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The Making of Avatar
In 1995, James Cameron began work on a story that would, more than a decade later, evolve into Avatar , the blockbuster of 2009 and no less than the movie event of the decade. Opening to international critical acclaim (including nine Academy Award® nominations) and unprecedented box-office success, Avatar quickly, within a few short weeks, became the highest-grossing film on record. An epic for our times, this next-generation spectacle blends action, adventure, and romance with a timely message of ecological responsibility while using, and inventing, cutting-edge technologies to transport audiences to a lush, fully realized alien world.
No less epic, however, was the groundbreaking and exhaustive process of bringing the film to life. Early brainstorming sessions in Malibu jumpstarted a vast production effort that ultimately spanned several years and multiple continents. The Making of Avatar reveals never-before-seen illustrations and photographs, with a text that charts the technical challenges, innovations, and discoveries that made the film's breakthroughs possible. Working in tandem, artists and technicians created new tools and processes to realize the film's vision, including those for performance capture, which allows the nuances of the actors' performances to be translated faithfully to their digital characters; a virtual camera system, which empowered Cameron to direct within a virtual world with unprecedented range, generate real-time composites, and blend live action and special effects more naturally and intuitively than ever before; and stereoscopic photography, which produced the most immersive 3-D experience to date. Here is the behind-the-scenes celebration of this monumental undertaking, the official record of how Cameron, the actors, and the crew made a film, and made history.
No less epic, however, was the groundbreaking and exhaustive process of bringing the film to life. Early brainstorming sessions in Malibu jumpstarted a vast production effort that ultimately spanned several years and multiple continents. The Making of Avatar reveals never-before-seen illustrations and photographs, with a text that charts the technical challenges, innovations, and discoveries that made the film's breakthroughs possible. Working in tandem, artists and technicians created new tools and processes to realize the film's vision, including those for performance capture, which allows the nuances of the actors' performances to be translated faithfully to their digital characters; a virtual camera system, which empowered Cameron to direct within a virtual world with unprecedented range, generate real-time composites, and blend live action and special effects more naturally and intuitively than ever before; and stereoscopic photography, which produced the most immersive 3-D experience to date. Here is the behind-the-scenes celebration of this monumental undertaking, the official record of how Cameron, the actors, and the crew made a film, and made history.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 2, 2010
The Making of Avatar is an absolutely astounding book, accompanying an equally astounding movie. It really gives you a feel for the effort and passion and technological wizardry that James Cameron and his cast and crew put into making Avatar.
The book, while under 300 pages, is stuffed full of hundreds and hundreds of photos and pieces of concept art, with detailed captioning. Often these photos show side-by-side comparisons of the original concept art, the actors performing, and the final product. The digital modelling also is covered extensively in the images, showing various stages of characters, creatures, machinery and more.
The text is illuminating, engagingly written (it feels like a long and comprehensive magazine article), with many interview snippets from Cameron, cast members and other people involved with the movies. The text focuses mainly on the production. The coverage breakdown is about 25% pre-production and design, 60% production, and 15% post-production.
Areas that are covered extensively are the creation of the Na'vi, the motion capture sessions, the unique camera systems that were built for the movie (the descriptions of which were some of my favourite parts of this book), the live-action shoot that followed, and the translation of the motion captured performances into the final CGI products.
Areas that I wish had been touched more upon were the writing (and the plot changes that occurred between the project's inception and it's realisation), and many aspects of the post-production. This area in particular was where the book lacked. For instance, the film's editing, sound design, scoring and release were all crammed into the last 6 or 7 pages of the book. But I don't mind too much, because I know these areas will get their due coverage when the extended DVD boxset comes out.
I loved this book because I love movie production. Some of the tidbits I enjoyed reading about were the casting, the creation of each Na'vi character based on the actors, James Cameron's revolutionary camera systems, and the little tricks of the live-action shoot that allowed, for instance, Sam Worthington to appear to have atrophied legs; or for humans to appear alongside Na'vi, such as in the scene where Jake first wakes up in his avatar body in the infirmary.
I adored this book from start to finish. While I wish some aspects of the film-making process were given more coverage, I still appreciated the journey this book took me on. If you're the kind of person who watches all the making-of DVD features of your favourite films, you will love this book.
The book, while under 300 pages, is stuffed full of hundreds and hundreds of photos and pieces of concept art, with detailed captioning. Often these photos show side-by-side comparisons of the original concept art, the actors performing, and the final product. The digital modelling also is covered extensively in the images, showing various stages of characters, creatures, machinery and more.
The text is illuminating, engagingly written (it feels like a long and comprehensive magazine article), with many interview snippets from Cameron, cast members and other people involved with the movies. The text focuses mainly on the production. The coverage breakdown is about 25% pre-production and design, 60% production, and 15% post-production.
Areas that are covered extensively are the creation of the Na'vi, the motion capture sessions, the unique camera systems that were built for the movie (the descriptions of which were some of my favourite parts of this book), the live-action shoot that followed, and the translation of the motion captured performances into the final CGI products.
Areas that I wish had been touched more upon were the writing (and the plot changes that occurred between the project's inception and it's realisation), and many aspects of the post-production. This area in particular was where the book lacked. For instance, the film's editing, sound design, scoring and release were all crammed into the last 6 or 7 pages of the book. But I don't mind too much, because I know these areas will get their due coverage when the extended DVD boxset comes out.
I loved this book because I love movie production. Some of the tidbits I enjoyed reading about were the casting, the creation of each Na'vi character based on the actors, James Cameron's revolutionary camera systems, and the little tricks of the live-action shoot that allowed, for instance, Sam Worthington to appear to have atrophied legs; or for humans to appear alongside Na'vi, such as in the scene where Jake first wakes up in his avatar body in the infirmary.
I adored this book from start to finish. While I wish some aspects of the film-making process were given more coverage, I still appreciated the journey this book took me on. If you're the kind of person who watches all the making-of DVD features of your favourite films, you will love this book.
December 4, 2012
(More pictures at parkablogs.com)
Since I have the The Art of Avatar as well, I'll start by saying that this is major step-up from the art book, in terms of visuals, writeup and construction.
It's a thick 272-page hardcover filled commentary and huge pictures. Yup, the pictures are in high resolution so there's no more of that pixelation you see in the art book. The film stills, even though you know it's computer generated, is less jarring, more natural. There are a lot of behind-the-scenes photos as well as concept art sketches of the creatures on Pandora.
The writeup is extensive. It really provides an in-depth look at the technical aspect of making the movie, from the conceptualisation stage down to mixing of life-action and 3D footage. There's plenty to read about the concepts behind everything has to be visually created, like the creatures, the sculptures, environments, weapons, props, etc. It's all really detailed and carefully explained, even the captions are informative. Stuff like creating characters are broken down into several steps, such as the creation of clay sculptures (handled by Stan Winston Studio) and the actually modeling of 3D models (handled by Weta).
And then you have the motion performance part where they show how action is mapped into the movie, and all the little production tricks that are used. There are actually horses in the studios to capture the part where the Navi ride the Direhorses. And those horses are also had their bodies pasted with the little beads for motion capture.
This book is a very satisfying read. Highly recommended if you like movie production books.
June 27, 2013
James Cameron’s 2009 film was a leap forward in film animation technology and tells a poignant tale of the devastation of nature by marauding humans. Using Sci-Fi story-telling to transpose real word events to foreign planets often enables authors, and film-makers, to make scathing statements about the contemporary world more palatable to a mass audience. Who didn’t cheer on the inside when Jake Sully, the disabled marine turned Na’avi initiate and tribal warrior, destroyed the floating battleship of the mining company in the final battle of the film?
In many ways the film was also one of the world’s biggest visual art projects. This book shows you how they created the magic on screen with a legion 3D animators, costume specialists and cultural anthropologists recruited to realize the concept and make the world of Pandora believable. They even created a new language for the tree-dwelling tribe to speak. This book is full of colour photos and somehow it doesn’t detract from the magic of the movie or its urgent message. Now we just need to use as much imagination, dedication and co-operation to address the pressing issues back here on Earth. It will be even more exciting to do 'save the world' for real!!
Oel ngati kameie. “I see you”.
SIMON
In many ways the film was also one of the world’s biggest visual art projects. This book shows you how they created the magic on screen with a legion 3D animators, costume specialists and cultural anthropologists recruited to realize the concept and make the world of Pandora believable. They even created a new language for the tree-dwelling tribe to speak. This book is full of colour photos and somehow it doesn’t detract from the magic of the movie or its urgent message. Now we just need to use as much imagination, dedication and co-operation to address the pressing issues back here on Earth. It will be even more exciting to do 'save the world' for real!!
Oel ngati kameie. “I see you”.
SIMON
December 26, 2013
I honestly loved it. I loved the backstory behind the film. I also liked to skim through the pictures. The imagining they did to make the characters realistic is so unreal. I'm so excited for the second and third movies to come out within the coming years.
July 7, 2025
A highly informative look at the technology, creativity and resourcefulness required for modern filmmaking, highlighting the effort and commitment needed to build a convincing representation of an imagined world. The live-action techniques and visual effects used in Avatar are impressive achievements, with many using breakthrough ideas to facilitate ideal outcomes: this book neatly explains, in some detail, how these systems and processes were devised and used, and ultimately formed a believable, highly immersive reality. Unlike the film, the visual style of this book isn’t overly impressive, yet the content is always interesting and contains many details I’d never have easily discovered elsewhere without investing considerable time or expense.
January 14, 2025
We stan a well done behind the scenes book 📕 believe it or not, they’re hard to come by. Solid mix of detailed bts and obligatory pictures. It could’ve had an interview or two with Sam or zoë but yanno what I’m not gonna throw a fit cuz this is clearly focused on the pre-production and production side of such a massive blockbuster. A good line to sum it all up —> you don’t see the film, you experience it. ✨ p h a n t a s m a g o r i c a l ✨ i will be watching this right now
October 26, 2022
basically a coffee table book about the production of avatar (2009). similar to the kind of information you would get in particularly good dvd extras (less so the featurette kind, moreso the massive documentaries in the lord of the rings extended edition kind). and it’s undeniably satisfying seeing some of the gorgeous, full-page (oftentimes two-page) pictures ranging from concept art to production photos to stills from the movie. and i get that you oftentimes get similar things in the form of b-roll in the aforementioned “making of” documentaries, but having the pictures on a glossy page in a huge book physically in your hands satisfies on a completely different level.
i loved all the insights i got from hearing from cameron and others in this book. there are so many little examples in here that speak to the fact that cameron’s priorities in storytelling mesh up so well with the kinds of things i look for and enjoy as a member of the audience.
i’m also just so impressed by the amount of attention he pays to tiny details no one’s really going to notice but will still make a huge difference taken in the aggregate. it’s kind of incredible that avatar’s visuals have aged as well as they have considering how heavily reliant the film is on cg, and that kind of attention to detail has a lot to do with it. also the fact that cameron is apparently very into the nuts & bolts of the technology of filmmaking and was just constantly pushing the boundaries of what was considered possible and pushing his team and himself to invent new technology on the fly.
speaking of movies whose visuals have aged astonishingly well, i kind of didn’t realize how much this movie had in common with lord of the rings, thanks largely to the contributions of weta workshop and weta digital. so i think that helps explain why i like it so dang much.
also, while i want to be careful with this last point, i think this book actually may have tempered some of my big-picture problems with the narrative in avatar. there were passing references to studio executives being concerned that audiences wouldn’t be able to connect with na’vi main characters etc, and it was quite transparently dumb but it did remind me how transparently dumb studio executives can often be. and given the amount of money, buy-in, and leeway cameron needed from these same execs, it’s entirely possible that some of the more frustrating aspects of the film’s narrative may have been there to appease them.
again, i’m not excusing anything, and i’m not even sure this is exactly how things went down because obviously that kind of dirt isn’t going to come all the way out in a pretty coffee table book, but it was still something that made me think.
***
check out part 1 of my megareview of the avatar franchise on my blog 24,000 miles to the moon! https://24000milestothemoon.blogspot....
i loved all the insights i got from hearing from cameron and others in this book. there are so many little examples in here that speak to the fact that cameron’s priorities in storytelling mesh up so well with the kinds of things i look for and enjoy as a member of the audience.
i’m also just so impressed by the amount of attention he pays to tiny details no one’s really going to notice but will still make a huge difference taken in the aggregate. it’s kind of incredible that avatar’s visuals have aged as well as they have considering how heavily reliant the film is on cg, and that kind of attention to detail has a lot to do with it. also the fact that cameron is apparently very into the nuts & bolts of the technology of filmmaking and was just constantly pushing the boundaries of what was considered possible and pushing his team and himself to invent new technology on the fly.
speaking of movies whose visuals have aged astonishingly well, i kind of didn’t realize how much this movie had in common with lord of the rings, thanks largely to the contributions of weta workshop and weta digital. so i think that helps explain why i like it so dang much.
also, while i want to be careful with this last point, i think this book actually may have tempered some of my big-picture problems with the narrative in avatar. there were passing references to studio executives being concerned that audiences wouldn’t be able to connect with na’vi main characters etc, and it was quite transparently dumb but it did remind me how transparently dumb studio executives can often be. and given the amount of money, buy-in, and leeway cameron needed from these same execs, it’s entirely possible that some of the more frustrating aspects of the film’s narrative may have been there to appease them.
again, i’m not excusing anything, and i’m not even sure this is exactly how things went down because obviously that kind of dirt isn’t going to come all the way out in a pretty coffee table book, but it was still something that made me think.
***
check out part 1 of my megareview of the avatar franchise on my blog 24,000 miles to the moon! https://24000milestothemoon.blogspot....
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews