News culture Avatar 2: this solution for filming underwater is incredible!
Almost everything has been said about the phenomenon Avatar: The Way of the Water. James Cameron’s film, awaited 13 long years, has caused a lot of ink to flow, and yet there are still many things to discover. Filming underwater was one of the main challenges, and the solution implemented is surprising to say the least.
Summary
- The art of filming underwater
- Avatar 2 makes history
The art of filming underwater
James Cameron has an unlimited love for the oceans and the seabed. Abyss (1989) then Titanic (1999) were the filmmaker’s first odes to the aquatic world. In 2022, the Canadian director is revolutionizing the way of approaching the challenge represented by the “simple” fact of filming underwater in order to offer viewers the craziest underwater sequences ever screened in theatres. The latter particularly wanted to capture all of the expressions and movements made by the actors and actresses without the light being affected, which in the water quickly turns out to be problematic.
Shooting in an aquatic environment involves careful management of light. In fact, the light emitted by the headlamps risks being deflected by the surface of the water. The teams therefore used thousands of translucent balls so that the refraction of the light from said projectors was not noticeable. Their mission was to stop this natural phenomenon while allowing light to pass through. Director of photography Russell Carpenter told our colleagues of Screendaily last January:
Our light had to pass through this enormous filtered diffusion, which made the ripple effects disappear. And if someone were to come to the surface, there was nothing to block them. – Russell Carpenter (Avatar: The Waterway – Director of Photography)
From the set of the sequels: @ZoeSaldanaSam Worthington, Kate Winslet, and Cliff Curtis taking a break from underwater performance capture for a quick photo!
Fun fact: Much of the performance capture took place in this 900,000 gallon tank, built specifically for the sequels. pic.twitter.com/NSfqoZ6jXJ
— Avatar (@officialavatar) May 13, 2020
Avatar 2 makes history
Avatar: The Way of the Water is firmly established at the fourth place of the greatest successes of all time in cinema. The film directed by James Cameron has collected no less than 2.177 billion US dollars and is very close to another film by the Canadian filmmaker… Titanic. It should soon and without too much difficulty exceed the adventure of Jack Dawson and Rose Dewitt Bukater aboard the infamous cruise ship, despite a cinema release on February 8, 2023. With a little more than 600 million US dollars late on Avengers: Endgame, Avatar 2 can still hope to rise to second place in the world box office, or even dethrone its predecessor (Avatar – 2009).
- Avatar (2 923 706 026 $)
- Avengers : Endgame (2 799 439 100 $)
- Titanic (2 194 690 964 $)
- Avatar: The Way of the Water ($2,176,947,522)
- Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens ($2,071,310,218)
Avatar: The Way of the Water has been screened in cinemas since December 14, 2023 in France.
