Case study

     A big part of creating a film is looking at the process of others. As some may say, "Don't reinvent the wheel". With this being said, a part of our blog post requirements for this week is to conduct a case study on a movie in a genre. I find this essential in really grasping the process on how the movie process is done. This is also great for me personally as the movie I will be doing was done by a large studio which I was considering choosing in the imaginative thought that we were seriously creating a full film at a high level.

                      Godzilla vs. Kong

History/Target audience

The history of this concept of these two iconic Kaiju's battling it out is not one of recent. In fact, we have seen this before in the 1962 film "King Kong vs. Godzilla". This film is not as commonly known as other films in the franchise as this was originally released in Japan by Toho Co. This movie also appeared in the U.S in New York City in 1963. Overall, this film is largely unknown in the mainstream world today when someone brings up Godzilla vs kong they are not talking about the old "King Kong vs. Godzilla" of the '60s. Though this idea has been done before, the target audience for this film was not exactly for the die-hards of the franchise wanting to see the battle redone with today's technology in fact, this film gained centered its hype around the move of "Kong: Skull Island" from universal studios to the Warner Bro's studio worked as a catalyst for fans all around the world to speculate we might see these two large beasts duke it out. Once Legendary confirmed the film to be true, they set out a release date of late May 2020.

Production

The production of this film was very long and complex as most major films are today. Before we get into production it is important to note who called the shots in this ordeal. Adam Wingard who is well-known in the film direction and production industry was named announced as the director of the film in May of 2017. As stated in interviews, Adam jumped at the idea almost instantly as he felt it would be amazing to be the filmmaker that would answer the half-century question of "who would win". Beyond this, when creating a film you need it to be financed and g' did this film have a lot of it. Legendary financed the film with about 120 million dollars which were also supported with 40 billion dollars from Warner Bros. Studio.

Writing

Just like the director of the film,  the writing team was also assembled in March of 2017. The writing process was different from most as there was a lot of fun transpiring inside the studio. All the writers it seemed are long-time fans of the franchise and have done work in the past with these monsters so it was refreshing to take a stance. Interviews of different writers and other people in the production process all allude to the fact that they want there to be a definitive winner of the battle between these two. Moving past this, the first greenlit idea was the overall idea and framework for the film (this comes before the script itself) done by Terry Rossio (Co-writer of a previous Godzilla film). Members of the writing team all found it important to include elements from many films in the franchise to keep it consistent with the story we are all used to. In fact, the script was redone a few times by Michael Dougherty (director of Godzilla King of the monsters) to make sure that the film still carried themes established in previous movies. An example of this in fact would be Kong's relationship with people, as in previous movies he was never depicted as a monster who just attacks everything he sees; they wanted to keep this idea alive.

Casting

The overall casting was rather normal, starting off in the middle of 2017 announcing that Zhang Ziyi is joining the film. As for the rest of the actors, it appears that they went after experienced actors (though not all).  FUN FACT: The popular youtube personality, James Rolfe was actually offered a spot in the film however could not attend due to personal issues.

Filming and Post-production

Filming overall took place in early November 2018. The film took place in Australia, Hong Kong, and Hawaii in numerous locations for each. Filming was done in these real locations largely because Wingward wanted to show scale as best as he could. There was a vast abundance of footage that was filmed so much in fact, Adam Wingard revealed that there is actually 5 hours worth of footage (of course a majority of this was cut in the final leaving the film at an hour and 53 minutes). The Post-production was very interesting as Godzilla vs. Kong contained a lot of CGI. So much work had to be done in post-production in fact, three companies were hired to work on the effects (Moving Picture Company, Weta Digital, and Scanline). 

Distribution

The overall release of this film was internationally (March 24th, 2021). The United States released the film shortly after this on March 31st, in theaters and also on streaming services like HBO Max. Unfortunately, the film's release in Japan was delayed due to covid and didn't hit the theaters there until July 2nd, 2021. Because of the effects of Covid on movie theaters, the release of this movie was rather hard so the company had to find alternatives in the form of streaming services, however, they didn't want to fo allow this route and it is rumored by many that Netflix offered hundreds of millions to have the movie on their platform. To add to this, the release on HBO Max only granted one month of access to the film from the streaming service. Fun fact: There was internal term-oil due to Lengendary entertainment feeling as if Warner Bro's was not transparent with their plans on release and even legal actions were largely considered.

Marketing

The marketing for this film was majorly done online via interviews and such, however, beyond that clips were previewed at 2020's Comic-Con. Furthermore, we saw different marketing in January in the form of a Twitter post by the account "GodzillaVsKong" (this was also the marketing agency known as BOND). Essentially, many online posters were teased and shown throughout the months up until release. I.E 

Finally, we got the first trailer at the end of January.

Cross-media coverage and synergy

As far as this goes, different deals were signed by Warner Bros. to further push the popularity of this movie, an example of this being the signing with an exhibition company "Cineworld" that would the film the first thing to be showing in its reopening. The film also saw a few sponsorships: Snickers, Youtube, Roblox. With snickers, we saw a platform for fan voting, and with Youtube, we saw a plethora of teasers as well as previous films being released for purchase on Youtube finally, Rbolox hosted an event where players could unlock rewards exclusive to the event. Warner Bros. also sponsored a challenge on the popular teenage app "TikTok" that included an abundance of its most popular influencers on the site.

Reflection

Overall, reviewing this whole process has really opened my eye to how long and troublesome the film creaiton process can be. This has given me a new found of respect for all those involved in film creation. Furthermore, this also makes me re-think my prrevious words in my earlier blog posts where I said I would choose a large film company. Upon seeing all the work that needs to be done as well as the connections needed I think it may be time to rethink my decision (joking).

Sources

Chris. “Adam Wingard Filmed 5 Hours Worth of Godzilla vs. Kong Footage!” Scified, Scified, 4 Apr. 2021, https://www.godzilla-movies.com/news/adam-wingard-filmed-5-hours-worth-godzilla-vs-kong-footage#:~:text=Add%20A%20Comment-,Godzilla%20vs.,the%20film%20finally%20came%20out.

Thilk, Author Chris. “Godzilla vs. Kong – Marketing Recap.” Cinematic Slant, 31 Mar. 2021, https://cinematicslant.com/2021/03/31/godzilla-vs-kong-marketing-recap/.

“Godzilla vs. Kong.” IMDb, IMDb.com, 31 Mar. 2021, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5034838/.

Owen, Phil. “The Plot of 'Godzilla vs Kong' Explained.” TheWrap, 4 Apr. 2021, https://www.thewrap.com/the-plot-of-godzilla-vs-kong-explained-hollow-earth/.

Mendelson, Scott. “'Godzilla vs. Kong' Is a Rare Blockbuster Sequel to a Box Office Disaster.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 13 Apr. 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2021/04/13/how-godzilla-vs-kong-made-box-office-history/?sh=767054c9314e.

DaVETTE SEE March 25th 2021. “Godzilla vs. Kong: 12 Fun Facts from the Set.” Fandango, 25 Mar. 2021, https://www.fandango.com/movie-news/godzilla-vs-kong-12-fun-facts-from-the-set-754269.