How they shot it
Every time james cameron makes a movie. It is often the most expensive and most ambitious production to date. And if the current filmmaking technology doesn't match his vision he creates his own technology. When he made avatar it was a quantum leap forward it performance capture photography and now with avatar to he's done it once again. This is how they shot it. Subscribe and click the bell to join the studio by have family in this series we've covered movies like titanic.
The first was a virtual system used for motion capture scenes. Basic motion capture technology works like this. Actors wetsuit with markers that reflect infrared light back to stationary cameras this provide data points that animators can use to create a digital character. For avatar this was done on a moped upstage cold the volume. While d reference cameras provided animators with detail coverage to complete the physical performance reported or hundred and twenty stationary cameras captured the actors positions and movements.
All of this for standard procedure for motion capture. But cameron added to g innovations that pushed this process to the next level. First each actor war a small camera rig to the helmet whose sole purpose was to capture the facial performances. This is my camera prefers the term performance capture and not simply motion capture. Previous films tried to animate faces without these cameras but for cameron the results was unsatisfactory. The helmet cam gave the animators the solid foundation they need it to render the emotional spectrum he wanted I dread. You just weeks.
A second a virtual camera could render the actors as their eventual cg characters and their environments in real time they dub this the swing camera for it's ability to shoot in any direction as camera and explains the virtual camera allows me to direct computer generated seems as I go. Would live action scenes. I can see my actors performing as their characters in real time and I could move my camera to adjust to their performances. But actors weren't the only elements recorded the volume. Models of the vehicles with the same infrared markers attached could be manually flown to map out the arrow choreography. The volume also played a key role in the production design while the sets were being built for the upcoming live action part of the production cameron could use the virtual camera to reverse the scenes in a virtual set.
In this process changes discovered on the virtual set could be applied to the actual said they would shoot on later. The final toss using the virtual camera was done months after the initial performance capture. With the actors work done cameron worked alone in the volume to choose the final shots of those performances. Including the closeups but showcase the human emotions in cg carriages he was after from the beginning.
These shots eventually went to wet a digital for the final renders. Once the performance capture was complete the crew packed up and headed to new zealand to shoot all the live action footage with the fusion three the camera. The fusion camera rig had to sony f nine fifty cameras to shoot native three d. One was mounted horizontally and the other was mounted vertically shooting through a beam splitter. This meant that one cameras shot left eye footage and the other shop footage for the right i.
Previous three the cameras are locked in a break but the fusion rate can articulate each camera to mimic how the human eye adjusts to perceive depth and focus. This creates a more natural three the effect that matches or own vision. The fusion camera was also used for shots that combine both cg I and live action elements. This was call for simulcasts system. Reflected markers were placed on the fusion camera rig so that it could be registered by the motion capture system. Through the camera monitor live action elements could be composed and tied with previously captured cg performances.
Today we know this as augmented reality. What the simon can provide is more control and flexibility when compositing live action with cg i. The more traditional process shoots actors against a green screen first then the animators are forced to match they work to the actor which offered creates compromises. The simulcasts system reduces those potential compromises by giving the actors and filmmakers more accurate reference points. They could adjust the framing. Or match the timing of both live action and cg performances. The end product then is a more seamlessly integrated shot. Avatar went on to become the highest grossing movie of all time. Apparently all the hard work really paid off look at all that chatter but when it came time to head back to pandora for the sequel these revolutionary techniques evolved even further.
Avatar saw leap forward and technology of filmmaking. And thirty years later cameron and his team did it again for the sequel. Following the first film the sequel would be shot in three d but what about shooting three d under water.
The camera options of the time a large and difficult to operate. They were also subject to distortions and artifacts because they had to shoot through ports on the housing. But then camera discovered dp and inventor power or tell who had developed a next jan three be underwater camera never before used in a feature film. The deep x three d is similar to cameron's fusion three d system using two cameras and a beam split up.
For lenses off tell use like a nose submersible lenses meaning they can work outside the housing for supreme clarity. Besides the three d camera the entire performance capture process was also made to work under water which naturally gave rise to a brand new set of challenges for one the performance capture stage was now set up inside tank with nine hundred thousand gallons of water.
What the scale and demands placed on the actors for avatar to were unprecedented they could have shot the scenes drive for wet which they did for the original avatar this involves suspending the actors from wires and having them swim through the air but cameron be a cameron it was the or. Sent to city a being under water that would yield the most accurate references for the animators. One problem they encountered involved how light interacted with water these reflections created false markers that disrupted the performance capture cameras.
To counteract this they covered the water's surface with white plastic bowls to eliminate the reflections but still let like through. Perhaps the biggest challenge for the actors was holding their breath. As cameron explains using scuba gear simply could not work scuba bubbles would create too much noise and our performance capture system so no matter how long the seem to up if you took two three four minutes to shoot everybody was holding their breath. The cause trained with professional divulge to be able to act under water for minutes at a time. Sigourney weaver was able to work under water for over six minutes and kate winslet broke tom cruise is record for the longest breath old for a film with a staggering seven minutes and fourteen seconds.
With these two films cameron and his team created something out of this world. Who knows what they'll come up with for avatar three. All of this effort to make these films is solely driven by cameron's quest to infuse cg characters with human emotions the biggest complaint about city I is that no matter how real it looks it still feels unnatural. The filmmakers like cameron push what's possible with these technologies that bridge between natural and unnatural get shorter and shorter. Whether your next project is set on pandora or this planet you need to be prepared. Light schedule and shortlist like a pro with studio binder. Until next time no need to hold your breath until our next video we'll see you next week. Senior senior.
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