Netflix’s Avatar might not have been a resounding success, but it is definitely a step up from its previous iteration, which came in the form of M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender. Among the numerous decisions that the film made, one of the most criticized aspects of the movie was the CGI that it used.
Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender had a lot riding on it. While it had to bear the burden of satisfying fans who had been hurt once before by an inadequate live-action adaptation, it also had to make sure that it did not repeat the same mistakes that the first live-action adaptation of the animated series made. It is safe to say, that if nothing else, the Netflix version of the IP had the previous live-action adaptation beat in one key way.
Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender did not rely on CGI as much as M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender
Speaking with Awards Radar, Jabbar Rasiani, who was involved with the production of the show, revealed some key details about how the production approached the tangible aspect of creating the world of Avatar, through the use of CGI and practical effects, which allowed the actors to have something on set that they could physically interact with. He said:
Creating visual effects that blend with live-action photography and the performance of the actors is one of our biggest challenges. One of the things that we always try to do is talk with the actors about what eventually will be there. When it comes to something like Appa, for example, in the pilot episode, when Aang has this heart-to-heart moment with Appa before they fly off, we built a full-sized buck of Appa’s face that could be puppeteered.
It really gave Gordon something to perform with. Gordon’s a really imaginative kid. He really saw Appa when he was talking to that blue face. It happened to be a scene that I directed, so we just talked a lot about what Appa would be doing when Aang was having his different moments, so he could really visualize the other character that he was doing the scene with.
With the presence of some practical aspects on set, the show had already gotten some things right, as compared to what Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender did with its over-reliance on CGI.
The actors now had more of a chance to perform in conjunction with a tangible asset, which allowed them to deliver a more authentic performance in an imaginative world that the set designers went through great pains to create.
The world of Avatar is about to expand big time
Avatar Studios is set to expand the world of Avatar to make it a property that is on the level of Harry Potter and Star Wars. While there are more stories on the way about the original Team Avatar, there is also an Earth Avatar show in development, one that will follow the next Avatar in the cycle after Korra.
Of course, in the absence of the show, the world has continued to expand in the form of novels and comic books. The world has mostly been alive and well, in the absence of a high-profile story in the mainstream media. Paramount has a great property on its hands, and here’s hoping that we receive word on their progress soon.
Avatar: The Last Airbender can be streamed on Netflix
