The ancient art of bending, channeling the energies of water, earth, fire, and air and expressing them in your hands and feet, is a defining feature of the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender. After all, the reason Anne (Gordon Cormier) is the Avatar is that he's destined to master them all.
From the original animated series and later reference videos, each bending style from the four countries begins with the vocabulary of authentic Chinese martial arts from our world (Tai Chi for waterbending, Bagua for airbending, Firebending If you're interested in Northern Shaolin style kung fu, you can also enjoy the Hung Ga style of earth-bending kung fu). But in Netflix's live-action version of Avatar: The Last Airbender, his stunt coordinator Jeff Allo utilizes very modern tools to teach the show's young cast how to bend and figure out how to fight in the real world. I did.
“We didn't want to just tell people what to do. We wanted to teach them enough language so they could give us feedback and make clear choices that fit their personalities. “We wanted to be able to do that,” Alo said. To do that, they had to give the cast of “The Last Airbender” a crash course in bending basics well before filming. And Aro did it on his Zoom.
“I actually started training online,” Aro told IndieWire. “We created a little training video that introduced them as 'Introduction to waterbending,' and sent it to the entire cast to encourage them to train.” That all participants in the show have the same basics of grammar so that they can gradually incorporate elements of regional fighting styles into a personal style that expresses what is important to them on their journey. I was hoping for
Aro wanted the Netflix series to honor the character growth that was so beautifully revealed in the original animation's fight scenes. But there was also room to expand on what certain characters have to say about their fighting styles and who they are benders (or non-benders) in combat.
“When two benders are fighting, they're really just doing martial arts in two different parts of the room. It can be really hard to define,” Aro said. Since his invisible third partner is his VFX added to fight sequences, Aro and his team use previs to help with storyboarding, especially creative conversations with the director and cast. Based on that, we had an idea of what the battle sequences would be like.
For example, in the duel between Firelord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim) and Prince Zuko (Dallas Liu), Prince Zuko is ordered to hunt down the Avatar before he returns home. Live action version movement. “So with previz, we make sure that the actors have the opportunity to give us their input. We send the previz by email, so [weigh in] Especially when you have athletes like Daniel Dae Kim and Dallas Liu who are high-level fighters, you have to be careful in terms of your physical choices.I want them to help me make those choices. [for] It’s a physical conversation between two people,” Alo said.
But some of Aro's favorite pieces in the series are characters who seem to have fewer options for how to express themselves physically through their fight choreography, namely Sokka (Ian Owsley) with his club and boomerang, and Suki. It's for unyielding characters like (Maria). Zhang), a young leader of Kyoto warriors who has developed a particular style to fight those who can throw fireballs.
“Kyoshi Warriors has a Japanese influence, so it was really, really fun building that physical vocabulary with martial arts like Aikido and its fans, because it's not something we've seen a lot in anime. Because there isn't.'' And working with Ian and Maria… Ian was one of my favorite characters to work with, because he's in this world of, “Hey, I got it.'' It's a club.'' Something like that. But his choices are pretty phenomenal and I think having a character like him grounds things,” Aro said.
That grounded feel of character expression is what Aro wanted to focus on in all his fight choreography designs. “Typically, for stunts, we always spin it in sixth gear,” Aro said. “[but] The hesitation is to be too stunty with a project like this, which requires careful vocabulary selection. [for] The world we create. ”
If you look closely at the characters' physical movements during battle sequences, there are even hints as to where they might go next. “We put in a lot of little physical Easter eggs,” Aro said. “If we could do these character evolutions, Zuko is going to do this and his anger is what's driving him. [let’s plant the basics of it] here. The characters develop so beautifully and I hope we get to explore them. ”
“Beautifully” might not be the way to describe the most ferocious character yet to be revealed in Team Avatar's journey to become the greatest Earthbender of all time, but it's definitely a character Aro would like to explore is. “Her whole personality is great,” Aro said. “Our youngest son, he will be attracted to her because… [their energy] It's the same thing, like, “I'm not the biggest, but I'm the boss.'' ”
While the tone of the Netflix show isn't geared toward goofy stuff that pleases younger viewers, Aro does make sure that each character's fighting style is felt and that the different bending styles are the same for kids of all ages. I wanted to inject a sense of mystery into it. As if it were a physical representation of who they are. “I loved seeing what choices the actors made,” Alo said. “They've done a great job in this process, [when] They chose to do so too. The safest way to do things is to do them in preparation as you plan and build. Being attentive when the cameras aren't rolling really makes a big difference. ”
