How did the Avatar actor turn into an emotional blue-skinned person?

Behind the scenes of the movie Avatar: The Way of Water

13 years ago, Avatar (2009) created a revolution with motion capture technology.

To create the vivid blue-skinned Na’vi, the visual effects team used a head-mounted camera to accurately capture the tiniest nuances of the actor’s facial expression.

More technology, more emotion

Coming to Avatar: The Way of Water (Avatar: Flow of Water, 2022), the challenge increases as the characters mature, have families, have more complex emotions.

As a result, the system is updated with two high-resolution cameras designed for realistic detail and more nuanced performance.

Zoe Saldana and Sam Worthington as Neytiri and Jake in Avatar 2

In Avatar 2, James Cameron calls this technology performance capture. He said, “Capture acting can convey the whole performance, emotions, expressions, eyes, everything.

Actors create emotions and moments. Our job is to make sure everything they do is on the character.”

According to producer Jon Landau, Pandora is not real, the 3-meter-tall Na’vi are also not real, so the actors have to wear many specialized tools on their bodies. 100% of their actions and expressions are digitized and conveyed into the character.

Therefore, the image of the blue-skinned Na’vi in Avatar 2 is completely superior to Avatar 1 in terms of delicate expressive ability. “We are able to adapt the details of the actor’s face to a much higher level,” added Jon Landau.

Stars and actors are proud

Sam Worthington – the main actor who plays Jake Sully – said he had to perform every action that Jake did in the Na’vi form. And Zoe Saldana – who plays Neytiri – was touched when she saw the beautiful Neytiri form of Avatar 2.

Sam Worthington as Jake Sully

Sigourney Weaver – 73-year-old star – plays 14-year-old girl Kiri. “The great thing about this technology is that it’s the portal for me to bring back my 14-year-old self and play this little girl,” she said.

Star Kate Winslet expressed her admiration: “I’ve filmed many movies with green and blue screens, but I’ve never filmed like this. There was no background at all, we just acted in the same space. big time. It’s great to be able to see my acting go straight to the character.”