CGI is the secret sauce behind so many of your favorite movies and TV shows. And without the special effects, they're kind of hard to recognize.
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00:00CGI is the secret sauce behind so many of your favorite movies and TV shows, and without
00:05the special effects, they're kind of hard to recognize.
00:09From apocalyptic landscapes to Walton Goggins' schnozzle, Amazon's Fallout series boasts
00:14some serious CGI magic.
00:16But the line between practical and visual effects might be finer than you'd think.
00:21The first season of Amazon Prime Video's Fallout adaptation follows several heroes and villains
00:25who are still working to understand their strange world.
00:28Walton Goggins' movie star character, Cooper Howard, slowly comes to realize that corporate
00:32America is making up an apocalypse to sell back to itself, while Brotherhood of Steel's
00:36squire, Maximus, quickly learns that the powerful men he idolized as a kid aren't all they're
00:41cracked up to be.
00:42It's vault dweller Lucy, though, who gets the biggest reality check when she leaves
00:46her underground dwelling to explore a ruthless surface world with no place for her chipper
00:50sense of entitlement.
00:57Given these themes, it seems fitting that it's just as hard to tell what's real and
01:01what's not behind the scenes of Fallout.
01:03As the show's visual effects supervisor, Jay Wirth, told FX Guide,
01:07We got the footage back after the first day, and we couldn't tell where the practical
01:11set ended and the virtual one began.
01:13Though the series shot much of its action in locations such as Utah and Namibia, much
01:18of these settings were enhanced through the use of massive, immersive LED digital sets
01:22known as volumes.
01:24First made popular by The Mandalorian, digital volumes have taken Hollywood by storm in recent
01:29years.
01:30Fallout employed LA-based company Magnopis to make the show's giant digital screens,
01:35which were built during the COVID-19 pandemic with the help of 37 Magnopis employees, as
01:39well as the show's art and visuals departments.
01:42Unlike other productions that have used these giant, dynamic 3D sets, Fallout didn't require
01:46a lot of post-production adjustments to the initial footage.
01:49Walton Goggins recently told IGN,
01:51I thought I was going to be looking at a f***ing green screen for nine months.
01:55It's not.
01:56They built it.
01:57It's all tactile.
01:58It's all tangible, man.
02:00The underground vaults in which Lucy and the other vault dwellers live also employs volumes
02:04from Magnopis, but you're actually supposed to notice these ones.
02:08Bright and vibrant shots of cornfields form the backdrop to Vault 33, which are clearly
02:12meant to evoke the feeling of a summer's day in Nebraska.
02:16They're uncanny and obvious by design, unlike the volumes that were used by the film's crew.
02:21And while the soundstages of Fallout might create impressively realistic backdrops for
02:25the show's post-apocalyptic action, one bit of CGI is slightly more noticeable.
02:29The ghoul's nose, or lack thereof.
02:32As an irradiated survivor of nuclear bombing kept in one piece by mysterious vials of liquid,
02:37Goggins' character has a dark hole in the spot where his schnoz once was.
02:41A recent featurette from Amazon Prime Video includes a quick shot of Goggins on set, which
02:46reveals that his nose was entirely digitally erased.
02:49Despite the obvious use of CGI on the ghoul, much of Goggins' look was achieved practically,
02:54with the help of a makeup team led by prosthetic department head Jake Garber.
02:58Garber was nominated for an Oscar for his work on Star Trek First Contact, and has worked
03:02on everything from The Walking Dead to The Righteous Gemstones.
03:06Jake Garber is one of the best special effects makeup artists in the world.
03:10Of course, executive producer and longtime Fallout fan Jonathan Nolan is no stranger
03:15to complex visual and practical effects after co-creating Westworld.
03:19In the Amazon Prime Video featurette, he seemed impressed with the level of versatility to
03:23Goggins' prosthetics.
03:25The makeup was thin enough that you could still see all the expressiveness of his performance.
03:31Around the time of the show's release, Goggins also posted a time-lapse of the makeup process
03:35on his Instagram.
03:36A process that originally took around five hours to complete, before Garber and his team
03:40whittled it down to about two.
03:42At one point, the makeup actually got a bit too real for Goggins' own comfort.
03:46As he told IGN, he once took a nap in front of a mirror in his trailer while shooting
03:50in Namibia, and startled himself when he awoke to see his own face.
03:55Goggins recalled,
03:56I was like, oh my God, f----- damn, I scared the s---- out of myself, is what I'm saying.
04:01Now that's what we call movie magic.
04:05Epic vistas, underwater hijinks, and a man we all really believed could fly.
04:09What does your favorite sci-fi movie look like without those iconic special effects?
04:14Directed by Stanley Kubrick and released in 1968, 2001 A Space Odyssey is still renowned
04:19to this day for its groundbreaking special effects.
04:22Open the pod bay doors, Hal.
04:25I'm sorry, Dave.
04:27I'm afraid I can't do that.
04:29The film's most iconic moments involve visually stunning depictions of space travel, from
04:33the blue Danube waltz of spacecraft in flight to the harrowing spacewalks, and, of course,
04:38the Stargate sequence.
04:39But arguably the cleverest sequence of all is the last one you might expect.
04:43The Dawn of Man depicts an evolutionary tipping point of early human ancestors.
04:47For this sequence, Kubrick employed front projection on a scale never before seen.
04:52This technique involved projecting large format photographs onto a half-silvered beam splitter
04:56mirror set in front of the camera.
04:57This reflected the images onto a giant screen set at the end of the set behind the actors.
05:02The screen was composed of retro-reflective material called scotch light, which bounces
05:05light directly back at its source.
05:07The result?
05:08The live set and the photographic backgrounds were combined on the spot, passing through
05:12the two-way mirror and into the camera lens.
05:14The technique is betrayed by the retinas of the leopard seen in two shots.
05:17Its eyes, like the scotch light screen, reflect the light from the projector.
05:21In fact, this sequence contains just one outdoor shot, the moment in which an ape throws a
05:25bone into the sky, which was filmed in a studio parking lot.
05:29Alfonso Cuarón's groundbreaking space thriller Gravity pushed the boundaries of visual effects
05:33to new heights.
05:34Released in 2013, this space odyssey took home seven Academy Awards, including one for
05:39its visual effects.
05:40Key to the movie's success were its immersive long takes and the seamless integration of
05:44CGI.
05:45Cuarón originally thought to shoot the live-action scenes using actors in spacesuits filmed against
05:49green screen.
05:50However, the limitations of that technique led the crew to devise some more innovative
05:53solutions.
05:54Namely, the spacesuits proved too bulky and awkward, so the actors' used placeholders
05:58in CGI suits were simply added in post-production.
06:01Moving actors as if in microgravity also turned out to be a difficult task, so industrial robots
06:06were used to move the camera instead.
06:08Key to selling this illusion was the use of interactive lighting, which moved around
06:11the actors as the camera itself moved.
06:13The so-called light box was a structure shaped like a cube, tiled with LED panels that displayed
06:18images around the actors.
06:19This served as both a real-time visual reference and an interactive light source, allowing
06:23the actors to react to and interact with their non-existent surroundings.
06:28Pioneering filmmaker Fritz Lang's 1927 classic Metropolis is your text for the science fiction
06:33epic.
06:34As such, it employed some truly fantastic special effects for its depiction of a fractured
06:38futuristic society.
06:40One such effect is known as the Schöpfton process, the invention of which is credited
06:43to German cinematographer Eugen Schöpfton.
06:46This early cinematic technique employed mirrors with strategically placed holes in the reflective
06:50surface.
06:51It was used to combine live-action actors with backgrounds or miniatures set perpendicular
06:55to the camera axis.
06:57This allowed the camera to capture both the reflected image and the live action, creating
07:00a seamless integration of real actors and artificial elements.
07:04Lang employed this process throughout Metropolis.
07:06The scale of such vistas effectively gives away the fact that they're made using special
07:10effects, but there are a few more intimate scenes that employ these effects on a much
07:13more subtle level.
07:15One such instance is when the Mad Rotwang stands before a giant bust of his dead love,
07:19Hell.
07:20The crew built only the neck of the bust.
07:22The head itself was a two-foot-tall model added via the Schöpfton process.
07:26Christopher Reeve's physicality does a lot to sell the illusion of Superman in flight,
07:30but his talent alone couldn't deliver on that iconic advertising promise.
07:34Many techniques were used to get Superman airborne in 1978's Superman the Movie.
07:38A see-saw raised and lowered Reeve on takeoffs and landings.
07:42Sometimes he'd grab a trapeze bar just out of camera view in order to be lifted off the
07:45ground.
07:46On the effects side, they suspended both dolls and actors on wires, and Reeve was often filmed
07:51against blue screen and matted into separately filmed backgrounds.
07:54But the primary technique for Superman in flight was Zoan Parasick's so-called Zoptics
07:59system.
08:00Zoptics was a direct descendant of the front projection process Parasick worked with on
08:032001's Space Odyssey.
08:04He made three significant updates here, however.
08:07The first was using motion picture film instead of slides for the projected backgrounds.
08:11Second was a movable rig that carried the projector, beam splitter, and camera together
08:15as a unified package.
08:16Third was the decision to equip the projector and the camera with synchronized zoom lenses.
08:21This allowed the camera to move towards and away from the actors without the background
08:24image changing size.
08:26Interestingly, a simplified variation of the beam splitter technique made the Kryptonian
08:30costumes light up.
08:31The film's designers made these robes out of scotch light, but they used a light instead
08:35of a projector to make them glow.
08:37Deservedly, Superman's effects team took home a Special Achievement Academy Award in 1979
08:41for their work on the movie.
08:43Donald Gennaro's exit from the original Jurassic Park is simultaneously terrifying, humiliating,
08:48and hilarious.
08:49Hold on to your butts.
08:51The T-Rex in Jurassic Park was depicted using a variety of techniques, including two full-scale
08:55animatronic robots.
08:57One was 37 feet long, nose to tail, while a more detailed close-up version existed only
09:02from the chest up.
09:03Of course, these robotic Rexes were dangerous pieces of heavy equipment, and there was no
09:07way the production would risk having one close its hydraulically powered jaws around a real
09:11human being.
09:12For Gennaro's demise, the Rex is a fully CGI creation.
09:16Because the windblown plants and rain would betray any cuts, the decision was made to
09:19use a wire to yank a stuntman off the toilet.
09:22The T-Rex's head, with a CGI double for Gennaro and its mouth, largely obscured the stuntman's
09:26exit.
09:27This required only a tiny bit of cleanup to make the effects seamless.
09:31Star Wars movies have always been renowned for their groundbreaking special effects,
09:35and the franchise's history is essentially the story of the evolution of effects work
09:38from the 1970s to the modern era.
09:40And of course, one of the most famous effects in Star Wars is the lightsaber.
09:44In the original film, the glowing blades of the lightsabers were achieved live.
09:48Each blade was a rotating rod covered with scotch light, and VFX artists added color
09:52and extra sizzle in post-production.
09:54The only problem?
09:55The motors made these sabers unwieldy, and the beam splitter limited their ability to
09:59move.
10:00For The Empire Strikes Back, retro-reflective material gave way to simple rods, with all
10:03the light simply added in post.
10:05In the prequel trilogy, painted narrow tubes served as blades, and in the sequel trilogy,
10:10electroluminescent material illuminated clear tubes.
10:13This provided interactive in-camera lighting, especially in dark scenes, making for much
10:17more atmospheric lightsaber duels.
10:20If you think motion capture is a new technology, think again.
10:23Early techniques such as rotoscoping helped kick off this kind of tech, but a pivotal
10:27moment in its evolution occurred in 1967, when Lee Harrison III put a dancer into an
10:32armature of tinker toys and potentiometers.
10:34This first data suit controlled a cartoon character using a human performer, and the
10:38same tech created the first mo-cap dancer.
10:40Of course, capturing coarse movement isn't necessarily enough.
10:44A mo-cap actor has to be able to project a performance through layers of digital abstraction,
10:48just as actors have to act through heavy makeup.
10:50Andy Serkis is a renowned actor and motion capture pioneer, known for his exceptional
10:54work in bringing digital characters to life.
10:57He came to the Forrest Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, demonstrating a true
11:00expertise in conveying subtle emotions and physicality using mo-cap technology.
11:04Any behind-the-scenes video of Serkis acting in his gear demonstrates how much of his performance
11:09comes through on screen.
11:10Despite how silly he might look in a mo-cap suit with dots all over his face, his three
11:14performances as Caesar in the Planet of the Apes reboot trilogy say it all.
11:18The signature special effect of the Matrix series is what the first film's script calls
11:22bullet time.
11:23While the Wachowskis certainly popularized this technique with The Matrix, they didn't
11:26actually invent it.
11:27The time-slice camera was first devised in 1980 by Tim McMillan, who produced a number
11:32of films using it.
11:33Perhaps the first commercial use of the technique, albeit in crude form, was Accept's 1985 music
11:38video Midnight Mover, in which the viewpoint spins around the band at different rates.
11:43In the 90s, TV commercials got into the act, notably the Gap Khaki Swing ad in 1998.
11:49Time-slice featured briefly in other movies of the time such as Lost in Space and Wing
11:52Commander.
11:53The time-slice's brilliance was its ability to photograph multiple viewpoints either simultaneously
11:58or sequentially at various rates.
12:00The result?
12:01The camera viewpoint moves around a scene that's either in frozen or slowed time.
12:04The Matrix pushed the effect to another level, employing up to 99 cameras to allow the viewpoint
12:09to smoothly swing around the actors involved.
12:12Early in the development of Tron, production artist Andrew Probert suggested the equivalent
12:16of bullet time for the scene in which Flynn gets digitized, with his coffee suspended
12:20in the air as the camera circles around him.
12:22This idea got no traction, sadly, but Tron is still known as the first feature film to
12:27showcase CGI in more than just a scene or two.
12:29That said, Tron actually features only about nine minutes of CGI.
12:33The rest of the computer role depicted in the movie is airbrushed artwork and animation
12:37effects.
12:38And while mocap existed in a fairly primitive form, the computers of the time weren't up
12:41to rendering the complex geometry of so many characters, let alone making them relatable.
12:46CGI was rationed for the things only it could do.
12:49The bulk of the digital world scenes were filmed with actors in white costumes with
12:52black details against either black backgrounds or on crude sets painted with white detailing.
12:57Each frame was printed to large, high-contrast Codolith animation cells with hand-rotoscoped
13:01color separation mats, all of which were shot on animation stands and composited together.
13:06The result was certainly eye-popping, but the manual work required was off the charts.
13:11Just check out how many names are featured in the end credits.
13:14The labor-intensive process and advances in technology meant Tron was a one-of-a-kind
13:18production for its time.
13:20David Lynch's Dune did not exactly mark a milestone in the history of visual effects.
13:24The movie's effects range from the impressively realistic to the truly abysmal.
13:29For example, those iconic sandworms are only convincing in a couple of moments, and most
13:41of the shots of aircraft and spacecraft are clunky at best.
13:45One place in which Dune excels, however, is in its use of the ageless hanging miniature
13:49technique or cutting piece.
13:51This method uses a small-scale model, which is suspended between the camera and the live-action
13:55set beyond it.
13:56The 1925 film Ben-Hur famously employed this effect.
13:59While the movie features the base of a full-size arena, the higher seating level is a simple
14:03miniature.
14:04To realize the palace had a hurricane, the Dune crew placed actors on a staircase set
14:07in the parking lot of Estadio Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.
14:11For a broad establishing shot, a large platform 1,000 feet away held a miniature of the city,
14:16cliffs, and wall.
14:17They placed the camera 16 feet from the model, which was designed with a gap through which
14:21the stairs and crowd were visible.
14:23The same technique was used to place the Atreides at the foot of their space cruiser
14:26and depict invading Sardaukar troops rushing out from a Harkonnen ship.
14:31From riding banshees to giant airships fighting wildlife, Avatar's most exciting moments weren't
14:36so visually stunning before CGI.
14:40Motion capture technology is often used in fantasy and science fiction films to capture
14:44the essence of different creatures.
14:46Funny enough, Jar Jar Binks in 1999's Star Wars Episode I, The Phantom Menace, was actually
14:52the first motion capture character ever, although most movie fans would rather forget
14:56that fact.
14:57Avatar was unique because it featured a cast that was almost entirely made up of motion
15:01capture performers.
15:03Unsurprisingly, this did not make it an easier film to shoot.
15:06It's pretty challenging to act in front of a green screen, where you have no idea what
15:10you are supposed to be looking at.
15:12Some actors had no idea of what they would look like in their Avatar bodies until well
15:16into the film's production.
15:18This is great."
15:19James Cameron updated the motion capture technology in Avatar so that the characters' expressions
15:24would feel more naturalistic.
15:25He explained,
15:26"...we have almost as many muscles in just our face as we have in the entire rest of
15:30our body, so the systems previously that we used were good at capturing body performance."
15:35This attention to detail captures moments of raw emotion, such as when Jake wakes up
15:39in his Avatar body.
15:42Avatar is a science fiction spectacle, but it is also a film with an important theme
15:46of environmentalism and colonization.
15:49After experiencing the culture of the Na'vi, Jake begins to question if his planet's military
15:53goals are justified.
15:54They are outsiders on Pandora, and they have no right to take control of the territory
15:58that the Na'vi live in.
16:00While humans would rather mine Pandora for its resources, the Na'vi respect the natural
16:04wildlife on the planet.
16:05We see how Jake learns to trust the Na'vi after his experiences with the Thanator monster.
16:10When Jake is first exploring Pandora in his new body, he is attacked by a vicious carnivorous
16:15creature known as the Thanator.
16:17He is nearly killed by the fearsome beast, and narrowly escapes by jumping down a waterfall.
16:22However, Neytiri, played by Zoe Saldana, shows him that these creatures are simply trying
16:27to protect their home.
16:28During the final battle, she bonds with the Thanator, and the creature helps attack Colonel
16:32Quaritch's mechanical suit.
16:34Although both scenes with Thanators are pretty exciting in the final film, they weren't nearly
16:39as thrilling on set.
16:40Instead of a vicious carnivore, Sam Worthington and Saldana had to act alongside a CGI creature
16:45that they couldn't see.
16:46Oh yeah, who's bad?
16:49Avatar has certainly inspired a passionate fanbase, but more general audience members
16:53might not have the same interest in the anatomy of the Na'vi.
16:56The somewhat infamous love scene between Jake and Neytiri is rather tender and sweet in
17:00the finished film, but dedicated fans have managed to learn more about Na'vi intimacy
17:05thanks to a little bit of extra research.
17:07James Cameron's original screenplay describes how Neytiri and Jake's tendrils intertwine,
17:12producing, quote,
17:13"...gentle undulations."
17:15In the theatrical cut, they only share a kiss.
17:17While some fans may speculate about what other imagery Cameron cut from the film, there have
17:22been several extended cuts of the film released, which show details more true to the original
17:26script.
17:27Even if the theatrical cut of the film does its best to convey the intimacy of the moment,
17:31it wasn't quite as romantic on set.
17:33Trying to spend time with someone you love isn't quite as romantic when you're wearing
17:37a motion-capture suit.
17:39Sigourney Weaver is one of the most iconic science fiction stars of all time.
17:43Her performance as Ellen Ripley in 1979's Alien modernized the concept of the Final
17:48Girl within the context of a sci-fi adventure.
17:51It was actually James Cameron who helped turn Weaver into the action star that she is today,
17:56when he directed 1986's Aliens.
17:58Weaver reunited with Cameron to play Dr. Grace Augustine in Avatar.
18:02One of the more interesting characters in the film, Grace is the head of the Avatar
18:06program, who begins to have suspicions about her employers.
18:09She becomes concerned that if Pandora's Home tree is destroyed, it could fundamentally
18:13damage the ecosystem of the planet.
18:16Weaver was intrigued by the use of performance capture technology in the film.
18:19Speaking of motion capture, she said,
18:21"...it's much more actor-centric if you do it the James Cameron way."
18:25Grace's enthusiasm about her new body reflects Weaver's excitement on set.
18:30Ever since the film's release, Avatar has been compared to Kevin Costner's historical
18:34epic Dances with Wolves.
18:35Both focus on the story of an outsider who gets accepted within tribal culture and learns
18:40to stand up against colonization.
18:42James Cameron has approved of the comparisons and said that both stories clash civilizations
18:47or cultures.
18:48Cameron looked at real historical accounts of the European colonization of North America
18:52when he was designing the look of Pandora.
18:54One scene, which was later cut from the theatrical release, was meant to emulate the beauty of
18:59tribal customs.
19:00Four actors performed an actual dance routine that Cameron had choreographed.
19:04Although these characters are only briefly featured, they embody the spirit of the Navi.
19:09However, the film has attracted some criticism for the way that Cameron characterizes indigenous
19:13people, with some noting that the film perpetrates the White Messiah complex that has become
19:18a sad trope in popular culture.
19:21Of all the incredible sequences in Avatar, James Cameron says that the scene where Jake
19:25and Neytiri fly together on the winged Banshee creatures is actually his favorite moment.
19:30It was one of the more complex aspects to film, with mounted rigs built for the actors
19:34to ride and Cameron piloting a model to simulate movement.
19:38The results are wondrous.
19:40Although he had some anxieties about living in a new body, Jake gains confidence as he
19:44rides on the back of the dragon-like beast.
19:46Learning to pilot these aerial predators is a sacred custom within the Navi culture.
19:51Jake has to earn his place within the tribe by breaking in a wild Banshee and taming it,
19:55proving his merit as a hunter.
19:57You're ready.
20:00James Cameron developed a complex ecosystem for Pandora.
20:03Within the Navi culture, trees play a very pivotal role.
20:07Neytiri and her tribe live in a home tree that is large enough to house them all.
20:10Unfortunately, the home tree is also on top of a massive source of unobtanium, attracting
20:15the attention of military forces that want to rob the planet of its natural resources.
20:20Destroying the home tree could spell doom for Neytiri's people.
20:23The Tree of Souls allows some characters to transfer their consciousness.
20:26Jake, along with Neytiri's mother, Moat, attempts to revive Grace by bringing her to the Tree
20:31of Souls, but she dies before they can save her.
20:35Before their love scene, Neytiri shows Jake how she can connect with the Tree of Voices
20:38via her tendrils.
20:40The glowing, gorgeous trees weren't quite as spectacular on set, however.
20:44The actors really had to suspend disbelief, even if that meant being in awe of a few black
20:48strings hanging from above.
20:50Likewise, when the Navi take Jake to the home tree for the first time on set, the magnificent
20:55tree is non-existent.
20:56The actors ride around a wide-open space, which is much less visually stimulating.
21:02Stephen Lang gives one of the strongest performances of his career in Avatar as Colonel Quaritch,
21:07the fearsome leader of the Resources Development Administration forces.
21:10Quaritch could care less about the damage being done to Pandora's wildlife, and he's
21:14willing to strip the planet of its resources so that he can develop missile technology.
21:18Lang says that the film's relevant political subtext is what attracted him to the role.
21:22When asked what he thought about fans that agreed with Quaritch, he said,
21:26"...people respond to leaders no matter what their moral stance may be.
21:30We see a lot of evidence of that in our recent political climate in the United States."
21:34The enemy is out there, and they are very powerful."
21:37During the final standoff between Quaritch's forces and the Navi, the RDA plane is shot
21:42down.
21:43Quaritch uses an amp suit to hunt down Jake.
21:45Lang acted in an actual rigged suit that was designed for the film and placed in front
21:49of a green-screen background.
21:51The look may be less intimidating, but that just adds to the impressive performance Lang
21:55was able to give.
21:56Lang definitely had to do some challenging stunts in the first Avatar, but he says that
22:00the upcoming sequels are even more intense.
22:03Militarism and industrialism are two of the most important themes in Avatar.
22:08These also happen to be recurring concepts within James Cameron's works.
22:12Both The Terminator and its sequel, Terminator 2 Judgment Day, examine the dangerous consequences
22:17of putting too much faith in technology.
22:19In Avatar, Cameron shows how a primitive tribal species like the Navi can defeat a powerful
22:24military-industrial organization like the RDA.
22:27However, the RDA certainly does not go down without a fight.
22:31As detailed in The Art of Avatar, James Cameron's epic adventure, the design team developed
22:36a complex infrastructure for the firepower in the evil company's arsenal.
22:40The RDA utilizes several different vehicles in Avatar.
22:43The Valkyrie SSTO Tav-37 B-Class shuttlecrafts are utilized to harvest and transport natural
22:50gas from the Pandoran surface.
22:52Larger attack vehicles, such as the C-21 Dragon assault ships, the Aerospatiale SA-2 Samsons,
22:57and the AT-99 gunships, are almost exclusively used in combat.
23:02These ships indicate that the RDA did not come to Pandora with any peaceful intentions.
23:06So how did Cameron and his team simulate flight on set?
23:09It wasn't nearly as high-tech as what it looks like in the finished film.
23:13Actors like Sam Worthington and Joel David Moore appeared on a rig, while they were blasted
23:17by fans.
23:19Amidst the final battle, the Navi are overwhelmed by the technological forces of the RDA, forced
23:24to flee after Laz Alonso's Sute and Michelle Rodriguez's Trudy Chacon are killed amidst
23:29the conflict.
23:30However, Jake had made a special Navi prayer to the Tree of Souls to ask for help.
23:35In what is perhaps no coincidence, the native Pandoran wildlife joins the attack, helping
23:39the Navi defend their home.
23:42Perhaps they are being territorial, but Neytiri believes it is because the mother goddess,
23:46Ewa, has heard Jake's pleas.
23:48"...Jake, Ewa has heard you."
23:51Even though these creatures were completely digital, James Cameron wanted to design a
23:55complex Pandoran ecosystem so that the audience could connect with the different creatures.
24:00Despite the fact that the actors would not interact with live animals on set, Cameron
24:04said that the film required him to invent a whole new alien culture and language.
24:08According to Creature creator Wayne Barlow, the mammalian creatures were inspired by skates
24:12and manta rays.
24:14He added,
24:15"...Sea life motifs were prevalent in my thoughts at the time.
24:18Their lines informed everything from wings to head profiles."
24:22Jake forms a spiritual connection with the goddess Ewa during his brave defense of the
24:26home tree.
24:27He proves that he has completely shed his human body, and has now adjusted to the Navi
24:31culture.
24:32In order to make this process official, Jake attends a special Navi ceremony held in the
24:36Tree of Souls during the final scene of the film.
24:39The tree allows Jake to permanently transfer his consciousness to his Navi body.
24:43When he opens his eyes, it signifies that the process was successful.
24:47When he reflected on the film's legacy, James Cameron said that even though this scene was
24:51a digital creation, it embodies the emotional journey that the audience goes on in the theater.
24:56He explained,
24:57"...As our lives progress, we come more and more away from nature.
25:01Society at large, anywhere in the world, is suffering from a nature-deficit disorder of
25:05some kind, to some degree.
25:07The movie puts us back into that childlike wonder about nature, and about nature's grandeur
25:11and complexity and beauty."
25:13James Cameron has a deep passion for aquatic exploration.
25:16His interest in underwater adventure has led him to embark on several groundbreaking expeditions,
25:21including the first solo descent into the Mariana Trench, to the ocean's deepest known
25:25point.
25:26Perhaps this interest has also inspired his filmmaking.
25:28Both The Abyss and Titanic emerged from his love for the sea.
25:32Since most of the world of Pandora is created virtually for the Avatar movies, you might
25:36think the crew would mocap all the underwater action dry for wet.
25:39But this is James Cameron we're talking about.
25:41Instead, Cameron insisted the characters should move believably in all environments.
25:46This required mocap to be performed in water tanks.
25:48To make this possible, the cast had to train extensively to control their breathing so
25:52their performances could be captured underwater.
25:54The top actor in this regard was apparently Kate Winslet, who at one point held her breath
25:59for an incredible 7 minutes and 15 seconds.