Current location:business >>
VOX POPULI: Oscar for special effects showcases what Japanese films can achieve
business33621People have gathered around
IntroductionIn its 1954 debut film, Godzilla goes on a rampage in Tokyo’s Ginza district, setting the Matsuzakay ...
In its 1954 debut film, Godzilla goes on a rampage in Tokyo’s Ginza district, setting the Matsuzakaya department store ablaze and knocking down an iconic clock tower.
For this scene, special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya (1901-1970) and his team made as many as 500 miniature buildings that were one/25th scale models of the actual structures.
To ensure the models broke easily, cracks were put into them and then painted over.
But after one month of painstakingly meticulous work, the team was told the models “did not look real enough” and had to remake everything from scratch.
This episode just goes to show how passionate everyone must have been about honing their special effects skills.
Without this sort of commitment, nobody would have thought to reject the first set, nor would anyone have agreed to scrap it all.
And this very ardor must have been kept alive by generations of Japanese filmmakers through the next seven decades.
Seventy years after the first Godzilla movie, director Takashi Yamazaki’s “Godzilla Minus One” won this year’s Academy Award for Visual Effects.
I watched footage of this film in the making, and I was amazed.
Godzilla attacks Ginza again, but this time, the entire scene was meticulously computer generated, from the forest of buildings to people fleeing in panic.
In a filming studio with a stationary set of a boat, an actor plays being tossed by huge waves.
After this scene was edited by adding computer-generated splashes of water to it, you would swear the actor couldn’t have been anywhere else but on a perilously rocking boat, heading toward Godzilla.
Were this a Hollywood movie, the above scene would have been shot in an entirely different manner, noted Yamazaki.
Thanks to ample funding, he said, the film’s producers would simply have built a massive set that could be mechanically rocked.
In Yamazaki’s case, I wonder if the small budget and limited manpower he had to work with made him feel like a passionate samurai charging into the enemy camp with a single sword.
At the Oscar awards ceremony, Yamazaki said, “We did it.”
Yes, indeed, you did it. My heartiest congratulations to you all.
--The Asahi Shimbun, March 14
* *
*Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.
Tags:
Reprint:Friends are welcome to share on the Internet, but please indicate the source of the article when reprinting it.“Stellar Sphere news portal”。http://chile.downmusic.org/article-545d699448.html
Related articles
China's first intelligent offshore drilling platform installed
businessSHENZHEN, May 17 (Xinhua) -- China's first intelligent offshore drilling platform was installed on F ...
【business】
Read moreChinese envoy calls on U.S. to find right way to get along with China in new era
businessWASHINGTON, April 21 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy has called on the United States to work with China ...
【business】
Read moreTravis Kelce accepts a 'friendly' $14m Chiefs contract 'to keep the team together', claims ex
businessWhile Tyreek Hill had high praises for ex-teammate Travis Kelce, the Dolphins wide receiver insisted ...
【business】
Read more
Popular articles
- Mohammad Mokhber: Who is Iran’s acting president?
- Maine's governor signs bill to protect providers of abortion, gender
- US Figure Skating championships headed to Wichita, Kansas, next year with worlds on tap for Boston
- School bans pupils from using the toilet during lessons to crack down on fears they are vaping
- Iran helicopter crash that killed President Raisi could reverberate across the Middle East
- Travis Kelce accepts a 'friendly' $14m Chiefs contract 'to keep the team together', claims ex
Latest articles
Amal Clooney played key role in ICC bid to request arrest warrants for Israeli PM and Hamas leader
Luxury £1m homes are destroying our coastline
Turkish dental surgeon screwed tooth implant into father's BRAIN cavity in horrific blunder
Travis Kelce accepts a 'friendly' $14m Chiefs contract 'to keep the team together', claims ex
Jodie Turner
Six winners of the Mail's Inspirational Women Awards are honoured in glittering ceremony in London
LINKS
- Gansu beckons as destination of beauty and progress
- City set to enjoy a bonanza of tourist attractions
- Peng Liyuan, African First Ladies Launch Health Campaign for Orphans in Africa
- Gansu beckons as destination of beauty and progress
- Blooming redbud flowers adorn countryside in C China
- Xi Congratulates Erdogan on Reelection as Turkish President
- China's Zhang makes history to reach 2nd round at Monte Carlo Masters
- China a greener country after decade
- Camping tourism rebounds as pandemic eases and spring comes
- Guangxi's Sanyuesan Festival makes a splash in Beijing