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- The Incredibly Low-Budget Oscar-Winning Visual Effects of "Godzilla Minus One"
The Incredibly Low-Budget Oscar-Winning Visual Effects of "Godzilla Minus One"
Plus: Ghoulish AI Products Continue to Creep Me Out
Steve
March 12, 2024
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The Incredibly Low-Budget Oscar-Winning Visual Effects of Godzilla Minus One
One of the biggest underdog stories from Sunday night’s Oscars was Best Visual Effects being awarded to Godzilla Minus One, a film with a roughly $15 million total budget, which is both an amazing achievement and an embarrassment for Hollywood’s bloated VFX ventures. Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania cost at least $200 million and its effects came out looking like this:
Terrifying! But not for the reasons intended.
Vulture has a great interview with Godzilla Minus One director/VFX supervisor Takashi Yamazaki, who describes why Hollywood’s visual effects outsourcing often ends up costing more money for less effective work:
When I’m the director and the supervisor and I have this vision in my head that is so solid, it eliminates the need for outsourcing and saying, “Oh, that’s not what we thought we were going to get.” It’s very solidified upfront. If we didn’t have that workflow, I think we would go in circles and go back and forth, and that’s when you end up wasting a little bit of time and money here and there.
Yamazaki and crew also created a video about the process of making Godzilla Minus One, in which they reveal most of the effects were shot in a parking lot in front of a green screen, often utilizing a tiny set. You absolutely have to watch it, it’s an incredibly inspiring example of filmmaking ingenuity.
Hopefully Godzilla’s first Oscar win will get it back in theaters or streaming quickly! I can’t wait to give it another watch.
Ghoulish AI Products Continue to Creep Me Out
In less-inspiring Hollywood/technology news, Deadline provides a brief article on “Digital Marilyn,” a horrifyingly dystopian AI product described thusly:
The Digital Marilyn can interact in real-time using advanced natural language processing, deep learning, and Open AI’s ChatGPT 3.5. What that means is another step forward in extending the ability to monetize celebrities even after their death.
“This collaboration exemplifies the transformative power of AI in connecting brands and consumers,” said Greg Cross, CEO and co-founder of Soul Machines. “Digital Marilyn showcases our Biological AI, bringing an iconic personality to life through engaging dialogues and emotional intelligence. It’s more than nostalgia. It’s a glimpse into the future of immersive interactions.”
The Digital Marilyn mimics human traits in a realistic fashion, and can interact with users on a personal level. The partnership claims the average conversation length with a Soul Machines Digital Person is 20 minutes, with the character allegedly adapting to your questions and interests.
Wow, that sounds awful! Believe it or not, it’s actually even worse! Check out the nightmare in action below:
Who is the target audience for this product? You could probably get a more realistic and less creepy experience chatting up a Marilyn drag queen at your local bar or turning on “Candle in the Wind.” As Anonymous noted in the comments, “who wanted this? lol”
As I’ve said again and again (and again), general tech overhype around AI results in dubious AI products functioning as a tool for grifters to separate marks from their money. It’s important to get in the habit of recognizing the spaces where artificial intelligence will be useful and where it’ll just be a way to scam cash from the overly credulous.
I decided to ask ChatGPT to pretend to be Marilyn and ask her what she thought. Below was the result. Remember: this is exactly how “Biological AI” will power its creepy Marilyn robot.
What do I think about it, fake Marilyn? I think it sucks!
Kernels (3 links worth making popcorn for)
Here’s a round-up of cool and interesting links about Hollywood and technology:
Mark Duplass wants to create a new model for TV. (link)
Are DVD sales about to die? (link)
I was a retired IMAX projectionist. Then Oppenheimer came out! (link)