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Extensive digital previz in film can sometimes make sequences, or even entire movies, seem incredibly stale and boring. Spontaneity is lost when the director has the ability to plan every frame.
Nearly every shot in Avatar went through a huge development phase. They would film motion capture data, import it into mocked-up environments and basically decide camera angles and sequence cutting after they had captured the actor's performances. These 'templates' for every shot would then be sent off to Weta or ILM who constructed the finals.
What struck me most about Avatar was that, even with the ridiculous amount of planning that went into each and every shot, the film still felt fresh, energetic and even a little off-the-cuff. Not once did I feel like it was micromanaged.
I'm not sure exactly who to give props to on this one, but I do hope future productions take note. This was an extremely effective use of previz to essentially generate a film without the George Lucas "Look what I can do with total control over everything" effect.
Nearly every shot in Avatar went through a huge development phase. They would film motion capture data, import it into mocked-up environments and basically decide camera angles and sequence cutting after they had captured the actor's performances. These 'templates' for every shot would then be sent off to Weta or ILM who constructed the finals.
What struck me most about Avatar was that, even with the ridiculous amount of planning that went into each and every shot, the film still felt fresh, energetic and even a little off-the-cuff. Not once did I feel like it was micromanaged.
I'm not sure exactly who to give props to on this one, but I do hope future productions take note. This was an extremely effective use of previz to essentially generate a film without the George Lucas "Look what I can do with total control over everything" effect.