Godzilla 1998 - VFX review

Movie - Godzilla
released - 1998
Director - Roland Emmarich
Cinematography - ueli steiger
VFX - Viewpoint DataLabs
Practical / Animatronics - Tatopoulo & his studio

Godzilla is a 1998 Monster movie which was originally a concept of japan, the Japanese had done a few films in the 1950's and Godzilla was portrayed as a fire breathing dragon which could stand against any weapon that was used against it! The US version of the movie had a modified fresh looking Godzilla since it's origins in japan. The movie is also one of its kind as it did not go to ILM or stan winston (who were the kings in the VFX / Animatronics), instead they went with in-house & mostly new studios & teams.

The film starts with a nuclear explosion and some iguanas getting affected by it! it's an effective way to set the stage with no big theme park tours, and when a group of fishing trollers pick up a strange reading on their radar they has nothing to do but to sit n watch what unveils in front of them. attacked by a giant creature only one survives.

Ripped fishing boats, big footprints are shown with devastated land marks to build up the scale of the creature. This is one of those exaggerated moment's where some one with a little idea of realism will throw away the idea of sharp cut footprints on hard ground! but still the audience bought it!

The previous Japanese made Godzilla movies mainly used stop motion or people inside suits. 1998 Godzilla mainly used CGI to portray the refreshed fast moving creature. The creature is almost 30 stories high and moves faster and is able to manoeuvre itself within small spaces, either making no big deal or at times taking down entire skyscrapers with it's tail. The CGI is very good as it shows no signs of faking. The Apache chases and the explosions all add in to the story line too.

instead of showing water ripples, the Godzillas aproach is depicted by harsh & very big shakes. cars fly a few feet up & the finger nail of a foot is as big as a car's hood!

When the giant moves within the city, the damage done to the surroundings are maximum and the scene of Taxies thrown all over & rain all ad up to the final effect!

While the military tries to take down the city, the group led by the french secret service agent find the nest where 100s of eggs lie around. the eggs were all made and the hatching baby Godzillas were guys inside latex suits. The movie wen't onto be a moderate hit, all the future films were scratched due to being not a big hit as expected!

Von Ryan's Express - VFX review

Movie - Von Ryan's Express
Release - 1965
Directed by - Mark Robson
Cinematography - William H Daniels

This movie is about a set of US POWs that escape their prison camp with the help of  Fighter pilot Von Ryan who is recently brought to the camp. we can forget about CGI in this movie and talk about the practical effects pulled out to make this movies special effects look believable.

1965 is a good time for a movie based on WW II, as the director with a little bit of budget could move into actual locations, & that's what the director did. The films parts were shot in actual locations which adds to the realism & the details that portray a rich & a well planned movie. The movie has actual vehicles from big locomotives to the bikes, cars & planes.

The prison camp & all the sets were actually built, and theres nothing special to talk from a VFX perspective. It starts to add in when the set of POWs who with the help of Von Ryan escape the prison camp & get caught to the Germans. They are loaded into the train which becomes the stage to tell the story for more than half of it's running time. in this particular shot the compartment is made in a studio, the light rays are pulled out decently with smoke or dust particles present in the cabin. and a little bit of shake is added to the wagon to give it touch of realism. but I guess the movements were larger than that in a train made in 1950s.

Trains outside shots where the German soldiers who guard the train travel on the roof are actual footage. the shadows of the train against the green bushes alongside the road is a hard feet to pull with practical effects which need the use of a screen projection method. This screen projection is used in other shots of the movie.

This shot where the prisoner's make a hole in the wooden platform and drop out on to the rail track are just awesome for the time. the rail track is shot from a moving train & then projected onto a screen beneath the set.

In the next few minutes, just after dropping down, the set of guys roll away from the rail tracks. I think some of the wheels were taken away to provide a gap that is safe enough for the actors to roll over or it would have been fatal with a delay of a second or two. they have some kind of white sand or powder on them which is thrown against the black soil to give a dramatic smoke effect. this can be clearly seen from all the three actors who roll over to the side of the track.

Once the set climb back to the rail cars, the side shots are shot in a studio with moving footage projected to the back screen.

Then comes the fighter planes of the movie which look real, as there is no hint in stop motion nor projected backgrounds. The glass parts show the background nicely and the reflections are not fake.

The closeup shots of the cockpit against the mountain background is really good for the time as the plane behind the focus point too moves realistically. This was a studio shot but still it does not have any unrealistic effect.

This shot of the plane flying towards the train is again a screen projection, where the arial footage is projected to a stationary plain with a rotating blade, but still the shots are brief and used only few seconds, as the director had more footage of actual stuff to show.

Blowing of the tunnel entrance - this is miniature sets in action. this part is a scaled model where the explosion is set up and only shown in one angle.

Here the fighter plane coming towards the POWs is a stop motion feat pulled Ok with perfect shadowing but shows the jumping un-smooth stop motion effect.

When the POWs are able to shoot the plane successfully the pilot is shown getting hit, this glass crack effect must be a hand painted job over the actual footage. 

this is again a practical effect where the plain shot by Von ryan & the group crash into the rocky mountain.  Most probably a scaled model was sent rushing down and made to blow up as soon as it hit the rock.

Movie ends with Von ryan not being able to make it to the train. He is shot by the germans @ lay lifeless on the tracks. The movie is a good watch if you love the old WWII settings n story line.