Deborah Lynn Scott received her second Academy Award nomination (shockingly, her first since her Titanic win in 1998) for the latest instalment of James Cameron’s Avatar series: Fire and Ash.
When the nominees were first announced in January, there seemed to be a lot of confusion regarding Avatar’s inclusion in the costume category. “Wasn’t this digital character design?” online commentators cried. They will be appeased to know that all of the costumes featured in the film were made in reality by an entire costume team.
Read on to learn a little about the process.
A new clan was introduced in this film called the Tlalim (wind traders) who are people that weave and make cloth. So, that’s what Deborah and her team did. Their climate and work played a big role in the costumes. Their chief, played by David Thewlis, wore very vibrant transitional sunset colours and a swirling pattern in his clothing that references movement. As for their loin cloths- “They’re skirts, basically,” Scott said. “They could cover more of the body in the cold, but then tuck up when the characters needed to climb up into the rigging, which is another part of their environment.”
For the Ash people, the Mangkwan clan, who live in a volcanic wasteland, their costumes reflect their environment and the necessity of using rudimentary materials like clay and stone. They focused on body painting, piercing and scarification to express themselves. “That came from research into indigenous people all over the world, who paint their bodies for both decorative reasons and practical ones, like protection from the sun.” For their colour palette- “Jim wanted the black of the ash of the volcano, with an accent of red for fire and blood”.
Once Scott’s team had created the costumes (everything form a loin cloth to a necklace), they filmed tests of every piece involved in dancing or swimming or flying so they understood how the costumes move in water or wind. The costumes and footage were then turned over to the VFX team at Wētā who studied them and were able to translate them to screen. Each one was scanned and then the VFX artists would draw them onto the digital bodies.
“We made all the costumes in real life because of the complexity of the garments, if you don't have it in real life, you just don't have it. Making them gives a perfect template to turn over to the VFX artists. It's like, we give them the real thing, then they do their thing. And I supervised them doing their thing.” (Forbes)
“Then we virtually fit samples to a nine-foot-tall blue body, making the costume a second time in a virtual fitting room.”
Going one step further, Scott was able to make changes and manipulate her designs once she saw the effect on screen.
“When we are designing, we have a big space of time to alter and evolve the costumes completely to respond to the motion of the performance. I see Varang [Oona Chaplin] coming out of her yurt, swaying her hips, and I want to compliment that with a battle headdress. Paylek [David Thewlis] had a mangy cloak when we first shot, but I later changed it to a colourful cloak with more stature after seeing how he strutted across the gondola. It’s a gift to be able to sculpt my designs to each performance as Jim is building the movie”.- Hollywood Reporter
Congratulations to Scott and her team on the beautiful costumes, and best of luck for the Oscars this weekend!