{"id":24134,"date":"2023-03-30T16:40:59","date_gmt":"2023-03-30T20:40:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.dan.org\/?post_type=dan_alert_diver&p=24134"},"modified":"2023-05-30T15:00:31","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T19:00:31","slug":"making-avatar-the-way-of-water","status":"publish","type":"dan_alert_diver","link":"https:\/\/world.dan.org\/fr\/alert-diver\/article\/making-avatar-the-way-of-water\/","title":{"rendered":"La r\u00e9alisation d'Avatar : La voie de l'eau"},"content":{"rendered":"

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D\u00e8s sa sortie en d\u00e9cembre 2022, Avatar : La voie de l'eau<\/em> a attir\u00e9 l'attention de la communaut\u00e9 des plongeurs pour ses remarquables sc\u00e8nes sous-marines. Curieux de d\u00e9couvrir les coulisses de la ma\u00eetrise technique de ces sc\u00e8nes, je me suis entretenu avec le producteur Jon Landau, le moniteur d'apn\u00e9e Kirk Krack, le directeur de la photographie sous-marine Pete Zuccarini et le ma\u00eetre-plongeur superviseur et responsable de la s\u00e9curit\u00e9 John Garvin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sequel to 2009\u2019s Avatar<\/em> introduces the Metkayina, Na\u2019vi who are born in the ocean and have adaptations such as tails shaped to help enhance in-water propulsion and eyes that provide better underwater vision. They move through the water much like freedivers without fins. The in-water skills the Metkayina characters demonstrate are rooted in hydrodynamics. Landau explained this quest for authenticity in greater detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Quel a \u00e9t\u00e9 le processus de r\u00e9flexion qui a conduit \u00e0 la r\u00e9alisation d'un film enti\u00e8rement sous-marin ?  <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Jon Landau :<\/strong> The first thought was the story. Going into the sequel, we saw the ocean as a transportive journey for our audience to go to the incredible places you\u2019ve been to or that I\u2019ve been lucky enough to dive, and for sure those Jim Cameron has explored. Pandora is a world with water, like Earth. Not all of this film is underwater, of course, but as we saw from the first movie\u2019s fantastical forest and floating islands, there is also a great deal of joy and wonder in the oceans of Pandora. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think about when you swim around a reef structure and suddenly see a manta ray or a whale shark. You\u2019re amazed! We wanted to take what ocean life has shown us and stand it on its tail. We know from experience what a sperm whale looks like underwater, and we wanted our whale variants, the tulkun, to grow to 300 feet (91 meters) long and have amazing new functionalities and a spiritual relationship with the Metkayina. That was the kind of ocean environment we envisioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I saw that in your coral reef. The fish were generally similar to fish we see on Earth, as if they had some distant relation to jacks, butterflyfish, and jellyfish. We saw the basic forms of sharks, whales, eels, and even a flying fish, but clearly different. This isn\u2019t your first splash into underwater films. Jim made Le gouffre<\/em> en 1989, et vous avez collabor\u00e9 avec lui sur Titanic<\/em> en 1997. Il y a eu beaucoup de travail sur l'eau dans ce cas.  <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Yes, but this one has something Titanic did not: breath-hold diving! When Jim approached Sigourney Weaver to do this movie, he told her she needed to be able to hold her breath for three minutes to do a scene. She said,\u00a0\u201cJim, I can\u2019t hold my breath for 30 seconds.\u201d Yet eventually she could do much more than that, working her way up to five minutes of static apnea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve seen movies that are dry-for-wet; Aquaman<\/em> is an example. The underwater scenes are typically simulations in front of a green screen, and performers levitate on cables to approximate what they might look like moving within an environment more than 800 times denser than air. Wind machines blow their hair, and computer-generated imagery techniques are added during postproduction. That was not good enough for Jim. He wanted the authenticity of wet-for-wet, which meant that everyone \u2014 actors and camera crew \u2014 had to be skilled freedivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

La technologie existe depuis suffisamment longtemps pour que vos lecteurs connaissent probablement la capture de performance. Vous reconnaissez sans doute les perles rondes cousues sur les costumes dans les coulisses des films de Avatar<\/em> or other movies. But now the reflective marker dots would be on wetsuits, and the underwater cameras can\u2019t really differentiate between a marker on an actor\u2019s suit or an exhaust bubble from a scuba regulator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Jim explained it,\u00a0\u201cEverybody who was working in the tank was holding their breath. If there was someone down there holding a light, they were holding their breath. If they were operating a camera, they were holding their breath. The actors, of course, had to be holding their breath.\u201d That bit of physics \u2014 the inability to differentiate between a performance-capture suit marker and an exhaust bubble \u2014 is why Avatar : La voie de l'eau<\/em> devait \u00eatre un film sur la plong\u00e9e en apn\u00e9e.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Le directeur de la photographie sous-marine Pete Zuccarini filme les artistes tulkun Benoit Beafils et Emilie Siemer dans le volume sous-marin.\nAVEC L'AIMABLE AUTORISATION DE 20TH-CENTURY STUDIOS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Formation Acteurs et \u00e9quipe<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Pour mieux comprendre l'aspect apn\u00e9e du film, j'ai interview\u00e9 Kirk Krack, fondateur de Performance Freediving International. Au cours des cinq derni\u00e8res ann\u00e9es, il a \u00e9t\u00e9 intimement impliqu\u00e9 dans l'\u00e9tablissement de protocoles et dans la formation des acteurs et de l'\u00e9quipe afin qu'ils puissent atteindre les niveaux \u00e9lev\u00e9s d'efficacit\u00e9 en mati\u00e8re d'apn\u00e9e requis pour ce film.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I learned about the huge tanks you were using for filming. The tank at production company Lightstorm Entertainment\u2019s Manhattan Beach, California, studio was 120 feet (36,6 meters) long, 60 feet (18 meters) wide, and 30 feet (9 meters) deep. It held more than 250,000 gallons (946.353 litres) of water and could simulate waves breaking on the shore. That was just one of the six tanks, so this film had significant in-water infrastructure. I understand why bubbles were an issue for the wet-to-wet film technique, but couldn\u2019t rebreathers have worked as well?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Kirk Krack :<\/strong> In shallow water, rebreathers aren\u2019t necessarily totally bubble-free. Even more important, the Metkayina have evolved for life in the sea, so they needed to move like freedivers. The underwater \u201cvolume\u201d (the name for performance-capture stages) was a huge tank with 200 cameras mounted at three levels plus the cameras that Pete Zuccarini and the assistant camera operators were shooting. We couldn\u2019t have some people on scuba, some on rebreathers, and some freediving. With that as the prerequisite, we had to consider what it would take to make everyone in the tank into freedivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I saw it as a two-pronged approach. We\u2019d have to start with a training regimen to make the cast, crew, and camera operators into freedivers if they weren\u2019t already, and if they were, make sure they would follow the same protocols as our new freedivers. Once we were filming, we utilized technical freediving to enhance performance capabilities. At times, people in the tank might be prebreathing 50 or 80 percent nitrox before their freedive performances. Being on the set made everyone appreciate the cutting-edge technology necessary to bring the ideas to fruition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Le r\u00e9alisateur James Cameron profite d'un moment de d\u00e9tente avec l'acteur Sam Worthington juste avant le tournage d'une s\u00e9quence de capture de performance.\nAVEC L'AIMABLE AUTORISATION DE 20TH-CENTURY STUDIOS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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James Cameron discute avec l'acteur Jack Champion (Spider), tandis que John Garvin (\u00e0 gauche) et Kirk Krack (\u00e0 droite) se pr\u00e9parent pour une sc\u00e8ne sous-marine.\nAVEC L'AIMABLE AUTORISATION DE 20TH-CENTURY STUDIOS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

J'ai lu des informations sur cette technologie dans les notes de production. Cameron a d\u00e9clar\u00e9 que sa cam\u00e9ra virtuelle int\u00e9grait les deux volumes de capture de la performance (a\u00e9rien et sous-marin) en temps r\u00e9el. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The virtual camera was especially mind-boggling. You had all these cameras filming people with marker dots moving in a tank, yet on the topside monitor we saw them swimming in the surreal Pandoran sea in real time. It was a unique form of moviemaking. I predict the upcoming film awards season will fully recognize this film\u2019s degree of technical achievement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was something special about this project. Cameron\u2019s demands for perfection meant we had time and motivation to thoroughly train the people involved. Some of the cast and crew were water savvy, but some were almost afraid of the water. We had the luxury of concentrating on freediving theory, water safety, and technique. We had to make them such good freedivers they could go beyond merely holding their breath. They couldn\u2019t look like they were trying to survive; they had to be able to act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was quite challenging for me and the stunt performers. I often did more than three hours of breath-hold diving in a 12-hour workday. At 6 a.m. I might be up vacuuming the tank, and at the end of the day we\u2019d blend the nitrox for the next shoot day. We had up to 30 people in the water at once and logged more than 250,000 freedives on this movie. All the actors could do more than four minutes in static apnea, and Kate Winslet could do more than seven minutes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Comment cela s'est-il pass\u00e9 concr\u00e8tement ? Tout le monde \u00e0 la surface attendait-il l'appel de Jim ? <\/strong>\u201c<\/strong>action,\u201d and then you all dived to shoot?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, it was exactly the opposite. All 200 people working on the scene would be waiting on us. Our freedive performance was the linchpin. We\u2019d count down to our signal to dive after we\u2019d prebreathed and established comfort level for performing. We used technical freediving with nitrox to reduce hypoxia risk, recover more rapidly, and become comfortable enough with the in-water experience to act.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Filmer les apn\u00e9istes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Lorsqu'un film hollywoodien \u00e0 gros budget a besoin d'un cam\u00e9raman sous-marin, Pete Zuccarini a toutes les chances d'\u00eatre appel\u00e9 \u00e0 la rescousse. Il n'est pas surprenant que Zuccarini ait \u00e9t\u00e9 impliqu\u00e9 lorsque Cameron a recrut\u00e9 les meilleurs talents pour ce projet. Le fait qu'il soit un apn\u00e9iste talentueux a sans doute aid\u00e9. M\u00eame si la capture de performance pour Avatar : The Way of Water a commenc\u00e9 en septembre 2017 et a dur\u00e9 environ 18 mois, Zuccarini a rejoint le projet en avril 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Typique de la pr\u00e9paration d'une production de James Cameron, Zuccarini a \u00e9t\u00e9 appel\u00e9 pour tourner des essais dans diff\u00e9rents environnements, notamment dans le port de San Pedro, sur l'\u00eele de Catalina et aux Bahamas. Aux Bahamas, ils ont film\u00e9 le recordman de plong\u00e9e en apn\u00e9e William Trubridge sans palmes afin d'\u00e9tudier et de prendre en compte sa technique. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Concept art from 20th Century Studios\u2019 AVATAR 2. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. \u00a92021 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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(L-R): Lo\u2019ak and Tulkun in 20th Century Studios\u2019 AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. \u00a9 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

It seems like there are scenes in the movie that someone who isn\u2019t a diver and hadn\u2019t seen such an interplay of light somewhere beneath the sea couldn\u2019t have scripted. James Cameron, in particular, has apparently been diving with a different objective over the years, for I see decades of studying light underwater in every frame.   <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Pete Zuccarini :<\/strong> L'interaction de la lumi\u00e8re \u00e0 diff\u00e9rentes profondeurs et dans diff\u00e9rents \u00e9tats de la mer a en fait \u00e9t\u00e9 sc\u00e9naris\u00e9e. Lors de nos tests en pleine mer aux Bahamas, Jim m'a demand\u00e9 de filmer des \u00e9l\u00e9ments tr\u00e8s sp\u00e9cifiques en 8K \u00e0 des fr\u00e9quences d'images \u00e9lev\u00e9es. Nous avons \u00e9tudi\u00e9 la mani\u00e8re dont la lumi\u00e8re filtrait \u00e0 travers la colonne d'eau sous l'effet de fortes houles, de surfaces agit\u00e9es par le vent et de surfaces vitreuses et lisses. Nous avons captur\u00e9 les qualit\u00e9s de la lumi\u00e8re se dispersant \u00e0 travers les particules et la fa\u00e7on dont les motifs de r\u00e9fraction jouent sur le substrat benthique \u00e0 diff\u00e9rentes profondeurs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The visual effects team pretty well understood the filtering of color wavelengths at different depths, so we were going after more subtle physics details, such as the way sand was twirling off the tops of the ripples in the sand under the waves. We looked at how swell and turbulence moves things such as hair, clothing, skin, and seagrasses. These high-resolution real ocean images provided reference data to better inform and communicate with the visual effects team responsible for creating Pandora\u2019s ocean. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pour \u00e9prouver la sensation de chevaucher un grand et puissant animal aquatique en pleine mer, l'\u00e9quipe de cascadeurs a cr\u00e9\u00e9 des r\u00e9pliques m\u00e9caniques du tulkun, de l'ilu et du skimwing. Ces cr\u00e9atures m\u00e9caniques ont \u00e9t\u00e9 remorqu\u00e9es par des bateaux ou propuls\u00e9es par un appareil \u00e0 r\u00e9action exclusif afin de simuler le mouvement et la maniabilit\u00e9 des cr\u00e9atures que vous voyez dans le film. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An underwater stunt \u201cdriver\u201d and another stunt performer would hang on rodeo-style at incredibly high speeds. The velocity of the rapid ascents and descents required the stunt team to accomplish unprecedented feats of breath-holds, equalization, and strength. Imagine riding a creature with enough inertia to go from underwater, jump 12 feet (3,6 meters) out of the water, and then descend in seconds to a depth of 40 feet (12 meters). All the while the stunt performers were doing hand signals and facial expressions to remain in character while traveling 5 knots underwater. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jim souhaitait que des cam\u00e9ras de r\u00e9f\u00e9rence enregistrent chaque instant de ces courses sous plusieurs angles. En plus de fixer des cam\u00e9ras d'action sur les cr\u00e9atures et les cascadeurs, nous avons install\u00e9 deux v\u00e9hicules \u00e0 propulsion de plong\u00e9e (DPV) extr\u00eamement rapides pour suivre l'action. J'ai travaill\u00e9 en tandem avec Charlie Arneson pour suivre l'action sous l'eau. Ces tra\u00eeneaux \u00e0 cam\u00e9ra \u00e9taient suffisamment rapides pour n\u00e9cessiter un capotage afin d'\u00e9viter que nos masques de plong\u00e9e ne soient arrach\u00e9s de nos visages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

J'ai utilis\u00e9 un pince-nez sp\u00e9cial qui m'a permis d'\u00e9galiser mes oreilles et mon masque en gardant les mains libres. La n\u00e9cessit\u00e9 de suivre le sujet dans les ascensions rapides et de rester a\u00e9rodynamique et agile nous imposait d'op\u00e9rer en apn\u00e9e. \u00c0 partir de ces tests, Jim a affin\u00e9 ce qu'il voulait voir dans la conception et l'utilisation du r\u00e9servoir de capture de performance que Lightstorm a construit dans les studios de Manhattan Beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Quaritch in 20th Century Studios\u2019 AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. \u00a9 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Director James Cameron behind the scenes of 20th Century Studios\u2019 AVATAR 2. Photo by Mark Fellman. \u00a9 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Superviser la s\u00e9curit\u00e9 <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the most important people on this film was John Garvin, who oversaw the tens of thousands of scuba dives and hundreds of thousands of freedives over the four years of shooting. Up to 30 divers \u2014 stunt performers, grips, lighting technicians, camera operators, safety divers, and actors \u2014 could be working in the tank at any given time. The work was often spread among a dozen different dive teams in a rapidly changing environment. No one got hurt on the production, which says a lot about Garvin\u2019s professionalism and commitment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ce que vous avez d\u00fb faire semble \u00eatre un d\u00e9fi de taille. Comment avez-vous proc\u00e9d\u00e9 ?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

John Garvin :<\/strong> Ma premi\u00e8re t\u00e2che a \u00e9t\u00e9 de r\u00e9diger notre manuel d'op\u00e9rations de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 en plong\u00e9e. Nous devions d\u00e9finir les risques et les att\u00e9nuer. Le service d'\u00e9clairage devait monter et descendre dans la colonne d'eau. Nous avons donc adapt\u00e9 les tables de plong\u00e9e Tasmanian Bounce pour nos m\u00e9langes nitrox. Nous avions des ordinateurs de plong\u00e9e \u00e0 chaque poignet et, bien que la maladie de d\u00e9compression ne soit pas notre premi\u00e8re pr\u00e9occupation, elle peut survenir lorsque l'on passe jusqu'\u00e0 12 heures par jour dans l'eau. Chaque r\u00e9servoir de production a fait l'objet d'exercices d'urgence sp\u00e9cifiques en fonction de ses caract\u00e9ristiques. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nous avons \u00e9galement consult\u00e9 les meilleurs experts dans leurs domaines de sp\u00e9cialit\u00e9, tels que Neal Pollock, PhD, et Simon Mitchell, MB ChB, PhD. Un autre principe de notre approche \u00e9tait d'apprendre de nos erreurs en cours de route. Nous n'avons jamais eu d'\u00e9vanouissement en eau peu profonde, mais nous avons eu une perte de contr\u00f4le moteur \u00e0 la surface au d\u00e9but du processus. Cet incident nous a appris qu'il \u00e9tait n\u00e9cessaire de pr\u00e9respirer du nitrox. Notre objectif de base \u00e9tait d'atteindre une dur\u00e9e d'apn\u00e9e de deux minutes pour chaque acteur, ce que nous avons r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 faire. Les Metkayina \u00e9tant n\u00e9s dans l'eau, l'autre objectif essentiel \u00e9tait que tous les acteurs aient l'air \u00e0 l'aise sous l'eau, comme s'ils \u00e9taient eux aussi n\u00e9s dans l'eau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Y a-t-il un risque sp\u00e9cifique li\u00e9 au r\u00e9servoir qui vous a emp\u00each\u00e9 de dormir, vous demandant comment l'att\u00e9nuer ?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Les boules de diffusion qui flottaient \u00e0 la surface m'ont caus\u00e9 beaucoup d'inqui\u00e9tude. Si elles avaient la taille id\u00e9ale pour transmettre la lumi\u00e8re et permettre au plongeur de se frayer un chemin jusqu'\u00e0 l'air, elles avaient \u00e9galement la taille d'une trach\u00e9e. Les plongeurs devaient non seulement remonter \u00e0 la surface, mais aussi lever la t\u00eate \u00e0 travers la couverture de 7,6 centim\u00e8tres de ces boules pour respirer. Nous avons pr\u00e9par\u00e9 des protocoles de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 en cas d'ingestion. Malgr\u00e9 toutes les innovations technologiques de ce film, nous d\u00e9pendions tous d'une nouille de piscine $2 sur laquelle les acteurs pouvaient se reposer \u00e0 la surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did you communicate underwater? I can\u2019t imagine hand signals were enough for a project this complex.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I give a huge shoutout to Ocean Technology Systems. The set was quite noisy underwater, yet everyone had to follow their team\u2019s directions. That meant operating on different channels with multiple hydrophones and noise gates. The grips had to constantly talk to each other to do their job, for example, but the actors needed to hear Jim.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His communication with the actors was invaluable because Jim is a tremendously experienced diver. He knows that water dictates movement. You can\u2019t fake that. Even nondivers in the audience will intuitively pick up on underwater physicality that isn\u2019t right for some reason, which then severs the emotional attachment. That\u2019s why this film is wet-for-wet. We hope it will resonate with anyone who deeply loves the ocean, but it will be particularly relatable to divers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We did everything underwater that you see underwater in this film. The team came to understand the technical challenges of bringing James Cameron\u2019s vision of underwater Pandora to life. Yet, as Landau pointed out, while the ocean provided the backdrop to tell the story, the story was still paramount. Our job was to collaborate with Jim, the entire crew, and the actors to bring the underwater visuals of that story to life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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En savoir plus<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

En savoir plus sur l'\u00e9laboration de Avatar : La voie de l'eau<\/em> dans ces vid\u00e9os.<\/p>\n\n\n\n