Mastering the Art of Bending
August 19th, 2010 | 
Category: Movie | 
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Mastering the Art of Bending
Once Noah Ringer was cast as Aang, he only had about one month to train—as an actor, that is. He was surprised at how much the discipline of acting and the practice of martial arts had in common. Observes Ringer, “In Taekwondo, you listen to your instructor, and then respond. You do the same thing in acting with your director.”
Ringer trained with the stunt department for a couple of months prior to filming, incorporating his martial arts moves in complicated, choreographed fight sequences. Says Shyamalan, “Noah has a way of adding poetry to his moves, and at the same time, never losing his ‘Aang sensibility.’ On set, we had to pinch ourselves that this is not only his first movie, but also his first time ever acting. I challenged him everyday on the integrity of his acting, and he would come right back at me with ideas and interpretations of his own. He has a competitive instinct that makes him want to be the best he can be at everything he does.”
Nicola Peltz had played ice hockey for many years, and was thinking about playing professionally before she made the decision to pursue acting. Her athletic skills came in handy when training for the role of Katara, which included a regimen of martial arts training that started five months before filming began.
Says the New York native, “I started training on my own in Brooklyn and learned Kung Fu, which is a style of martial arts that is force against force. Then, a couple of months before we started filming, I went to Philadelphia and began training in Tai chi, then putting the choreography of the fight scenes together with Noah and Jackson.”
Nicola focused the majority of her training on Tai chi chuan, a martial art with a gentler, slower style and flowing movements. Tai chi uses internal energy to promote mental calmness and clarity, and it is the chosen style of bending utilized by the Water Tribe.
Four Cinematic ‘Nations’ Combine Forces: Martial Arts, Stunts, VFX and SFX
In the television series, bending was accomplished through the magic of animation. But for a live-action film, many elements would need to work in harmony in order to cinematically conjure the onscreen control of fire, water, earth and air. These four movie elements were martial arts, stunt work, visual and special effects.
Shyamalan has always been a big fan of martial arts and martial arts films. “I am a huge martial arts freak. I am one of those guys that has a statue of Bruce Lee in my office and has seen ‘Enter the Dragon’ dozens and dozens of times.”
While leads Noah Ringer and Dev Patel both hold black belts in Taekwondo, the style of martial art from Korea, they would need to work on transforming their moves to fit with those called for in the film. The world of “The Last Airbender” uses the Chinese martial art known as Wushu, which incorporates several fighting styles.
In the original animated series, four styles of Wushu were used to differentiate the four types of bending: Baguazhang for airbending, Tai chi for waterbending, Hung Ga for earthbending, and Northern Shaolin Kung Fu for firebending. The film utilizes the same styles, and the actors and stunt performers spent months training prior to shooting. The director even had Ringer watch Bruce Lee’s “Enter the Dragon” for reference.
There are thousands of different kinds of Wushu, and it is the way the moves are executed that determines the style. A parallel could be drawn to singing. There are many styles (pop, rock, jazz), all considered singing. But it’s the way the song is sung that determines what kind it is.
Patel remembers, “When I was younger, I had this crazy amount of energy in school, and I was always getting into trouble. So my parents put me in drama classes, and also gave me lessons at a Taekwondo school. I trained for eight years in martial arts and eventually became a black belt in Karate. Who knew I would ever get to put my skills to use?” The young actor recalls a sign on the wall of the martial arts studio where he trained—Martial arts is not just about fighting, it is a way of life.
If it hadn’t been already, it certainly became a way of life for many in the cast and crew of “The Last Airbender”…for a few months, anyway.
And no matter how accomplished at martial arts the cast members were, they would still have to call on the stunt department. When the action proved too heavy for principal actors, they came to rely on the 61 members of the stunt crew, as well as a large team of stunt riggers, performers, and a Wushu trainer. Also, more than 90 of the hired extras arrived with prior martial arts experience, who were then further trained by the stunt team.
Habberstad and his team rehearsed the action sequences for four months prior to shooting. The staged fights were more like dances—choreographed to the last move, they would need to be performed with exact timing and precision. Says Jeff Habberstad, “We were onstage doing some ground work, and then we graduated to using wires. We’ve never done anything like this before, and we gathered up the best stunt riggers in the business. We couldn’t compromise on the quality or the look of it. Everything needed to be perfect, and perfectly safe.”
Even with all key cast undergoing martial arts training, the more challenging and complicated sequences warranted the use of stunt doubles. Every actor had a double, except for Noah Ringer…who had two.
Experienced stuntwomen Karine Mauffrey and Jade Quon worked tirelessly to create the effortless look of Aang’s airbending and waterbending fight sequences. Each woman brought a unique aspect to the role: Karine, a four-year Cirque du Soleil acrobat, brought style and grace to Aang’s difficult airbending moves; Jade, trained in martial arts and gymnastics, handled Aang’s big moves and wire work with might (a special harness allowed Jade to flip and spin on the wire simultaneously).
The stunt team employed a computer program called Navigator, which pre-programmed wirework measuring details on a grid, and displayed the speed of the movement on a graph. Helmed by two technicians, this exacting precision was operated with the touch of a button, giving them the power to perfectly replicate the stunt ad infinitum. Should adjustments be needed, the computer could handle that as well. This amazing combination of technologies gave the stunt performers the ability to ‘fly’ while suspended from a steel wire no more than one-quarter of an inch thick.
Says Shyamalan, “There are several big moments in the film where Aang surprises his enemies, and fights them so effortlessly. Even though we know his inner struggle is strong, he is still able to fend off attackers using his peripheral vision—it comes off almost like a ballet move. There are key beats in the film where I hope every adult and kid in the audience will be saying to themselves, ‘I wish I could do that!’” It was truly one for all and all for one to pull off the complex fight sequences—every department head needed to work in tandem with the others to accomplish some of the more daring tasks. “It was serendipity during filming the hard core action,” says Shyamalan. “Everyone fed off one another until we got the result we are all happy with.”
Another department of equal importance in the onscreen magic was the visual effects corps, headed by VFX supervisor Pablo Helman. His Industrial Light & Magic team would prove to be instrumental in building the fantasy world of “The Last Airbender,” beginning with the pre-visualization animation created months before filming.
And months later, when the cameras stopped rolling, ILM’s work started up again. The post-production schedule included six months to put all of the VFX shots in place, and another four to five months to perfect all of the details in Shyamalan’s sweeping canvas.
Helman explains, “We had a fairly long period of research and development to pinpoint exactly what ‘bending’ would be, would look like. One thing we knew was that, in order for it to work, it needed to be organic. It had to feel believable, but also, it should have the power to propel you into a fantasy world where anything could happen—it needed to have emotion.”
Shyamalan adds, “We want everyone to believe that bending is real. Bending should be a believable extension of human capabilities, an ability that is controlled with chi, and the chi can manipulate the element.”
But VFX would be called upon to do much more than ‘bend’—it would be required to do the ‘heavy lifting’ in the creation, embellishment and extension of environments. Shyamalan admits, “CGI used to be my nemesis—and now, having used it in this film, I understand it is an emotional storytelling tool.”
“The Last Airbender” also marked a departure in Shyamalan’s usual filmmaking process. On previous films, he didn’t go to the cutting room to edit until filming was complete. But on “The Last Airbender,” he began to cut during production. Then, he could send edited scenes to ILM so that they could begin their CGI work.
When possible, sets were constructed for filming instead of relying on the use of bluescreen. Says Helman, “In VFX we always prefer to have something there for the actor to perform with and react to. Then we take it from there.”
ILM did much more than create and extend environments. It was also called upon to create amazing creatures that could only exist in a universe where a handful of people can bend the elements. Among those creatures are: Appa, a six-legged bison, measuring 16 feet tall and 12 feet wide, that swims through the air in a motion derived from the movements of the manatee and platypus; the Fire Nation’s Kimodo Rhino, an animal ridden into battle, coming in at 32 feet long (including tail) and more than 17 feet tall; the flying lemur bat called Momo, who is especially fond of fruit; and the Dragon Spirit, who appears to advise and guide Aang on his treacherous journey. Without exception, these exceptional creatures began life on the set. Sometimes, they were no more than a point on which actors could focus, establishing an eyeline, or a simple chair rig, in which they could sit and simulate ‘riding’ the animal.
For the work of conjuring effects during actual filming, Shyamalan looked to the Special Effects team, led by Steve Cremin, who has collaborated with Shyamalan on all of his previous films.
One of Cremin’s biggest jobs was to create fire—which sounds simple enough, but as the predominant weapon of the Fire Nation, the fire in Shyamalan’s script is called upon to do many things. Cremin mostly utilized gas pipes (the rigging of which is very complex), but also created burning debris, flaming fireballs, torches and, of course, smoke. Nearly every type of fire made an appearance in the sequence where Aang and Zuko meet face-to-face. Within the circular set, cast and stunt performers were rigged with wires to walk the walls between explosions (provided courtesy of squibbed pots, wired to detonators outside of the camera’s eye).
In fact, whenever Zuko is engaged in hand-to-hand combat, he is encircled by a ring of fire. To achieve the beginning of firebending, a wire was strung across the set and ignited. Says Patel, “It’s an adrenaline rush—this flame ball rushing right past my face. In the fight with Aang, I would do a spinning hook kick, and as soon as my leg came around, one of the SFX guys pressed a button, making it look like a flame is coming out of my leg. Then it would zip down to a pot and smash it to bits. Destruction and fire, quite the combo.”
But, like Aang, Cremin was called upon to bend more than just fire—employing everything from hydraulics and air hoses, to water in all its forms, not to mention stunt rocks!, the SFX team could also provide instant bending of air, water and earth, giving the actors and stunt performers quite a bit to react to!
