Information reaching Kossyderrickent has it that 35 VFX artists worked on ‘GODZILLA MINUS ONE’ and completed 610 shots for the film.
Godzilla Minus One features 610 VFX shots. That wouldn’t be a surprising amount in isolation, except for the fact just 35 artists worked on the film.
That’s according to an article from The Hollywood Reporter, that says the film “involved innovation—from character work to water—to complete the film’s 610 VFX shots with the constraints of a shoestring budget and just 35 artists.”
It underscored what some VFX practitioners say is sometimes a practice—where studio marketing departments emphasize how productions do things for real but do not always paint a full picture where VFX is concerned. “It’s to the degree that this costs people nominations, and this costs people Academy Awards,” asserted a VFX branch member in a The Hollywood Reporter article on the subject published last year.
This year, there was nothing as overt as Maverick, but the topic remains on people’s minds.
And all that for just $15 million. It means that the Japanese-language Godzilla movie, which released November 3, 2023, isn’t just the cheapest movie to be shortlisted in the VFX Oscar category, but has the smallest team of artists too.
Among its competitors shortlisted are The Creator, Poor Things, Rebel Moon, Society of the Snow, Napoleon, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and Guardians 3 all up for the best visual effects Oscar.
Prior to the bake-off, held Saturday at the Academy Museum and also live streamed, a VFX branch committee had already vetted all individuals for their creative contributors on the shortlisted films. Among them, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’s lineup whose four names included VFX producer Kathy Siegel, though producers also are typically not considered for this award.