Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1381100
GODZILLA VS. KONG www.postmagazine.com 22 POST MAY/JUNE 2021 that the big challenge in these sequences was the sheer amount of destruction required. For instance, in the shot where Mecha drags Godzilla through Hong Kong, almost four dozen buildings were destroyed in that one shot alone. Meanwhile, the creatures were scaled relative to the buildings, as they had to be a lot bigger to clear the height of the skyscrapers. (In the ocean battle, for instance, Kong stood at about 300 feet tall, which is three to four times larger than he was in Skull Island. In the Hong Kong sequences, he was scaled up to over 500 feet.) Most of the fight by Scanline occurred around the Zoological and Botanical Gardens, so the artists concentrated most of their efforts in detailing this area, creating more than 300 individual buildings, in addition to the gardens, trees and landscapes. "We made a number of more generic Hong Kong-styled buildings that could be used to pro- vide additional detail, and had a procedural system to add smaller details, such as air conditioning units, antennas and streetlights to buildings and roads," says Hirota. Scanline further utilized the drone and aerial photography to stitch together a base cyclorama for the deep Hong Kong background, primarily the bay, far mountain and Kowloon sides. Hirota com- pliments the environmental team for creating the 2.5D setup that was placed behind the 3D city. BUILDING HONG KONG — MPC FILM Prior to Scanline's battle, though, was one craft- ed by MPC Film. The audience sees Godzilla approaching Hong Kong via its harbor. While mostly submerged, his dorsal plates still extends far enough above the ocean's surface to slice an expansion bridge in half. The shot is where MPC's work began and continued into the city. "I worked on the first Godzilla — the 2014 one — and every time we bring him back, we make him a bit more high-res," Lefebvre explains. "He carries Detail for both titans was increased for this film. Kong's size ranged from 300- to 500-feet tall, depending on the environment.