The world of Pandora has never felt more alive than in “Avatar: The Way of Water,” largely thanks to the efforts of Wētā FX, the company behind recent projects such as “Black Adam” and “Wakanda Forever.” James Cameron’s “Way of Water” presented Wētā some new challenges to match the director’s vision, leading to the implementation of a new process.

The actors were primarily performing against an environment that would be built around them during post-production by the VFX team, and with a process called Rough Camera Pass (RCP), the VFX editors were allowed to see the raw footage before it gets dropped in their laps all at once. This process gives them more time to digitally construct shots and develop new ideas to bring to Pandora.

Lightstorm VFX Supervisor Richie Baneham called the process “a paradigm shift,” explaining, “For us, it’s two-fold. It vets the scenes for Jim, but it also gives us a first crack at editing the scene and empowers the editors.” While Cameron is behind many of the ideas of “Avatar,” it can’t be undersold how vital these teams were to making Pandora a living reality.