The How, the Why, and the Way of Water

Thirteen years ago, director James Cameron released a movie that, despite being the #1 grossing movie of all time, is still known by many as: “Oh, you mean the blue one?”. This movie is none other than Avatar, a film known worldwide for its groundbreaking and revolutionary technological advancements in the visual effects industry.

Yet as impressive as Avatar is, I am not here to discuss the technologies of a 13- year-old film, but rather, its sequel. Last year, Cameron released Avatar: The Way of the Water, which lived up to its predecessor’s legacy of technological advancements. From virtual cameras, facial capture, and underwater motion capture, The Way of the Water achieved complex milestones in the VFX industry that will continue to shape filmmaking in years to come- and I am here to offer a brief explanation, as well as my perspective, on the use of technologies in this film.

Virtual Cameras

For the first Avatar, Rob Legato, filmmaker, and VFX artist, was inspired by a system he created during Aviator to help develop a 3D camera called the “Simulcam”. This camera made it possible to preview in real-time how the scene would look once CGI was applied. While it did not completely render the graphics in real-time, it allowed for far better cinematography since the director and cinematographer were able to better visualize the final composition and adjust the camera accordingly. This technology carried over to the sequel yet was advanced upon. For Avatar: The Way of the Water, cinematographer Russel Carpenter used a newly released Sony camera from the Venice camera package. This camera had a separate optical block which could be a fair distance away during filming and was also mounted on a lightweight 3D rig. This rig allowed for far better mobility than previous cameras ,  letting Carpenter get much closer to subjects and actors’ faces and navigate better through tight spaces.

The Simulcam is probably one of my personal favorite technologies created for Avatar. It is a small window that bridges the gap between the real world and the lusciously virtual Pandora. It can be a huge help when wanting to help visualize a CGI character or asset during production, as opposed to limiting the quality of cinematography due to planning around integrating models in post-production.

Facial Capture

The facial capture system was the second impressive technology that was greatly improved since the first Avatar. During Avatar, they utilized the Facial Action Coding System (FACS), which used a head rig alongside a single camera which recorded and tracked dots on actors’ faces. However, they found faults in this system regarding accurate speech, and it had limited control over mimicking facial behavior. In The Way of the Water, they improved upon this by creating a muscle-based system, moving layers of muscle, tissue, and skin, hoping to make animators’ jobs easier and more accurate to real facial muscles. Known as the Anatomically Plausible Facial System (APFS), this new system is based on 178 strain curves. It is not as much a direct simulation of human muscle anatomy but rather a rough emulation that allows animators to easily adjust the expressions.

The research and knowledge put into creating such an advanced program is inspiring, and the final product does look very similar to reality. However, in my opinion, CGI humans (or human-like creatures) always have a hint of uncanniness, especially with motion capture. Every human has ‘imperfections’ in their expressions and the way their muscles and skin move and twitch as they emote. When some people talk, the tip of their nose twitches. When some people move their jaw, their temples noticeably move. It is almost impossible for people to notice all of these slight movements; nevertheless, put them all into a computer. Artists want to create perfection, but nature is not perfect, and training ourselves to create imperfections is a challenge in itself.

Water

Lastly, the pièce de résistance of this film: The water. Water has proved challenging to filmmakers for decades, especially CGI water- and this movie was not letting the creators off easy. For starters, Cameron insisted that any scene with actors in water was filmed actually in the water,which was a lot of scenes. The belief was that when an actor was pretending to be in the water, the performance was not as convincing. There are certain subtle reactions human bodies and faces make when in water that are near impossible to mimic without actually being  underwater. So Cameron had the actors actually be in and underwater in their motion capture attire. In order to create the set for the water takes, two tanks were built. One was smaller and less advanced and was used primarily for training actors to perform in water. The other, however, was an astounding 120 feet long, 60 feet wide, and 30 feet deep. It was also rigged with current and wave machines. At times, even professional divers reported having trouble staying in control when riding pretend sea creatures against the electronically produced rapids. On the water’s surface, thousands of white polymer balls littered the water line in order to reflect the overhead light, which was otherwise found to be interfering with performance capturing data.

I have a few differing opinions on this. For one, I greatly admire Cameron’s devotion to accurately mimicking reality and how much thought was put behind everything. If I had a budget like Avatar, I would certainly spend it on ensuring accurate simulation in such a vital part of the movie. Yet that is precisely the thing- I don’t have Avatar’s budget, and nor does the majority of filmmakers. The underwater motion capture is astounding, but in terms of the future of the VFX industry, how many other films will have the budget to use such technology or even require it? Simulcam and facial capture are both extremely versatile and universal. They can be used for a variety of films, but the underwater mo-cap is so specific to this movie that I personally do not see it being used in many other films. However, this does not eliminate at all my respect for it or how amazing of an advancement it is.
Overall, Avatar: The Way of the Water, as well as its predecessor, are prime examples of how the film industry is constantly evolving. While they may not have (in my opinion) the best writing or plot, their overall contribution to VFX is enough to justify their popularity in my book. I strongly believe that the future is made by advancing history. The visual effects industry is no exception to this principle, and the Avatar franchise is a prime example of creating technology based on the past but for the future.