"Avatar: Way of Water" poster.
is produced by Disney Pictures and co-produced by 20th Century Pictures and American Light and Shadowstorm Entertainment Company, the epic blockbuster "Avatar: Way of Water" will be released in the mainland on December 16 with full versions of Cinity 3D, IMAX 3D, Dolby 3D, Chinese giant screen 3D and ordinary 3D. "Avatar: Way of Water" held an online press conference on December 9. The film director James Cameron and producer Jon Lando answered questions from many media such as Beijing News in the form of "club meeting", and carefully and vividly answered questions from multiple angles such as the main theme, performance and special effects of the film.
As the "technical maniac" Cameron said, "Avatar" has been leading the innovation of film technology since its release in 2009, and "Avatar: Way of Water" will continue to challenge the limits of big screen art and use 3D technology to present an unprecedented immersive movie viewing experience. While presenting a comprehensive upgraded visual effects, carefully polished plot, and more wonderful creatures and beautiful scenery, it also expresses the humanistic theme of the dialectical balance between man and family, man and nature and man and technology. Finally, Cameron recommended "Avatar: The Way of Water" in one sentence: "I want to say: Everyone will enter the theater for the beauty and adventure elements of this movie, and then cry out of the theater because of the emotions and power of the movie."
title "The Way of Water" originated, "I love staying underwater too much."
Question: The name of the second "Avatar" is "Avatar: The Way of Water". Why did you choose the theme of water? Is this related to your interest and exploration of the ocean over the years?
Cameron : The friend who asked this question should have an answer in his heart (laughs), because he/she knows that I am an explorer and have been engaged in marine protection. I've made a lot of documentaries related to the ocean. The National Geographic Documentary "The Secret of the Whale" we filmed recently won the Emmy Award (2021 73rd Primetime Emmy Award for Best Record/Non-fiction Series). Around the world, I have conducted 8 deep-sea diving adventures in total. Since I became an adult, I have also been an scuba diving enthusiast and have spent thousands of hours underwater. The video is a love letter from me.
I love the underwater world, the ocean, the charming marine animals , the beautiful coral reefs and seaweed forests. I love staying underwater so much. For me, filming "Avatar: The Way of Water" combines two of my life's love: movies that tell stories with pictures, and the ocean. Everything happened naturally. Actually, when I look back now, I found that I took pictures of the tropical rainforest first and then came to take pictures of the sea, which was also very surprised (laugh). If everything goes back, I will definitely take pictures of the ocean first.
video is called "The Way of Water", and we must overcome the way of shooting water. I am also very proud of the fact that we conquered the facial performance capture of non-human characters. These characters have similarities to us, but are not humans. This effect is not achieved through makeup, but a character generated by CG. We want the role to be 100% real, while 100% conveying the emotions expressed by the actors.
Stills of "Avatar: Way of Water". There are a lot of shots from the ocean in the film.
Landau: To inspire the actors to the best of their performance, we took them to the Hawaii rehearsal. Just like when filming the first film, we went to the rainforest and this time we went to the sea. We snorkeling on islands and reefs , practice holding our breath, and have another special experience, perhaps the closest experience on Earth to Pandora. We went to night dive together, dived 30 feet, and sat in the dark sea. At this time, the manta rays that looked the most Pandora creature on the earth suddenly emerged from the dark place, swimming around the actors...
Cameron: That's right, we also interacted with manta rays. Cliff Curtis plays the role of the leader of the island tribe in the film, Tenovari. Curtis had a tattoo of a manta ray on his chest, and the manta ray had a unique meaning to him. Suddenly, he and the manta rays seemed to have established some kind of spiritual relationship, and the beautiful manta rays were swimming beside him, within reach.We hope that the actors imagine themselves on another planet before filming, which is not easy for them, because most people have never dived before joining the group. We trained them to scuba diving and free diving to teach them how to accept the ocean and find a state of freedom underwater. We only returned to the studio to start shooting.
Cameron was filming at the scene of "Avatar: Way of Water".
Question: We are curious, for both, is there any incorporation of ocean adventure or ocean-related experience into this movie? Or is there any moment in this movie that comes from your personal feelings or memories?
Cameron: a lot of content is. I also mentioned before that I spent thousands of hours diving in the sea. I've seen many amazing scenes. I have participated in scientific research many times and learned about the associations and symbiotic relationships between different species, as well as their survival strategies, such as bioluminescence. Some animals will avoid being hunted by glowing, or use for foraging, courtship and other purposes. We also incorporate this knowledge into the film.
At the same time, this video is not only a love letter I wrote to the sea, but also a personal story about family affection that I told as my father. We all have experiences over 10 years old, right? Everyone has been young, and we all know what it feels like during this period. Youth is not necessarily beautiful. When we explore who we are and what we have to do with the world, we will feel a lot of uncertainty and anxiety. And now as the father of five children, I have another perspective. My youngest child is 16 years old this year, and the rest have experienced the troubles of adolescence and youth.
Stills of "Avatar: Way of Water". Family affection has become one of the themes of the film. When I was writing about Jack and Netilly when I was writing about the story of Jack and Netilly, I was them. I was also them when I wrote the stories of Loak, Knighta and Kili. There are many shadows of myself in the play. Fortunately, our actors are all parents. Zoe has three sons, Sam has three sons, Stephen Long has several children, and Sigourney has a daughter. So they understood what kind of story it was from the beginning, and they all liked it very much - a good theme, and the new story was also very touching.
Question: Who are your two favorite characters?
Cameron: I love every character, just like I love every child of myself - I have five children. I love every character, and when the actors take them alive, I love it even more. I also love the characters in the script, but this is a bit touched by myself, right? At some point, I can let go, and Qili no longer belongs to me alone. Qili belongs to Sigourney, and she is Sigourney's work. Jack belongs to Sam.
calls for understanding nature and seeking a more balanced way of survival
Question: Many people are curious that alien civilizations in science fiction are often evil or dangerous, but not in the "Avatar" series. What were the main thoughts and ideas behind the two when they created the "Avatar" series?
Cameron: I am very happy that the media friends have noticed the optimistic side. The story of "Avatar" is actually both pessimistic and optimistic. The Earthlings in the film extract resources and suppress the indigenous people, and do a lot of bad things. But if you take a step back and watch it, you will find that "Avatar" is actually saying: We are also Navi people. In fact, the movie is not about the real aliens, it is about ourselves. This is a story told by humans and interpreted by humans, a story about human nature, right? The Earthlings in the
video represent our dark side, greed, destroying the environment, etc. The Navi people represent our kind side, representing the way we want to be, or miss who we used to be. The Neville reminds us of our childhood, when we had a strong connection with nature and others. In this sense, the Navi people are our vision. We want to become more like the Neville, not become the greedy profit-seekers of the earth, cruelly destroying the environment. The film is a huge metaphor, which is related to the essence of human nature and reflects on the tear of social values.
Stills of "Avatar: Way of Water". The Navi people are communicating with marine life.
It is also a call. It calls on us to wake up, seek balance, find a technological way of life, give full play to the greatest benefits of science and technology, and better understand the natural world, fight disease, eliminate poverty, etc. At the same time, we will get closer to nature again and strive to find a more balanced way of survival.
Lan Dao: I think a line written by Cameron in the movie can be summarized well: "I see you". To truly see others, not only see their appearance, but also see their essence and accept their reality. In "Avatar: Way of Water", we will meet another ethnic group in the Navi culture: the island and reef tribe. Their appearance is different from that of the Omatikaya. Two different groups of people should learn to accept each other. When the Sally family came to the island tribe, they were like fish left out of the water (literally and rhetorically). They have to learn to adapt, learn to be accepted, and be accepted as their true selves.
filming is actor-centric: the animator has not "optimized"
Question: What are the impressive behind-the-scenes stories that can be shared with you?
Cameron: There are so many interesting stories in . Every day we make the set as fun as possible. Although the progress of the screening brought great pressure and everyone was working hard every moment, the crew had a light atmosphere. The production work lasted for 5 years, and the team worked closely together with the screenwriter in the first 6 months, and then the actors. In the early stages of the filming, most of the actors participated in the performance motion capture, including Sigourney, Sam, Zoe, and all actors with CG roles, and took a total of 18 months to finish the filming. Then we started shooting live shows, including Jack Shanpiyon, who played "Spider", and Brendan Cowell, who played a captain of Tukun capturing the troops.
actors gave us a lot of affirmation. They feel that their work is respected because we build a bond of trust. Before starting the computer, we will say: Next, please show your performance well, be loyal to your feelings and judgments, and do not deliberately exaggerate your performance for the sake of performance motion capture. No deliberate change is necessary. Just give the most authentic and sincere performance.
post-production takes several years, so the actors can only trust us to end up with a satisfying film. They all like their roles very much, believe in the decisions made by the characters, and believe that their most realistic interpretations will be retained in the production process. We did not make any modifications to the performance. The animator did not make any adjustments and "optimizations". We let animators use marine life to create creativity: wielding dragons, yru, tukun, and a variety of other creatures. But we hope that the actors' performances will not be interfered with by others' "creativeness" and will retain their original acting skills as much as possible.
Cameron and actors who play Jack Sam Worthington communicate on the set about the performance details.
in Hollywood —maybe there are all over the world, and in China—some actors will think we want actors to be laid off. In fact, the opposite is true. Our filming process is actor-centered. As a director, I have to work directly with the actors, not affected by lighting, , and , and there is no such thing as saying that the sun is about to set. We must finish all the shots we should shoot immediately. These interference factors no longer exist. As a director who is written by himself, characters are crucial to me. What I am most happy about is that from one to a half years, I can focus on the characters themselves, focus on their lines, body, emotions, and feelings, and polish them one by one. Once this content is finished, I know the video is done. All the work after that, no matter how long it takes to be perfect, I know that it is stable. The third part is in this stage and the shooting has been completed! The actors contributed perfect performances, impeccable. The third part is now in the post-production stage.
Lan Dao: There is another advantage of this process of , that is, actors can do things that they cannot do normally.
Cameron: is right, Sigourney is a good example. Sigourney plays a 15-year-old girl named Chili. When the computer was turned on, she should be 69 years old, right? So the character's age is less than 1/4 of her actual physiological age. She played the role quite movingly. Many people say that Kili is their favorite character in this movie. You know, I never choose my favorite character, but I love her performance in this film and everyone was deeply moved. The power of technology is fully demonstrated. I think this is just a starting point, and future technology can help us achieve more.
3D is not behind the scenes, and China's screening technology reaches the world-class level
Question: The first "Avatar" has opened a new era of 3D movies. What do you think about the development of 3D movies over the years? What kind of movies really need a 3D viewing experience?
Cameron: I think 3D movies that are shot with telephoto lens and cut very quickly are bad. I think 3D should be used with caution. Each lens has plenty of time, with a shorter focal length and a wider angle, allowing the audience to observe around, look up and down. The audience must see the whole world through the screen. Right?
We hope there are more 3D movies like this. In addition, every filmmaker has his own style and needs to find the best way to combine his own style with 3D. Also, you should know that the work was filmed for the big screen. I can use David Leon (a famous British film director, producer and editor, who has directed epic films such as " Bridge of the River Kwai " and " Lawrence of Arabia"). The pictures are magnificent and the characters only account for a small proportion. Sometimes it is necessary to have large close-ups, and the audience can see every pore on the actor's skin and every detail on the iris of the pupil, which is also cool. I think 3D should be about adding value, not weakening value.
Many people think 3D is a thing of the past, and they forgot one thing: when "Avatar" was released, there were about 6,000 3D screens in the world, of which 2,500-3,000 were in China. Now, China has more than 60,000 3D screens, and more than 120,000 yuan in the world. It is no longer the same order of magnitude as it was back then. It can be said that 3D is unprecedentedly popular. People's interest in 3D has decreased, but it is far from dying. When Avatar was re-released, 97% of the box office revenue came from the 3D version. I think people link 3D to a specific type of movie, which may be a more visual impact, or a movie that takes the audience to another time and space. It can be a historical film or a futuristic film like "Avatar". I think people are still willing to embark on that journey and still want to experience that unique experience in the cinema. The
3D TV has poor results, which should be a general consensus. When watching TV, whether you are watching movies or TV shows, the relationship between the audience and the content is completely different. In the cinema, 3D can be wonderful in a more ritualistic and unique experience. Having said that, I still have to say: If you are a person who doesn't like 3D, it doesn't matter, you can go to the cinema and watch "Avatar: Way of Water" or any movie you like, any movie you want to have a unique experience. The big screen is still there, and the public experience is still there. We all think the 2D version of "Avatar: Way of Water" is magnificent. I spent a lot of time ensuring the best 2D rendering. So it's not like "I don't like 3D, so I don't watch this movie". The proportion of 3D is actually very small. The movie itself, including the actors' performances, scenes, visual effects, photography, animals, etc., is the more important part, accounting for 98%.
Cameron and producer Lan Dao answered media questions in the form of "meeting in the cloud".
Landao: Thanks to advanced projection technology, we can present higher-level picture quality in cinemas. Thanks to companies like CINITY. When I went to the CineEurope, I chose to use CINITY to show the clips of "Avatar: Way of Water" for the first time.
Cameron: CINITY is a laser projection technology developed by China, with a world-class level. We hope that the CINITY projection system will go out of China and into the world because its projection effect is very excellent.
Landao: So, if you plan to watch "Avatar: Way of Water", please choose CINITY, Dolby , and laser IMAX. We are very grateful to companies like CINITY for continuously promoting technological development, allowing us to present carefully polished works to the audience with the best quality.
Question: Can you recommend "Avatar: The Way of Water" to Chinese audiences in one sentence?
Lan Dao: What I want to say is: If you want to choose a movie that you must go to the theater and watch on the big screen, it must be "Avatar: The Way of Water".
Cameron: I want to say: Everyone will enter the theater for the beauty and adventure elements of this movie, and then cry out of the theater because of the emotions and power of the movie.
editing Huang Jialing
proofreading Lu Qian
