Thirteen years after becoming the highest-grossing film of all time, AVATAR is back in theaters. Around the world, audiences of all generations will once again be able to enjoy in 3D and large formats the epic adventure written and directed by James Cameron, winner of three Oscars and turned into a true cultural phenomenon.
These are eight curiosities of the innovative film that marked a before and after in the cinematographic experience.1- THE NA’VI LANGUAGE WAS DEVELOPED ESPECIALLY FOR THE FILM, WITH ITS OWN VOCABULARY, STRUCTURE AND GRAMMAR.
To create the native language of the Na’vi community, Cameron summoned prominent linguist Paul Frommer, who designed a complete system. Early in the process, the filmmaker conveyed to Frommer the kinds of sounds he envisioned for the Na’vi. From there, Frommer designed a linguistic palette. Then, they worked on the structural properties of the language, the rules of pronunciation, and how words were constructed. The result? A language with more than a thousand words, and a specific structure and grammar that the actors learned with talent and speed. The cast also worked closely with dialect coach Carla Meyer to fine-tune the accent of the invented language.2- THE FILM’S MUSIC IS THE BRAINCHILD OF THE SAME COMPOSER OF ALIEN AND TITANIC.
The talent behind the AVATAR soundtrack is composer James Horner, the historical collaborator who created two of the most iconic soundtracks in film history: Alien and Titanic, both films directed by Cameron.3- THE CAST TOOK A TRAINING TRIP TO HAWAII BEFORE STARTING FILMING.
In the pre-production stage of the film, Cameron took the team to Hawaii, a destination geographically similar to the environment he had envisioned for Pandora, with the goal of training them in their interaction with space.” We had to live without sophisticated technology, without too many items or amenities. I was practically naked for three days, digging and climbing, and muddy from head to toe. I was missing essential items, I used to say ‘I can’t handle this’, and Jim would say ‘come on, Neytiri, hold on!'” recalls actress Zoe Saldaña, who plays Neytiri in the film.4- NEYTIRI JOINS AN ICONIC LIST OF FEMALE CHARACTERS WITH CAMERON’S STAMP.
Strong female characters are present in much of Cameron’s films, and AVATAR is no exception. Like Ellen Ripley in Alien, Sarah Connor in Terminator and Terminator 2, and Rose in Titanic, Neytiri combines strength, elegance, athletic prowess, vulnerability and emotional clarity. The director maintains that Saldaña managed to capture all aspects of the character he imagined, especially his combination of delicacy and intensity, as well as incredible physical prowess.5- PANDORA WAS CONCEIVED AS A COMBINATION OF EXOTICISM AND FAMILIARITY.
In creating Pandora, Cameron wanted it to be a recognizable place, but without losing its exoticism and unique characteristics. “We wanted to prevent the creatures and flora from being like those on Earth, being different enough to remind us that we were in another world, but, at the same time, with a certain resemblance that made them accessible,” explained the director And added: “Trees over 1000 feet high and mountains that seem to float are some of the landmarks that marvel at how incredibly imaginative and their scope, but whose designs arise from structures that are familiar to us all,” said the filmmaker.6- CAMERON HAD TO WAIT 10 YEARS TO CREATE HIS CHARACTERS
James Cameron refused to use makeup to create the inhabitants of Pandora because of the limitations imposed by the technique. You can not modify the height and body size of the characters, nor facial features such as distance or eye size. In 1995 he began to design his aliens using CG technology, but in order to achieve the splendor and vividness that the director had thought for his characters he had to wait for the technology to advance since the project was too ambitious for the resources of the time. Only in 2005 he was able to reactivate the creation of the Na’vi and together with his team they developed a new system of “image-based facial performance capture” using a camera that was hooked to the head to be able to accurately film even the smallest gestures of the actors thus achieving cameron’s desired photorealism.7- THE FAUNA OF PANDORA IS RICH IN ITS DIVERSITY
Diversity aniPandora’s disease includes a deer-like hexapod, the fierce Hammerhead Titanothere, a rhinoceros-like herbivore with a bad attitude and a mace-like head, and the Leonopteryx, the predatory king of the heavens, a flying animal with scarlet red, yellow, and black stripes, and wings that open extend 80 feet. A kind of Pandora that is smaller and kinder is the Jellyfish-like Woodsprite, shaking its silky loops to move elegantly through the air at night.8- THE CHARACTERS AND ENVIRONMENTS CAME TO LIFE IN PETER JACKSON’S VISUAL EFFECTS STUDIO.
To make the computer generation of avatar characters and environments, Cameron and his team turned to WETA Digital, the prestigious and award-winning visual effects studio of New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson.From WETA assured him that his team of top-notch animators would take on the mission of transmitting 100 percent of the actors’ performances to their avatar or Na’vi characters. This involved ensuring the recording of highly accurate data at the time the scene was being shot, and also required more than a year of work from the animation team to create the camera equipment for the face that would allow the CG characters to emulate the actors’ performance accurately, as if it were a mirror.
