Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1124104
for that series. In this case, this environment is just as elaborate in conception and pivotal to the tale, but the visual sensibility is grounded in a more accessible realism. As the HQ is created within the solid rock of a defunct undersea volcano, there is the visual contrasting interplay of the rugged natural setting with the streamlined intelligence and maximum strength of up-to-the- moment human engineering. It's a visual manifestation of man vs. nature in a constructed environment. There is also a strong component of theatricality embedded in one of the base's primary purposes: to monitor Godzilla as close to his natural habitat as possible, which as one sees later in the film, isn't that close at all. The anchor of the observation deck is a giant window into the ocean. HQ's cinemascopically- scaled viewing portal is a conscious allusion to the mesmerizing experience of watching an epic movie on a huge screen. Monarch workers can and do become lost in the simple wonder of the monumental live imagery that they are studying. Of course, it wouldn't be a Godzilla movie without some serious civic destruction. Here, Mexico City is D A. THE UNDERSEA MONITORING STATION OF GODZILLA. ILLUSTRATION BY GEORGE HULL. B. THE MONARCH SCIENCE LAB, WITH THE CADAVER OF A MONSTER KILLED IN THE 2014 GODZILLA. ILLUSTRATION BY WARREN FLANAGAN. C. MONARCH CENTRAL MONITORING STATION. ILLUSTRATION BY GEORGE HULL. D. MONARCH CENTRAL MONITORING STATION. SET PHOTO. E. MONARCH HQ CORRIDOR, ILLUSTRATION BY WARREN FLANAGAN. F. MONARCH HQ CORRIDOR. SET PHOTO G. MONARCH CENTRAL OPERATIONS MAIN ENTRANCE. SET PHOTO. H. BOSTON CRUMBLES AS MILITARY HELICOPTERS PROVIDE ASSISTANCE IN THE FILM'S FINAL BATTLE. ILLUSTRATION BY MATT ALLSOPP. C severely taxed by monster warfare and Boston is mostly obliterated by the end. In the former, the production did a significant amount of practical location shooting fueled with hundreds of extras, wind machines, flying debris and set decoration, rescue transport plane mockups, and seriously shaky camera action. The city of Boston as a location required second unit shooting only, but a number of interior sets and some extensive exterior set fragments were built to cover the Fenway Park sequence of the film. Needless to say, the visual effects department carried the major responsibility of all the big-picture destruction elements of the film. ADG A B