Interview With "Godzilla Minus One" Director, Writer & Visual Effects Supervisor Takashi Yamazaki

"Godzilla Minus One" was one of 2023's most surprising success stories. The film grossed over $105 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing Japanese "Godzilla" film of all time; it crossed over into the U.S., where it received an overwhelmingly positive response from critics and now has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Visual Effects making it the first film in the 70-year-old franchise to receive an Academy Award nomination. Director, Writer, and Visual Effects Supervisor Takashi Yamazaki was kind enough to spend some time speaking with us about the work that went into the visual effects, which you can listen to below. The film is now up for your consideration for the 96th Academy Awards and the Visual Effects Society, where it is nominated for Outstanding Animated Character In A Photoreal Feature. Thank you, and enjoy!

Check out more on NextBestPicture.com

Please subscribe on...

SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/nextbestpicturepodcast

Apple Podcasts - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/negs-best-film-podcast/id1087678387?mt=2

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7IMIzpYehTqeUa1d9EC4jT

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWA7KiotcWmHiYYy6wJqwOw

And be sure to help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month at https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[00:00.000 --> 00:30.000] This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Forget the frustration of picking commerce platforms when you switch your business to Shopify. The global commerce platform that supercharges your selling, wherever you sell. With Shopify, you'll harness the same intuitive features, trusted apps, and powerful analytics used by the world's leading brands. Sign up today for your $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com slash tech. I'll lowercase. That's Shopify.com slash tech. [00:30.000 --> 01:00.000] This episode is brought to you by Bumble, who says Valentine's Day is just for couples. Just because you're not in a relationship doesn't mean you can't get out there and live your best love life. That's where Bumble comes in. This February 14th, you can flip the script and give those relationships a friendly dose of FOMO. Say no to staying in this Valentine's Day and yes to more. More dates, more first kisses, more gossip for the group chat, girlies. Do Valentine's your way. Date now on Bumble. [01:00.000 --> 01:11.600] You were listening to the next Best Picture podcast, and this is Brendan Hodges interview with the director, writer, and visual effects supervisor for Godzilla-1, Takashi Yamazaki. [01:16.600 --> 01:28.800] Congratulations on Godzilla-1 and the ops pre-nomination for visual effects. It's what we would call like a cool nomination of an unexpected movie to get nominated. [01:28.800 --> 01:58.400] That the fans of the film would want to see rewarded for it. My first question is, you know, when I talk to people who see Godzilla-1, the first thing they talk about is how emotional and epic it is, but the second thing they say is they can't believe it was made for such a small amount of money that the budget was as small as it was and it still looks as beautiful as it does, including the visual effects. My first question is a big one. How did you pull it off? [01:58.800 --> 02:20.800] With regards to the budget, I think Japanese films, by and large, the budget is of course not quite as much as Hollywood films, but on the flip side, there's a lot of creative agency and latitude that is granted to the director and creators. [02:20.800 --> 02:43.800] So surprisingly, given the very small budget, which is quite large by Japanese standards actually, but from a global perspective, I had a lot of power to sign off and I had a lot of creative agency, so I think that enabled us to complete shots and move on to the next task with a very, very small team. [02:43.800 --> 03:04.800] And on the topic of the team, a lot of members were able to wear many different hats, so they could straddle different disciplines in the traditional VFX pipeline, and that eliminated a few kind of in-between approvals or in-between steps that other VFX studios or houses might have. [03:05.800 --> 03:23.800] And finally, I think as the director and VFX supervisor, I had a pretty clear vision of the final image I was going for, and that allowed us to employ a lot of shorthand among the teams of, hey, let's focus on this, and this is the image we're trying to create. [03:23.800 --> 03:37.800] And because I knew what was capable with the VFX team we had, perhaps that streamlined some of the overall process, which all contributed to a much smaller budget, but being able to put what we did on the screen. [03:37.800 --> 04:06.800] Yeah, wow, that makes a lot of sense, and I want to ask about something you mentioned, that you're the director and the VFX supervisor, and obviously you're also a writer on Godzilla minus one, and I'm wondering, you know, when you're writing the screenplay, are you already thinking in technical terms of how you're going to achieve your set pieces, the visual effects and things like that, whether, you know, it's when Godzilla is chasing the boat like he's the shark and jaws, [04:06.800 --> 04:15.800] or like he's attacking Tokyo, how early are you thinking about how you're going to execute those things technically is in the writing phase. [04:20.800 --> 04:32.800] When I'm writing the screenplay, I try not to be too technical or try not to look too far down the pipeline of what I know this film is going to have to undergo. [04:33.800 --> 04:42.800] So I try to focus more on the vision, on the emotion, on the character development, character arcs in the screenplay phase, and then I worry about VFX later. [04:43.800 --> 05:01.800] And in this case, we had a very young and upcoming team member, young artist who apparently was just doing water simulations as a hobby in his home computer, and one day he brought it into the office and he showed us the water simulation that he did, and I was like, oh my goodness, I can use this. [05:01.800 --> 05:20.800] And I did inform the screenplay process slightly, and I added a couple more water scenes because I knew we were going to be able to do it, standing on solid ground, so to speak, but for me understanding what our strengths are and what weapons we have in our proverbial arsenal, [05:21.800 --> 05:32.800] when setting out to do a screenplay or VFX, of course, I didn't want that to be the biggest constraint of all with the characters and the emotional arcs have to speak for themselves. [05:33.800 --> 05:43.800] But at least knowing that we have these weapons, I think, inform slightly, okay, maybe we can do one more scene that involves this because I know the post-production team can handle it. [05:43.800 --> 05:57.800] And for me, I don't ever want to fall in a situation where screenplays are written from a strictly technical standpoint, and we're almost kind of walking backwards from the pipeline of what we know is possible. [05:58.800 --> 06:07.800] I think it eliminates a lot of room for that creative agency or expansion exploration of what we can do with characters, what stories we want to tell. [06:08.800 --> 06:20.800] And that being said, I think Godzilla Minus One is a healthy balance of, hey, let's use a couple aces up our sleeve, but we're not going to compromise the characters and their emotional journey. [06:21.800 --> 06:25.800] Yeah, and I think that's why Godzilla Minus One is such an emotional movie for so many people. [06:26.800 --> 06:31.800] Like there were people crying in my screening, you know, I wanted to ask about the design for this Godzilla. [06:32.800 --> 06:36.800] You know, he's instantly intimidating, but he also has kind of a beautiful silhouette. [06:37.800 --> 06:43.800] And I love just watching him move. I loved watching him swim or stop around, whatever it was. [06:44.800 --> 06:51.800] And I'm wondering what was the inspiration for his design and what the process was in animating the way that he should move. [07:01.800 --> 07:03.800] And I think that's why I'm here. [07:12.800 --> 07:20.800] There's a lot of trial and error simply, but we sculpted digitally many different versions of Godzilla. [07:21.800 --> 07:26.800] And I think everyone probably somewhere in their mind has their impression of this is Godzilla. [07:26.800 --> 07:38.800] So in this process, though, we had a lot of weird designs and very funky ones, but ultimately we went back to basics and made what we thought was the coolest looking Godzilla that we could. [07:39.800 --> 07:44.800] But at the same time, Godzilla, in my interpretation, at least, is part got part monster. [07:45.800 --> 07:51.800] So there needed to be this almost divine feeling that it exuded as it walks on screen. [07:52.800 --> 07:59.800] But at the same time, it had to also feel somewhat beast, but also be cool and beautiful and divine again. [08:00.800 --> 08:07.800] So I'm trying to balance all of these components that affected the design a lot, of course, but also translated to the movement. [08:08.800 --> 08:18.800] As you pointed out in the animation side, we didn't want it to feel too beast, but we didn't want it to be this divine creature that doesn't do anything the whole time. [08:18.800 --> 08:22.800] So we're trying to find that happy medium. Again, a lot of trial and error. [08:23.800 --> 08:28.800] We spent a lot of time developing its walk cycle with the animator. [08:29.800 --> 08:36.800] I think we were able to finally land on this, again, balance between when it's simply walking it. [08:37.800 --> 08:45.800] It feels very divine and Godlike, but when it comes to destroying buildings or stomping on things, that almost be steel character surfaces. [08:45.800 --> 08:50.800] And once it's done smashing a building, it returns back to its normal cycle. [08:50.800 --> 08:57.800] So I felt that perhaps that was our best interpretation of what we could do with Godzilla for this film. [08:58.800 --> 09:06.800] Yeah, and I felt all of that, the balance between this sort of divine being and this sort of, almost like a dragon, [09:06.800 --> 09:09.800] like just this massive lumbering reptile. [09:09.800 --> 09:22.800] And that goes right into my next question because maybe the biggest departure for this Godzilla is, of course, the spikes all over the back that then unlock as the atomic breath comes out. [09:23.800 --> 09:24.800] It's beautiful. [09:24.800 --> 09:26.800] It's kind of mesmerizing to watch. [09:26.800 --> 09:29.800] I have to ask, where did that come from? [09:30.800 --> 09:32.800] And what was it like animating it? [09:33.800 --> 09:37.800] This episode is brought to you by Bumble, who says Valentine's Day is just for couples. [09:37.800 --> 09:42.800] Just because you're not in a relationship doesn't mean you can't get out there and live your best love life. [09:42.800 --> 09:44.800] That's where Bumble comes in. [09:44.800 --> 09:50.800] This February 14th, you can flip the script and give those relationships a friendly dose of FOMO. [09:50.800 --> 09:54.800] Say no to staying in this Valentine's Day and yes to more. [09:54.800 --> 09:55.800] More dates? [09:55.800 --> 09:56.800] More first kisses? [09:56.800 --> 09:58.800] More gossip for the group chat, girlies? [09:58.800 --> 10:00.800] Do Valentine's your way? [10:01.800 --> 10:02.800] Date now on Bumble. [10:07.800 --> 10:23.800] The fins, the design itself, I tried to imagine in some ways like shells or shellfish crustaceans, almost these fossilized, ancient ocean creatures that have very, very pointy and spiky elements to them. [10:24.800 --> 10:30.800] And because Godzilla is very much an ocean creature, I think as a detail, it really works. [10:30.800 --> 10:34.800] The idea of those very, very sharp fins cutting through water. [10:34.800 --> 10:38.800] I think the design and the function both complement each other. [10:38.800 --> 10:51.800] And in terms of how it kind of almost unlocks as he's charging up the atomic breath was something that I thought about while writing the screenplay for Godzilla-1. [10:51.800 --> 10:57.800] I was actually filming shooting my last film and one of the producers happened to be the same producer on both films. [10:57.800 --> 11:01.800] I said, look, I know we're shooting this film, but can I talk to you about Godzilla? [11:01.800 --> 11:06.800] Actually, I want to do this thing where he kind of unlocks and then fires the atomic breath. [11:06.800 --> 11:09.800] What do you think? And everyone received it really, really well. [11:09.800 --> 11:13.800] So that's what I thought, okay, we can do this, we can make it, we can sell this. [11:13.800 --> 11:16.800] And the only question was how do we do it convincingly? [11:17.800 --> 11:29.800] But kind of going back to Godzilla and almost its origins in some way, this also informed that that design choice to have the fins kind of move as he's charging. [11:29.800 --> 11:34.800] Godzilla was very much a metaphor for nuclear war, nuclear fallout. [11:34.800 --> 11:38.800] I think as a character is very rooted in that. [11:38.800 --> 11:42.800] And for better or for worse, I think in recent interpretations of Godzilla, [11:43.800 --> 11:47.800] sometimes these the hero or this monster creature, it represents something else. [11:47.800 --> 11:52.800] And I wanted to go back to its origins in this case. [11:52.800 --> 12:02.800] So in some way, the fins moving as he's charging this energy is symbolic of all these different safety mechanisms, [12:02.800 --> 12:11.800] unlocking when everyone clicks turns the key and presses the red button on some kind of nuclear warhead or perhaps the expression of [12:11.800 --> 12:17.800] enormous amount of energy being concentrated on one focal point as he's about to unleash the beam. [12:17.800 --> 12:24.800] It's all reminiscent of I think how nuclear warheads are set off and that form of visual expression. [12:24.800 --> 12:31.800] So definitely didn't want that interpretation to be lost in our version of it. [12:41.800 --> 12:57.800] Yeah, and he's so tactile. [12:57.800 --> 13:02.800] You see that tech tilly to how he moves in the breath that really comes across. [13:02.800 --> 13:04.800] We only have time for one more question. [13:04.800 --> 13:10.800] And I wanted to ask about this big issue that's been brought up again and again in Hollywood lately, [13:10.800 --> 13:15.800] especially like the labor practices amongst the visual effects community. [13:15.800 --> 13:21.800] I've interviewed a lot of visual effects people over the years and a lot of them have talked about this just long hours. [13:21.800 --> 13:24.800] It could be a rush production schedule, et cetera. [13:24.800 --> 13:27.800] And I've read that can be an issue in Japan as well. [13:27.800 --> 13:32.800] Now, as you kind of suggested in your first question, you found some ways around this. [13:32.800 --> 13:35.800] So you cut down on staffing and things like that. [13:35.800 --> 13:39.800] And there are fewer approval tiers so and you knew exactly what you wanted. [13:39.800 --> 13:45.800] So there was kind of less maybe iterative animation processes on God's ill minus one. [13:45.800 --> 13:48.800] But I wanted to ask it, what's your view on the problem? [13:48.800 --> 13:52.800] What should change going forward based on your own experience? [13:52.800 --> 14:00.800] What's your view on the problem? [14:00.800 --> 14:04.800] Well, for one, I think we should make an effort to increase everyone's salary. [14:04.800 --> 14:17.800] But of course, in order to make that happen, what we create and what we output into the world needs to generate that much revenue to be able to feedback into the system. [14:17.800 --> 14:25.800] In Japan, if a company has shady practices, they're often labeled as that company's black, black and white, so to speak. [14:25.800 --> 14:30.800] Our company name is called Shirogumi, which is roughly translates to team white. [14:30.800 --> 14:35.800] So I like to think that we don't have too many shady practices in our business. [14:35.800 --> 14:46.800] But of course, going down to more specifics, our team members, they've all got weekends and families and they're occasionally some late nights. [14:46.800 --> 14:50.800] But of course, we try to respect everyone's space and time. [14:50.800 --> 14:56.800] And if you look at this through the U.S. standards or that lens, I don't know how it compares. [14:56.800 --> 14:58.800] I can't speak on behalf of that. [14:58.800 --> 15:05.800] But as best as we can, comparably in Japanese stands, I think we provide a fairly good work environment. [15:05.800 --> 15:10.800] And in some odd way, I know we shouldn't take advantage of it. [15:11.800 --> 15:19.800] And we don't intend to, but a lot of our team members just like what they're doing, the special effects visual effects community. [15:19.800 --> 15:22.800] So it's almost an extension of their hobby. [15:22.800 --> 15:30.800] But again, that can't be an excuse and it can't be a reason for people choosing to invest more of their time into these projects. [15:30.800 --> 15:35.800] So my bottom line is I think we should definitely figure out a way to increase their salary. [15:35.800 --> 15:45.800] But all in all, I could say, at least on the Godzilla team, everyone was having fun and we try to maintain the best standards we possibly can given the circumstance. [15:45.800 --> 15:48.800] Yeah, I appreciate you going into so in depth. [15:48.800 --> 15:51.800] And you mentioned how it's kind of a hobby for these people on your team. [15:51.800 --> 15:55.800] And it does feel like a labor of love. It truly comes across. [15:55.800 --> 15:58.800] Godzilla minus one is one of my favorite movies of the year. [15:58.800 --> 16:01.800] I think it's one of the best Godzilla movies of all time. [16:01.800 --> 16:05.800] Thank you so much for your time tonight and for your answers. Thank you so much. [16:05.800 --> 16:13.800] Hey, everyone. Thank you so much for listening to Brendan Hodges interview with the writer, director and visual effects supervisor for Godzilla minus one. [16:13.800 --> 16:18.800] Takashi Yamazaki here on the next best picture podcast. [16:18.800 --> 16:25.800] Godzilla minus one is up for your consideration for this year's Academy Awards for best visual effects. [16:25.800 --> 16:27.800] You have been listening to the next best picture podcast. [16:27.800 --> 16:34.800] We are proud to be part of the Evergreen podcast network and you can subscribe to us anywhere where you subscribe to podcasts. [16:34.800 --> 16:36.800] Be sure to leave us a review on Apple podcasts. [16:36.800 --> 16:38.800] I'll let us know what you think of the show. [16:38.800 --> 16:44.800] We really appreciate your feedback and your support, which you can also lend on over at Patreon. [16:44.800 --> 16:49.800] For $1 minimum a month, you'll get some exclusive podcast content from us. [16:49.800 --> 16:56.800] Thank you all so much for listening as always and we will see you all next time. [16:57.800 --> 17:03.800] Thank you so much for listening. [17:27.800 --> 17:40.800] I'm Allison Holland, host of the Kennedy Dynasty podcast. [17:40.800 --> 17:52.800] Equipped with a microphone and a long-term fascination of the Kennedy family, I am joined by an incredible cast of experts, friends and guests to take you on a fun, relaxed, yet informative journey through history and pop culture. [17:52.800 --> 18:02.800] From book references to fashion to philanthropy to our modern expectations of the presidency itself, you'll see that there is so much more to Kennedy than just JFK or conspiracy theories. [18:02.800 --> 18:05.800] Join me for the Kennedy Dynasty podcast. Transcription results written to '/home/forge/transcribe3.sonicengage.com/releases/20240207165123' directory

Interview With "Godzilla Minus One" Director, Writer & Visual Effects Supervisor Takashi Yamazaki

Interview With "Godzilla Minus One" Director, Writer & Visual Effects Supervisor Takashi Yamazaki

Search

Share

Recent Episodes