Takashi Yamazaki has his first Oscar win! The very first win for any Kaiju/monster tale and that too on an incredible budget that media houses can only dream of. Based on the horrendous backdrop of the deadly World War II, in Japan, the monster tale has not only made it so far because of its epic graphics and VFX works but also for the human elements the movie focused on.
With a Best Visual Effects Oscar in its belt, franchises like Marvel or DC certainly need to step up their game and realize that one doesn’t need a mammoth of a budget to create magic on screen!
Godzilla Minus One Makes History With First Oscar Win
Back on January 23, Godzilla Minus One already had its name written down in history books for getting nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. But now not only Takashi Yamazaki is the first Japanese to win the award but the movie is also the first kaiju tale to ever win an Oscar.
Made by Toho Studios production, Yamazaki not only wrote the incredible screenplay but was also in charge of the VFX and directing, three jobs that he did splendidly. The movie was up against the likes of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
However, not only did the movie win an Oscar but also did it with just a group of 35 artists compared to other movies nominated in the category, whose VFX artist numbers might possibly be in the hundreds. Creating 610 visual effects shots with proper division of tasks, Yamazaki reckons he did all of this against a combined budget of $15 million or less (via Vulture and Godzilla Official).
How Did Takashi Yamazaki Do The Unthinkable?
Unthinkable it certainly is to imagine that Takashi Yamazaki now created an Oscar-winning movie relying heavily on VFX and graphics against a budget of $15 million or less. A tale that not even Marvel movies have been able to achieve despite such a feat despite having 14 goes at it.
In a conversation with Variety, Yamazaki revealed,
“We didn’t scale our team based on how many shots we had, we just divided things up differently, and that meant our artists had three times the shots they normally would.”
With only 5 artists for the eye-catching water scenes featuring Godzilla, Yamazaki’s vision and dedication to the project, coupled with his ability to work within a tight budget, have certainly set a new standard in the world of visual effects.
Godzilla Minus One’s Oscar win further proves that sometimes, less is more, and creativity and ingenuity can go a long way in creating stunning visuals that captivate audiences. And Marvel certainly needs to step up their game!
Streaming details of Godzilla Minus One are yet to be revealed.
