Oscar makes Papillion his home

by Ally Phillips
5.25.10

Millions of people from around the world tuned in to watch the 82nd Academy Awards on March 7. Many of the viewers were waiting to see who would receive the Oscar for Best Film, Best Actor/Actress in a Leading Role and Best Director. But those watching in Papillion were waiting in anticipation to see if Papillion resident Mauro Fiore would win the Oscar for his cinematography work in the best selling movie of all time, “Avatar.” With the movie released on DVD April 22, the “Avatar” phenomenon in Papillion continued.

As a cinematographer, Fiore works with the lighting, cameras and composition of the film. With a movie that contains as much computer graphics as “Avatar,” the cinematography for the film was different than for others Fiore had worked on in the past.

“Cinematography is a little tricky when it has to do with computer generated images because those computer generated images happen on the computer later,” Fiore said during a phone interview. “You don’t quite see [the computer images] on the day while you’re photographing it.”

Director James Cameron began working on “Avatar” 10 years prior to its release. After many years of research regarding how Cameron wanted the planet of Pandora to look, he asked Fiore to become part of the “Avatar” crew.

“Jim Cameron was really impressed with the look of certain films I had filmed previously,” Fiore said.

“Particularly ‘Tears ofthe Sun’ because there was quite a bit of work that took place in the jungles of Africa.”

Before filming began, Cameron and Fiore had to learn how to use the special equipment that was to be used in the filming of the movie.

“We went through an extensive time of testing the equipment for three months including the 3D camera that was developed for the film, and along with those three months, we developed the look of Pandora,” Fiore said.

During the filming process, both live action and motion capture were used. Live action is of, relating to, or featuring cinematography that is not produced by animation. Motion capture is a series of pictures projected on a screen in rapid succession with objects shown in successive positions slightly changed so as to produce the optical effect of a continuous picture in which the objects move. Fiore was involved in the live action filming.

“It’s (‘Avatar’) probably 70 percent motion capture and 30 percent live action,” Fiore said. “The live action was going to give a clue as to what the computer generated images would look like.”

In order to capture what the motion picture images would look like, some filming was done in places that resembled Cameron’s vision of Pandora.

“We did film scenes in the jungle with the actual physical environment and that was going to be the sort of look of what the computer generated images were going to be,” Fiore said. 

After working on the set of “Avatar” for about one year, Fiore was finished with this project. The following year, the movie was released.

“I’ve been in involved in several projects since then, so when it was finally released… it’s like it’s time to share it with all of the audiences that weren’t a part of the filmmaking process,” Fiore said.

After the many hours of hard work of creating Pandora, Fiore’s work was recognized when he received an Oscar nomination, and then win, in the category of Best Cinematography.

“The nomination was really a spectacular thing, but I never thought I would win the Oscar,” Fiore said.

Currently, the Oscar statue resides in his home in Papillion.

“We have it some place that everybody would be able to see it when they come to our house,” Fiore said. “He’s become part of our family.”

Every once in a while Fiore overhears people talking about the movie “Avatar” and comments without revealing that he worked on the movie.

“But if my kids are with me, we do a pretty good job of letting everybody know,” Fiore said.

Currently Fiore is working on a Dream Works production titled “Real Steel.” The movie is about a father and his son, and is a story in which the father gains custody of his son after his ex-wife passes away. By the end of the movie, their relationship grows into the one they never had.

Hugh Jackman is playing the role of the father. Filming for the movie starts this summer in Detroit, and “Real Steel” is slated to hit theaters in 2011.

courtesy of the Papillion Times