Visual effects artists praised the CGI (short for Computer Generated Imaging, a much-improved version of green screen technology) in 1998’s Godzilla.
The Corridor Crew said that the effects in the movie were way ahead of their time, and that the visuals saved the American adaptation of the famous kaiju (a genre of movies about powerful and dangerous monsters that often target populated cities).
“A perfect shot”
The Corridor Crew, consisting of three visual effects artists, emphasized that the right decisions were made regarding the visual designs in the film directed by Roland Emmerich.
Analyzing the scene where Godzilla emerges from the sea, the artists said the following about the sequence where the scaffolding breaks:
In this scene they had a smaller version of the dock that they put in the water and a Godzilla model that they reduced in size. All these things are there in miniature and he’s computerized. It’s a perfect shot, very realistic. It doesn’t look like a visual effect.
“An iconic moment”
The artists also examined the scene in which Godzilla destroys everything as he wanders through the city, and emphasized that the visual effects are extremely successful despite looking old:
All the cars actually moving, the camera swinging just right, the actual footprint that Godzilla leaves behind as he drives away. It creates an iconic moment.
While many of Godzilla’s special effects were impressive for their time, the movie deviated greatly from its source material. For this reason, Toho, Japan’s famous production company, also criticized the film.
Godzilla Minus One, produced by Toho, was released in Japan on November 3 and in the US on December 1. The 37th installment in Japan’s long-running giant monster movie franchise received extremely positive reviews from critics.
The release of the new movie coincides with the 70th anniversary of the famous monster franchise that began with Toho Studio’s Godzilla in 1954.
The filmmakers also mentioned the poignancy of the story and were impressed by the use of the monster as a metaphor for social criticism.
Godzilla Minus One received a near-perfect score of 98 out of 100 on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes. The two-hour movie has the same audience score.
Hollywood Reporter, ScreenRant, The Corridor Crew
