sam Worthington’s Jake Sully tugging on a wingsuit, a sea-dwelling version of the Metkayina clan from Omaticaya-scarred mountain falls. But how much, if any, do we see in the two-second clip, and how much is it computer generated? Fortunately, Barrett has the answers.
“We practically shot,” he explains. At the time, there was talk about whether that shot would be the case [used for] reference, or whether it will be in the movie. It looked really good, well done – but only the hand was practical. So we had the challenge of attaching that hand, mid-arm, to the arm of CG, which was connected to the body of CG, who was sitting on the CG skimwing. And then we had some process water as well which then had to be plugged into the CG water. So it’s a combination. hand and surrounding water [the shot] is practical. The rest is digital.”
CG water? No wonder Cameron’s sequel passed $2 billion just to break even.
A different kind of challenge
Warning: Major spoilers for Avatar: The Way of Water follow
For Wētā FX — the New Zealand visual effects company founded by The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson in 1993 — Avatar: The Way of Water presents the biggest challenge. Animators like Barrett had to draw on all of their expertise to clear the impossibly high bar set by Cameron, whose extensive use of underwater performance capture techniques presented entirely new VFX obstacles.
Were there any particular scenes that sparked fear of Turok in Barrett and his team? “Technically, there were certain water shots that worried me,” he tells us. “A lot of the boat shots were a concern, just because we knew we were in a parallel workflow with effects Tim. You can do your job, and you hope the water surface stays the same, you hope the wave phase stays the same as it was when you started the animation. But you also know that Needs simulation, and that water simulation now affects the circumference of the boat.You could end up in a little loop.So a lot of boat shots [were challenging]. “
“There were also some huge scenes,” Barrett continues. “Tulkon coming back to the village — there was a lot of awful action in those shots. But for me personally, one of the hardest sequences to work on — and I don’t want to get too choppy — was [Neteyam’s] Death on the rock. I found that really difficult. At the time I saw it in the cinema, I was more or less immune to it. But watching the first 20 times was very difficult.
“The performance is very strong. Take Zoe [Saldaña] as an example. It’s not just the raw vibes you see at first. Later, when Jake pleads with her to do what is required of the other children, she sees that her resolve has arrived. Sadness never leaves, but determination does come, and it’s very subtle.
“So for me [as an animator]It’s gratifying to get to the point where you feel like you’ve found everything you did. Those more subtle shots are really the most satisfying moments.”
Avatar: The Way of Water is now playing in theaters around the world.