IndieWire: When “Godzilla Minus One” writer, director, and visual effects supervisor Takashi Yamazaki was nominated for an Academy Award for visual effects this year, he became the first director to be nominated in that category since Stanley Kubrick for his “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
5 comments:
Being the writer, director, and VFX supervisor all at once seems like a very stressful and difficult process, and it is quite impressive that Takashi Yamazaki was able to pull it off with seemingly so much ease. I definitely do see, however, that these three major roles being shared by one person can be beneficial because it means that the artistic vision remains fully intact across these different fields where it can often potentially be lost or diminished. I think this story highlights the importance of interdisciplinary work and how knowing things outside of just the things you are working on is very helpful. Yamazaki described how having a VFX background was vital in being able to communicate with the VFX department. Even if a person is not taking on multiple roles at once, it is very important to at least have an idea of what other departments are working on.
I haven't seen Godzilla Minus One yet, however, I have been a fan of the recent Godzilla movies coming out of Japan. For example, Shin Godzilla is one of my favorite movies of the last few years. To be fair I am quite a big fan of Hideaki Anno so that shouldn't be to surprising. Anyways, the newer CGI versions of Godzilla makes me feel like the kaiju is actually in the world as opposed to the older suitmation style of Godzilla movies. I cannot even begin to imagine how much work Yamazaki put into this film and I am still actively trying to find time to watch this movie cause Japanese Godzilla movies are generally pretty good when compared to American Godzilla movies which are lacking in comparison.
It is so cool that Takashi Yamazaki is able to perform all of the roles of writer, director, and VFX supervisor. I am totally in awe as to how somebody would be able to perform all of those tasks well, and even get nominated for an Oscar in them. That is a lot of different skills to be incredibly talented at. I found it pretty entertaining how he mentioned that when working on an aspect of the movie (such as the writing) he doesn’t think about how it would affect the other aspects, and sometimes, he inadvertently creates a lot of challenges for himself. It’s really interesting to consider that even when one person is in multiple roles, the situation of having to collaborate with and compromise with the various roles in a production still exists. I had not previously seen nor even heard of Godzilla Minus One, but I might have to check it out just to see the end result of the unique aspects of this movie.
I have never watched any of the Godzilla movies and I often forget they are part of a large franchise. I can see why this movie would be nominated for best visual effects because creating a huge monster that does not come from a base reality would be very difficult and it seems they pulled it off very well. I think it's so cool seeing multi-faceted directors in film. I love director/choreographer in the theatrical stage world so I was wondering how a film director might be the head of another department was confusing to me but I think a director also being the visual effects supervisor is really important in an action film. I thought it was an an interesting comment that the approval process was so quick and I can see the major benefit to the timeline when roles are combined in that manner. I think that idea can also be applied to more jobs as well and is something to think about when budgeting.
I saw Godzilla Minus One in theaters. This article raves about Takashi Yamazaki and his 15 million dollar budget for the film, and although it's super technically impressive– that might be all it is. The epic fighting scenes are very realistic and cool to look at, the movie lacks a lot in plot and characters. Alas, it is Godzilla, making it not plot-focused but monster scary ahh focused. I can admire the special effects team on this film, it is set in a beautiful Japanese setting and the lighting throughout the film is well thought out with foreshadowing and eerieness. This Godzilla felt different than the past movies, first of all, the scale is insane, and Godzilla towers over anything it trumps through. The texture of the Gozilla skin is also very impressive. But all of that aside, I personally don’t care much for SPX, I think movies should be more than just a few cool tech tricks. I think a movie should have substance, and seeing this movie felt like a pain to watch.
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