Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1542693
7 0 P E R S P E C T I V E J A N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 6 capture, display and escape. To the average RDA citizen, Jake is not Toruk Makto but an almost mythically dangerous terrorist, and his public staging needed to reflect that: an elevated cage, space for gawkers and jumbotron screens with propagandistic news coverage. Illustrator Jonathan Berube took a leading role in defining this sequence, sketching each beat and developing a plan view to support them, including the wild rescue using a massive bulldozer to smash Jake's cage. A contiguous 3D layout was then created to support virtual production, and later segmented into practical builds in New Zealand. With realism always in mind, we carefully illustrated and art- directed digital effects which would appear close to camera, such as the destructive power of the SeaWasp gatling gun that pins Jake down at a critical moment. Done right, visual violence like this is essential to communicating the RDA threat and the film's grittier, grounded tone. A different style of environment within Bridgehead was the Ash encampment, where the Ash occupy part of an airfield as a temporary home. This surprising location allowed me and Dylan to collaborate directly, exploring a cultural space that bridges our design domains. The Ash fascination with human machinery and materials allowed us to merge Na'vi sensibilities with repurposed human components. Varang's yurt, reconstructed with scavenged helicopter parts and tarps, set the tone. The encampment also needed to support an elaborate parkour escape for Neytiri, so early coordination with the stunt team was essential in shaping the geometry and layered accessways of the space. The resulting chaotic grid served the action and conveyed the encampment's ghetto-like feel, reflecting the Ash clan's further corruption through contact with the RDA. Factory Ship The most significant new hard-surface element —and one of the most complex we've tackled—is the Factory Ship. As the flagship of the expanded CET-OPS (Cetacean Operations) fleet, it represents a major escalation from the SeaDragon seen in The Way of Water. At roughly nine hundred feet long, with six processing ramps and capacity for the largest tulkun, it is a true maritime killing machine. Where the SeaDragon drew shape Ben Procter, Dylan Cole, Production Designers Luke Freeborn, Aashrita Kamath, Kim Sinclair Super vising Art Directors Rudie Schaefer, Stephen Christensen, Sarah Delucchi, Steven Light-Orr, Alister Baxter, Andrew Chan, Andy McLaren, Ben Milsom, Sohmyoung Hadassah Park, Sam Storey, Ken Turner, Rob Bavin, Simon Bright, Joseph Kono-Woo, Art Directors Fausto De Martini, Steven Messing, Jonathan Bach, Concept Art Directors Amaya Gutierrez, Molly Berg, Virginia Berg, Anne Costa, Assistant Art Directors Haisu Wang, Daniel Frank, Forest P. Fischer, Ethan Hartman, Shari Ratliff, Brendon Sweeney, Ed Symon, Jeffrey Beck, Alasdair Mott, Andrew Kattie, Kevin Loo, Simon McGuire, Colette Mullin, Dale Mackie, Daniel Koene, Andrea Onorato, Evan Webber, Paulina Piasta, Rob Askew, Rebecca Asquith, Ross Perkin, Sophia Ir vine, Nick Sinclair, Marina Stojanovic, Yvonne Yip, Samuel Dobrec, Set Designers John Park, David Levy, Saiful Haque, Jonathan Berube, Joseph Hiura, Nick Gindraux, Annis Naeem, Daphne Yap, Finnian Macmanus, Jeremy Love, Liam Beck, Paul Ozzimo, Paul Tobin, Concept Artists Keith Christensen, James Chung, Christian Cordella, Illustrators Zach Fannin, Sambath Ouch, Electra Sinclair, Sue Mercer, Maggie Sugar, Graphic Designers Vanessa Cole Set Decorator A. BRIDGEHEAD SCANNERLAB. ILLUSTRATION BY SAIFUL HAQUE BASED ON SET DESIGN ELEMENTS BY SHARI RATLIFF, ANDREA ONORATO AND JAMES CHUNG. PUTTING SPIDER IN A PANDORAN ATMOSPHERE 'BUBBLE' MADE SCIENTIFIC SENSE AND TELEGRAPHED HOW UNIQUE HE HAS BECOME. B. SCANNERLAB BED DEVICE. SET PHOTO. FULLY ACTUATED SCANNER DESIGNED BY SHARI RATLIFF AND ED SYMON. INTERACTIVE LIGHTING EFFECTS WOULD BE ENHANCED LATER WITH A VFX OVERLAY ANIMATED IN THE ART DEPARTMENT. B A