The Avatar: The Way of the Water trailer backlash has been disproven by visual effects artists. The teaser trailer for this long-anticipated sequel was released in early May, giving the first look at James Cameron’s underwater world. The Way of the Water trailer was almost immediately a hit, clocking over 148 million views in under 24 hours.
Still, the trailer and Cameron’s original Avatar are not without their detractors. Cameron and his team have had over a decade to develop new technology to ensure quality underwater motion capture technology. However, Avatar 2’s critics claim that the original Avatar has lost its cultural significance. Others go even further as to say that the teaser trailer for The Way of the Water does not look significantly different than the original trailer.
Three VFX artists refute these detractors in a new video from Corridor Crew. According to these artists, Avatar 2 does in fact update the CGI from the original film, and it does so in significant ways. Though the Way of the Water team is clearly conscious to preserve “the aesthetic of the original Avatar,” these artists claim that the new trailer actually makes significant progress from the original. They break down many of the trailer’s elements as they relate to previous claims by those who hate on Avatar 2, including those who claim that the water in the trailer is a practical effect (i.e. that it was all shot using real water) rather than a computer-generated one. The VFX artists explain:
“They’ve managed to nail the aesthetic of the original Avatar while also upgrading every single visual component that you can see.”
Furthermore, they emphasize one particular close-up shot of a Na’vi person adjusting a leather strap in the water:
“This shot right here, everything you’re seeing from the blue skin, to the water, to the straps, everything you’re seeing was generated by a computer…so why does the internet refuse to believe that that shot is generated by a computer?”
Though many viewers may not have believed that the Avatar: The Way of the Water trailer contained full-scale CGI water, these VFX artists prove that these viewers’ disbelief actually speaks well about the visual quality of the trailer. Instead of sloppy, wider-scale water renderings made by a computer, the water in the intimate close-up shot looked incredibly lifelike, its physical dynamics mirroring that of actual water. The fact that the CGI is not distractingly different than the original proves that Avatar 2’s VFX artists were paying close attention to the world they were building, and stayed faithful to the original universe even as they used far improved technologies. By breaking down the individual elements of the shot and others in the trailer (including, for one, the fact that the dripping hands in the aforementioned shot are CGI skin and not painted human skin of an actor), these VFX artists dismantle the theory that Avatar: The Way of the Water is full of practical effects rather than the immense CGI advances that the trailer actually creates.
These VFX artists, who are industry professionals, show palpable excitement towards the advancements present in Avatar 2. With so many years passed since the original Avatar film came out, it can be easy for viewers to quickly dismiss the sequel, claiming that it misses the mark of its groundbreaking predecessor. From this new shot-by-shot breakdown, however, viewers can glean a clearer eye of how intricate and developed this new CGI actually is. The Na’vi are still blue, of course, and their eye shapes are nearly identical to the original. But The Way of the Water’s CGI world is clearly no less vibrant and stunning than it was when Avatar hit theaters in 2009.
Source: Corridor Crew