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“Group drama without humans” is interesting (Takahashi)

──First of all, please tell us your impressions after watching “Godzilla x Kong: A New Empire.”

Kiyoko ShibuyaI felt it was a movie full of monster battles. Because I focused on that, I was able to concentrate and get into it.

Masaki TakahashiOn the contrary, I was thinking that he was more of a “monster fan”. Then, surprisingly, the human group drama was replaced with Godzilla and Kong, wasn’t it? Taking advantage of the monsters who do not speak their lines, the film also incorporates a setting in which Gia, a girl from the Iwis tribe, an indigenous people of Skull Island, speaks telepathically with Kong. That part was really good.

ShibuyaThat’s something we’ve been doing since the previous work.

TakahashiYes, that’s really good. Everyone would think it’s a movie about Godzilla and Kong, but it’s actually a group drama with no humans in it. I found that very interesting.

Tatsuji NojimaI was already watching it thinking that the quality was too high.

ShibuyaNoji (Nojima) is definitely concerned about that.

NojimaIt’s like, “Hollywood movies have to be like this!” The quality and quantity is overwhelming, and you’ll get plenty of water. I was surprised that water came out even in scenes that seemed to have no meaning.

ShibuyaGodzilla casually jumps into the sea, and Kong frolics on the water’s edge.

NojimaI feel like I’m going to charge a lot of money just for that one expression of water (lol).

──Please tell us about a specific scene that opened your eyes or surprised you.

TakahashiWe know this because we do the same job, but watching this movie made me realize once again that it’s easier to create a sense of reality when the key light (the light that illuminates the subject as the main light source) is strong. In particular, when it comes to the scene in Brazil where Godzilla and Kong fight, there is a contrast with the empty sky, and it instantly becomes more realistic. In comparison, fully CG jungles and other scenes lack a sense of three-dimensionality. Anyone who does VFX will definitely be concerned about that, and it’s extremely difficult to do that series exactly as set. Watching it, I realized that people in Hollywood are going through the same pain as us.

NojimaHowever, the lighting in the underground cavernous jungle where Kong and his friends live is extremely strange. I think that design makes it look natural. There’s no sun, no sky. Actually, it should be pitch black because the light only comes from the back, but I guess they’ve mixed in the same lighting as on the ground in an exquisite way. If you think about it normally, it’s a lot of work.

ShibuyaAt first you’re like, oh, what’s this light? That’s what I thought, but it gradually stopped bothering me. Rather, I started to feel the details of the sky.

TakahashiIt’s actually underground, so at first the area around the ceiling is dark. I got the impression that they gradually processed it in that way through the writing.

The quality is outrageous, and there is no compromise (Nojima)

──Mr. Nojima, there must have been a memorable scene involving water, which you mentioned earlier.

NojimaI agree. I wonder which VFX studio did the water scene? Is it WETA digital? Is it scanline VFX? I thought. Even the smallest details are expressed. It must cost a lot just to make that one cut, so how do you do it? It was that kind of feeling.

–Didn’t you yourself get hit by “Godzilla-1.0”?

NojimaWe had a lot of restrictions, so we weren’t able to express something that felt so heavy. Moreover, it was not something that could be done by spending money, and there were many unknowns from the development of the mechanism. It’s probably made with technology and know-how developed internally at WETA and other companies.

──There were many scenes involving water, such as Godzilla diving, swimming, and destroying bridges.

NojimaThere were so many. I think in the first scene, Kong and Mini-Kong Suko are attacked while drinking water at the water’s edge, but they also carefully enter the water there. It had nothing to do with the situation, so I was like, “Oh, are you going to enter here?” Water isn’t (visually) water until you enter it. Because it can be expressed as just a board. However, I was surprised because it suddenly turned into water.

──Why are you going through all this trouble here? and.

NojimaBut then a monster came out of the water, so I felt like it couldn’t be helped. The quality of that scene alone, where they enter the water, is incredible, and there are no compromises. How do you make that happen?

TakahashiWe think about costs right away. I guess the first thing you have to do is what you want to do.

NojimaAs Japanese people, we always think about the balance, like if we want to make a good cut, we have to lower the quality a little bit, but every picture in this movie is great. I will increase the number of high-quality cuts as much as I can! I felt something like that.

──Are you a little jealous that you can do that?

TakahashiI’m so jealous. It’s true that it’s a scene that could be drawn without going into the water, but I was able to show off that I went out of my way to do it in water.

The thickness and depth of the effects are amazing (Shibuya)

──What did you think of the scene at the waterfall where Kong washes his body soiled with the torn monster’s entrails?

NojimaWe could barely go to the waterfall. Make everything look like fog. Water has volume, so that’s dangerous.

ShibuyaThat waterside was created as a collection of many elements with different details, such as weight and surface brilliance.

──What did you think of the scene where Godzilla is swimming? You yourself were attacked.

NojimaEverything is amazing. The way the water is cut and the size of the water when it jumps is completely different, so it can’t be compared to Godzilla-1.0. “-1.0” Godzilla doesn’t swim at that speed in the first place. This time Godzilla swims at great speed, right? The water rose to a very high level.

TakahashiHowever, the swimming part that Nojima did wasn’t bad at all.

Shibuyayes. I feel like I haven’t lost in that respect either.

TakahashiIt’s a bit of an understatement to say that he hasn’t lost, but I think he’s trying his best.

NojimaHowever, after trying so hard, we finally got that number of cuts, so it would be overwhelming to be able to show such footage.

TakahashiThat amount of work was impossible for the 35 people who did the VFX for Godzilla-1.0.

NojimaI also felt the skill of the effects artists. It’s not just a question of money, but I also pay close attention to the details when creating a product.

ShibuyaThe effects have a lot of thickness and depth.

NojimaThat’s the case with all Hollywood movies. There’s a sense of playfulness, and when you see Godzilla emitting heat rays, it’s not just about vomiting, but what kind of effect does it have on the surroundings? Even things like this are expressed properly with a little seasoning. I don’t know how the production was organized, but I could feel the commitment of the people involved in that aspect as well.

ShibuyaI thought the fog and lighting in the underground cavern scene was amazing. In particular, the fog had a sense of depth, so I understood that the underground cavern was a very large place. We don’t just randomly create things based on whether this depth is enough, but we do it based on the idea that we need a lot more depth. That’s something I want to learn from.

TakahashiWhen Suco the Mini Kong appeared on the ground, I thought, “It’s surprisingly big” (lol).

NojimaThat’s it, isn’t it? The sense of scale changes. The first half has a world view with trees and rocks optimized for Kong. We let them get the idea that it’s not that big, but when they come to the human world, they say it’s huge. That kind of expression is really nice. It suddenly looks huge!

TakahashiThat surprised me. This is huge! I thought.

NojimaAlso, isn’t there a scene with a lot of Kongs? Those guys look like slow-moving humans, but I’m sure it would be a hell of a fight if they fought each other on the ground.

ShibuyaIt’s not at the level of a city or anything like that, that worldview.

NojimaThat’s dangerous. Of course, the representation of the city was also amazing.

This Godzilla looks like an automatic gun (Takahashi)

──What did you think about the expressions of Godzilla and Kong?

TakahashiIt was amazing. That’s why even in the scene where he spits out heat rays, Godzilla’s “-1.0” is like a revolver, with a fixed number of bullets, so you can charge it, charge it, and do it! That’s what it feels like, but this time Godzilla is like an automatic gun, charging up and then firing continuously. The way they express it is a little different from ours.

NojimaFirst of all, I thought the detail in Godzilla was amazing. It’s the movement of the meat, or the feeling of muscle, and there are bones and meat inside. I feel like we’re not doing that.

ShibuyaI was surprised at how close the camera was to Godzilla and Kong, just like the human cast. We can’t stop by, or should we say, it’s hard to stop by. Whether it’s Godzilla or Kong, there is an incredible amount of material needed to express the details when you get close to it.

TakahashiAll monsters move well.

ShibuyaSo, what does each skeleton, upper jaw, and back of the throat look like? I just kept looking at things like that. In particular, the eyes were very well-defined, giving a real sense of being a living creature.

──How did the modeling of Godzilla compare to the Godzilla you all made?

TakahashiThis one is more similar to a lizard, including its movement. Godzilla in “-1.0″ was designed based on director Takashi Yamazaki’s idea, “I want to do the first (Godzilla in the first movie). It’s the first, but I want to make it even cooler.”

ShibuyaYamazaki also drew something that had a very biological feel in his early designs. However, I was inevitably influenced by the content I wanted to produce, and it ended up becoming something more sacred than the first generation. This time, it was different, and I think they came up with that design with an agile Godzilla in mind.

NojimaThere’s a lot of space under the crotch, so you feel like you can move around. Godzilla at “-1.0” cannot move much.

TakahashiMr. Yamazaki says, “Don’t move it.” “Godzilla can’t move,” he said.

Shibuya“-1.0” was made on the premise that “Godzilla doesn’t move,” but this one moves around and has long legs.

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It’s also good at obscuring the sense of scale (Nojima)

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