Largest underwater motion-capture project
- Who
- Avatar: The Way of Water
- What
- 250,000 total number
- Where
- United States
- When
- 2022
The largest underwater motion-capture project is Avatar: The Way of Water (USA, 2022), directed by James Cameron. Across an 18-month period beginning in 2017, cast and crew members logged more than 250,000 dives. A pair of giant water tanks – the larger of the two measuring 120 feet long, 60 feet wide and 30 feet deep, and capable of holding more than 250,000 gallons of water – were built at Manhattan Beach Studios in California.
The water had to be crystal clear in order for the motion-capture technology to work underwater, meaning actors and camera operators couldn’t use scuba gear. Cast members such as Sam Worthington and Kate Winslet studied freediving with elite coach Kirk Krack in order to learn how to perform for minutes at a time below the surface.