"I watched a couple of really bad directors work, and I saw how they completely botched it up and missed the visual opportunities of the scene when we had put things in front of them as opportunities. Set pieces, props and so on"

In this quote, James Cameron is assessing his experience of observing other directors at work. He points out that he saw a number of "really bad" directors, suggesting that they were not competent or gifted in their craft. He goes on to explain that he saw how these directors "totally bungled it up," implying that they failed or messed up the scene they were working on. Cameron specifically keeps in mind that they missed out on the "visual chances" of the scene, which recommends that they were not able to effectively make use of the components in front of them, such as set pieces and props. This quote highlights the importance of a director's capability to see and make use of the capacity of their environments in producing a visually impactful scene.