All language subtitles for MasterClass - James Cameron Teaches Filmmaking 09.From Sketch To Spectacle Creating Set Pieces Eng

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JAMES CAMERON:
Generally speaking,

a lot of visual effects
works against you

for a lot of reasons.

It can be numbing.

You can kind of debase the
value of a given effect

by having too many of them.

They can blow your budget.

It's better to have a
few memorable set pieces.

From a writing standpoint,
I sort of treat it

as a standalone thing.

I'll figure out where it's going
to start, what the kickoff is.

You know, what the kind of
opening bell of the set piece

is and where the resolution is.

I'll figure out where my--

my out point is.

And then I'll work within that
so that it's not too long,

it-- it stays focused
and it stays of a piece.

And, I mean, I think there's--

just like there's an
art to scene writing,

I think there's an art
to creating a set piece.

It's kind of a
film within a film,

and it kind of has
its own-- own rules,

and it's got a beginning,
a middle, and an end,

some kind of resolution.

That end may or may
coincide with an act break

or it may not.

But, you know, a
suspense sequence

or a scene, a dramatic
scene in a film

might be a four or
five-page dialogue

scene that's done in
some stylized way,

maybe without any cuts.

Maybe some circulating Steadicam
shot that moves sinuously

through some dramatic moment.

That would be a-- that
would be a set piece.

So then you have to pick
your battles carefully.

What's the narrative
purpose of the set piece?

So to use the example
from "Terminator"

of the first future
flashback, it was actually

just to build character.

For Michael Biehn's character.

It was to show his
traumatic world

and why he was basically a
walking, physically-scarred,

and mentally-scarred example of
post-traumatic stress syndrome.

He was the living embodiment
in the present day

of how bad that future was and
why you needed to prevent it

from occurring, right?

So it had a powerful
narrative and character

purpose in that
film, but it was also

just stuff I wanted to see.

And that's another thing.

Is there are a lot of kind
of rules and advisories

about why you put
things in movies, and--

and they all have to serve a
purpose, except they don't.

Sometimes it should
just be something

you want to see as a filmmaker.

And sometimes the
only way to see it

is to make it and show it.

And I remember having
this discussion

with one of the heads
of 20th Century Fox

when "Avatar" was almost done
and they were complaining

about the flying scenes.

Why does this flying
scene go on so long?

And you've-- you've
already proved the point.

It doesn't advance
the narrative,

it doesn't advance
the character.

I said, you're right
on every count,

you've ticked every box like
a good studio executive.

But guess what?

I want to see it.

And I extrapolate from
that, and Stanley Kubrick

was a firm proponent
of this principle.

If I want to see it,
my cognitive leap

is, there are going to be lots
of people that want to see it.

I want to see it for itself,
not for its purpose, right?

Because there is a purpose to
the things you want to see.

The purpose is to be
present, to be in that world,

to be enjoying what's
happening, to sustain a feeling.

So those flying scenes actually
did have a big purpose.

That's when Jake and
Neytiri fell in love.

And I got into a big fight
with the studio over that.

And I'd like to say fortunately
I prevailed, because I

love those flying scenes.

They're great.

But life is a whole lot
easier if you can actually

dig deep and examine why
you've made a decision

or why you have that instinct.

Because it's going to cost
somebody else a bunch of money

to follow up on that instinct.

And so the more
you can share it,

the more you can
inspire others with it

and why that choice makes sense,
the better life is going to be.

Set pieces often are good
candidates for previs.

Chances are, you're not
going to have a budget

to previs the entire
picture, nor do you need to.

You should only have to
previs the things that

are extraordinary
and require really

tight, interdepartmental
planning well before the fact.

So in terms of the previs
process, you've got to--

you can't just
start storyboarding

until you know what
things are going

to look like, because what
are you going to draw?

Is the character wearing a
trench coat or a loincloth,

you know?

So you have to do some
design before you can even

start storyboarding,
otherwise you're

just going to do
stick figures, which

isn't going to tell anybody
anything, yourself included.

So I say start the
design process,

start to evolve the storyboards.

Now some people work
with storyboards

and some people work
more with previs tools.

You can use a-- a suite of--

of keyframe previs.

You can do a little
animation pieces.

Put a blank face,
but at least it

gives you the-- the
dynamics and the framing.

And you start to think
about composition,

you start to think
about cutting.

And now you'll-- you'll
essentially do some kind

of a pre-cut of the scene
with your-- with your previs.

It doesn't mean you're
bound to shoot it that way.

You're always going to be open
to inspiration of the moment,

but it's a good
jumping-off place

so people know how
much you have to build,

what does the director expect
here in terms of the action?

How long am I going
to be on something?

How much detail do we need?

What kind of action are we going
to try to do/ How are we going

to move the camera?

How are we going to
support the camera?

Is it on a crane, is
it on a Steadicam,

is it being handheld?

You know, it starts to
trigger a thousand questions.

And a good team around
you will start to hit--

hit you with those
questions, you know?

The DP's going to want to know,
are we on a wide lens style

or are we on a
longer lens style?

Are we on a backlight
style or are

we on a diffused light style?

What's the style, you know?

Because there's a
thousand different ways

to light a scene, there's
a thousand different ways

to shoot a scene.

Presumably the filmmaker, if
they don't come in with a style

initially, they're
going to have to find

one that suits the piece,
that suits the story.

That's-- that's a
critical part of it.

And when those questions
start to get answered,

then you can start
saying, okay, I

need this shot, this
shot, and this shot.

Just from my own experience,
a good example of a set piece

that was done on a film that
was made on a very low budget

is Reese's flashback of the
future, of the traumatic future

that he comes from in the
first act of "The Terminator."

And I say the first act because
Reese hasn't met Sarah yet

and he hasn't met--

he hasn't met the
Terminator yet.

So this is all sort of
in the character setup,

and I wanted to see this
future soldier in his world,

and I wanted to go into it
through his fatigue-induced

dream state and come out
of it where he's shocked

and disoriented and back in
our present, which is his--

his past.

I knew it was going to
involve visual effects models,

you know, miniatures,
miniature explosions,

and some full-sized
live action elements

that were done in a-- in a
set of some-- some ruins,

some post-nuclear
holocaust ruins.

So I thought, I'd a
better draw this up.

So I approach it in a
very disciplined fashion.

I got my roommate to put on
some kind of military uniform.

I went and bought some guns.

We went-- we went out
in a field someplace,

and I took pictures of him
in all the different poses

that I wanted.

And I also did that for the car
chases as well, which I also--

also storyboarded.

Had him, you know,
hanging out the window,

I wanted to be able to
see what kind of positions

you could get into with the
weapons, what kind of lenses

I wanted to be on.

Did I want to be on telephoto
lenses or close lenses?

Wanted to make the guns
look big, so shorter--

shorter lenses.

And start to think, well,
how am I going to shoot this?

How can I get the
Insert car there?

So I started going
through the whole--

whole exercise.

I got my long-suffering
roommate to basically play

every character in the
film except for Sarah.

I think he played
Sarah a couple times.

And then I brought it all back.

I printed up all the photos.

This is back in the
days of photochemistry.

So I had a bunch of
prints all over my desk,

and I just started
drawing it all up.

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