Iconic movie monster Godzilla has yet again claimed the throne as the king of monsters with Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus One. In the United States or in the global theaters, the movie was a surprise hit as the movie brought out the essence of recreating the cinematic marvel with Godzilla.
Pulling it off would be a pain for many filmmakers with the scary budget of $10-15 million, maybe even lower than that. But Yamazaki cracked the code and delivered a wonderful narrative featuring the iconic movie monster on the big screen. The director explained how he pulled off the astounding VFX of the movie that went on to claim a nod from the Oscars.
Godzilla Minus One Team’s Reaction to Historic Oscar Nomination is the Best Thing You Will See Today
Godzilla Minus One Director Explained How They Pulled Off The VFX In The Movie
Speaking of Godzilla inherently reflects the demand of the VFX, but to complement the narrative set in World War II-torn Japan was even burdened with more challenges. Also, unlike Hollywood’s idea of making big monster movies with an astounding budget, Godzilla Minus One had to work with a minuscule amount at best.
Still, the prowess of the VFX team is reflected in the movie. “Our studio name is Shirogumi,” Takashi Yamazaki told Vulture explaining that they fall into the Japanese work culture category of a ‘white team’ that doesn’t exploit the employees in contrast to the ‘black team.’
“So we want to believe we are setting up standards and an environment that is very workable for all the artists and everyone who is with us here today. As a creative myself but also an employer of creatives, I feel like what they make is so beautiful, and I hope and wish I would be able to pay our staff members better, at some point.”
With that, the very work culture vibe in the studio is altered in a way that the employees can have their personal time during the weekend holidays. The director believes, “that our teammates really work in harmony and they work very fast, very quickly” for the flexibility of the work. The result is visible in the film.
Behind The VFX of Godzilla Minus One
Writer, director, and visual effects supervisor Yamazaki has also explained why he stayed away from outsourcing third-party VFX companies like any traditional Marvel movies. “Outsourcing to a third party is going to take time and money. We tend to keep it in-house,” the director told Vulture. “That’s just the most efficient and effective way to work,” he continued. However, that doesn’t mean “we don’t have some external resources that we use.”
“For example, the matte artists or miniature artists. We also have project-based freelance artists who have worked with us for many years. I would say, in this case, maybe one-third of the end-team-member count was freelance folks. We don’t always have 35 full-time employees in this office.”
Explaining the perks of having an in-house team, Yamazaki explained that being able to be “on-site and interact with the artists right then and there and having that feedback loop is very effective for us.” Also, being the writer, director, and VFX supervisor, he always had the vision imprinted in his head, eliminating the need for outsourcing.
Godzilla Minus One grossed over $105 million worldwide, writing a good chapter in the history of Toho International’s iconic monster. The movie is currently showing in select theaters.
