Avatar

Avatar is a movie where Jake sully (Sam Worthington), Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, and Sigourney Weaver go to a planet called Pandora to take over their resources. They are going there to mine the mineral unobtanium, which is a very strong and powerful mineral. They are met by the force of the Na’vi tribe which is native to Pandora. Jake Sully, Sam Worthington, is tasked with becoming close with the Na’vi tribe as a Na’Vi-human hybrid called avatars. The only way for the humans to take over the planet peacefully, is for Jake to gain their respect.

Mise en scene

Jake Sully is tasked with becoming one with the Na’vi tribe for the humans to get a hold of the mineral unobtanium. He does this by getting close with the Na’vi leaders and he starts to have a relationship with one of the so called leaders. The picture above has Jake sully, an avatar, in the forefront of the picture. This would symbolize that he is the center of attention and it would pretty much rank the authority of the people in the picture. It starts with Jake and then goes back from there. Jake faces the unruly task of becoming one with the people, but when he does this, he realizes that what the humans are doing is wrong and he fights back against them. He is trying to bring people together in this picture.

Throughout the course of the movie, every little detail is the thing that make the movie. All the little details made the scenes seem so perfect and realistic. From the way they would sway the plants back and forth as the wind blew by or as people would walk by them. The way the director and cinematographer used the lighting at night was brilliant. The lights would only come from the plants/stars in the night sky or from the plants and yet is always seemed like the perfect amount of light. Just the fact that he made everything pitch back but those things really made them pop out even more and really set the mood for the scenes. The actors even did a great job at playing their roles and made the scenes seem believable. The use of sound played a big part in the movie too. An example of this are the scenes are in the jungle. All you hear are these crazy animal sounds. The sounds are very creepy and the actors portray their characters with so much emotion. James did a wonderful job setting the scene in this movie. Part of the emotion that they portray is done by the lighting and all the cool colors that Pandora has on it at night.  This is especially brought forward through the scenes with the hometree.

Narrative Structure: Three Act Structure

Act 1:

Jake Sully is a wounded marine that wakes up on a spaceship and has no idea where he is going. Once he wakes up, he is tasked with the knowing that his brother has died and has been cremated. Jake is one of many soldiers and civilians about to touch down on Pandora which is about 4.3 light years from Earth. He is alongside many scientists that are going to also observe the land and see what natural resources are there as well. The passengers are all instructed to wear a full-face breathing mask since the atmosphere of the planet will not support any human life whatsoever. It would only take 20 seconds of exposure to the poisonous atmosphere of the planet causes unconsciousness, with death occurring. The soldiers and civilians are led by Colonel Miles Quaritch. His main task is to take control of the planet and their main natural resource which is Unobtanium. The most famous line from the beginning of the movie would have to be “were not in Kansas anymore” by Colonel Quaritch. Jake is tasked with becoming one with the Na’vi people while being an Avatar. The colonel warns the soldiers and Civilians that the Na’vi are very hard to kill and that everything out there is trying to kill them. Jake meets helicopter pilot Trudy Chacon which he will be spending most of his time with. She plays a major role in what happens in the movie. The first scene really ends when Jake is linked with his avatar and falls down a hill into some flowers. He is then chased by a wild animal and is then confronted by Neytiri who is part of the Na’vi people.

Act 2:

Jake is caught by a bolo thrown by a patrol of Omaticayan warriors. Their leader is Tsu’Tey (Laz Alonso), next in line to the throne and the man Neytiri is expected to marry. Neytiri stops them from harming Jake by telling them that it could be a sign of the Eywa and then he orders Jake to be brought to their home. Once Jake is at the hometree, he tells the Na’vi people that he is only there to learn from them but once he falls asleep, he is awaken back into his human form. The Colonel wants to know anything and everything that he can from Jake about the tribe. The only way for Jake to get his legs back is to gain the trust of the Na’vi people. Grace, the main scientist on the voyage, sees how much that this is taking over the colonel and takes her operation into the mountains away from everyone. She cannot handle what the colonel has become. Once Jake has some more time, he tells the colonel that he is at the right point with the Na’Vi people that he might be able to get them to relocate. Jake attends a Na’vi ceremony where he tells Neytiri that he has already chosen her, and she says that she has chosen him. While he is asleep, he is transported back into his human self and she is awaken by bulldozers clearing trees and brush all around her. Once Jake finds this out, he goes back into his Avatar and tries to stop the bulldozers from continuing their mission of clearing the sacred ground. Grace and Jake tell the colonel that the people will never leave the sacred ground of the hometree because of how much it means to their life. Once the bulldozers clear the land, Jake is no longer welcome with the Na’vi people. To regain their trust, he has to summon Toruk Mato which would make him the most powerful leader of all of the Na’vi people.

Act 3:

Jake gains control of toruk Mato and speaks as toruk Mato. He leads and says it’s time to ‘send a message’ to the sky people that this is their, their land. But to do so, they first must go to each of the Na’vi clans to ask them to come and fight as one. This is an easy task as Toruk Mato. Jake summons over 20,000 Na’vi people and the human military will soon be over run. The huge Na’vi force begins to arrive from the sky and on the ground. Jake on his toruk, Tsu’Tey, and other warriors engage in battle with the military aircraft. This is when it gets interesting. Jake leads in a massive battle on the ground and air. While he is being overrun, the colonel takes matters into his own hands. He steers a ship with a massive bomb on it towards the hometree. Jake sees the ship and then goes to destroy it. He slows the ship down until he is able to finally bring it down. This is when the colonel gets into one of his robotic suits and tries to kill jake. Neytiri is there to save the day and kill the colonel. Jake wakes up to his oxygen mask on his face and then permanently become one of the Na’vi people as the humans go back to Earth.

This film follows the three act structure based on how the characters evolve throughout the movie.

Cinematography:

The cinematographer, Mauro Fiore, uses colors and the music to portray emotion and feelings throughout the movie. Every time there is a scene at the hometree, the music is very soothing and there are always slow moving people and objects that are all in very soothing and cool colors. There are very rarely any warm colors throughout the movie and this really helps capture the emotion. He also uses close ups to capture the raw emotion of the characters and this is definitely seen by the audience and has an impact. There are many scenes that Neytiri is with Jake and they are close together and the camera is right on them. This shows the emotion on both of their faces and is definitely brought forward more than if it were a faraway shot.

Editing:

The most effective use of editing in the movie is between the Na’vi people and Eyqa at the hometree when grace dies and they are trying to bring her back to life. The camera goes from Eywa, to the people and all of the cool colors and back to grace. The audience almost would get chills down their back when this happens because you could really feel the emotion and connection between the people. During the war scenes, the camera goes between many different battle scenes that are only a few seconds long but the plot never goes backwards. Everything that is shown is always after the last scene.

Sounds of the movie:

The movie has a very native and soothing soundtrack to it. The music only happens when the Na’vi people are all together. They all sway to the beat of the music and this creates a soothing and compassionate environment between the people. The loud noises in the film are all during the battle scenes and are either from the gunshots, bulldozers, planes or the ground riders of the Na’vi people.

Genre:

Avatar would fall under the Action/Fantasy with a little bit of romance built into it. Jake is tasked with fighting with what he believes in and his own people. This happens because he falls in love, with Neytiri and with the help of the Na’vi people, he fights off the humans and calls Pandora home.

Work Cited:

Film:

Cameron, James, director. Avatar. 2009. Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver

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