Video: ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash' | Anatomy of a Scene

Hey, Jim Cameron right here. I’m the director of “Avatar: Hearth and Ash.” So that is Varang, performed by Oona Chaplin. And he or she’s sharing with Quaritch, now that he’s on this altered state of consciousness, her backstory about how the volcano erupted. She doesn’t use the time period “volcano.” She says the fireplace got here from the mountain. We will fill that in for ourselves, destroyed her homeland, she says, “burned our forests.” And he or she talks concerning the plight of her folks. So that is Oona imagining flame. There’s no flame. And we even went again and did a pickup on this line — “However Eywa didn’t come.” — as a result of I needed one thing punchy that I may actually zoom in tight on her face as a result of we actually fell in love together with her character, the look of her character. Folks want to recollect there’s really zero images occurring right here. There’s one hundred percent efficiency seize. So after we see this P.O.V., of how Quaritch is perceiving her, which is his altered state as a result of hallucinogenic fact powder that she shot up his nostril together with her blowpipe. That is me with my digital digital camera simply taking part in, simply having enjoyable. Simply seeing what a 9 millimeter lens would seem like, simply seeing what would occur if I jitter the zoom so it sort of flutters and fluctuates just a little bit. After which we created shaders that may have the floor sort of boiling with these fractal patterns. And we created lags and all that. So I did some research forward of time on this again in school. [Laughs] No extra mentioned on that. And so that is Oona and Stephen Lang. They usually didn’t do plenty of preparation. We didn’t rehearse the scene very a lot. We simply sort of plunged into it. However you see two actually consummate actors working right here and simply bouncing off one another, simply feeding off one another’s vitality. So Stephen approached it that he was on some sort of hallucinatory drug however he really — he was taking part in it that he thought she was sort of wonderful and virtually goddess like. And that’s why we play with the size and the scale of her with the extensive lens right here, and that he really thinks it’s sort of wonderful and even humorous at occasions, a number of the issues she says. Now, in the meantime, we’re imagined to suppose he’s in plenty of hazard right here. He’s misplaced his overwatch man: Wainfleet, his sniper. He’s hidden from him. He’s on his personal together with her. She’s acquired a knife. She’s choosing up his kuru. We’ve already seen her sever the kurus of many different folks. Yeah, we’re previous the purpose of peak jeopardy right here, the place we faux out the viewers that she’s going to chop his kuru off, which we’ve additionally been informed is worse than demise for them. Oona’s efficiency is extraordinarily detailed right here. I’ve acquired an terrible lot of respect for what she did. I don’t recall us doing plenty of takes. However at this level the ability begins to shift. He mentioned, “I can provide the one factor you’ve by no means had, which is an equal, ” and that stops her in her tracks. After which he begins to color this image of what he can do for her with human know-how: weapons and numerous superior tech. And since he’s on a fact serum, she should consider every thing that he says. And that’s what’s fantastic about this scene, as a result of he can’t be mendacity. It would occur the best way he describes it. After which she’s searching right into a future the place she has the sort of energy that she’s at all times dreamed of. And that’s when she says, “I see you,” that means I see what you’re saying. “You want me.” “I see you.” And he closes with “rattling proper you do.” Which is — It’s been his plan all alongside to stroll in there and try this. So all that point you thought he was in jeopardy. He was really simply setting her up. Now it begins to play out. So cinematically, I like this scene. I just like the gradual movement, I just like the wind. I like the truth that you don’t hear any true sound right here different than simply the music, this extremely pounding, driving factor. It’s virtually just like the music of a future taking part in out. And when his know-how meets her lust for energy, it turns into virtually sexual right here, her glee. It’s really written within the script that she’s like a lady together with her first pony. You realize what I imply? Like, she’s simply so proud of what he’s introduced for her. However it’s really fairly a darkish second since you see the tumblers within the lock of future are sort of turning and locking in. And I had a bunch of dialogue right here the place he says, “So, are we companions?” And he or she says, “This isn’t the best way we develop into companions,” but it surely simply turned out to be pointless. And so it grew to become a really stylized sort of cinematic method. [GUNSHOTS]