Photo/Illutration Tatsuji Nojima, Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya and Masaki Takahashi pose with the Oscar for Best Visual Effects for "Godzilla Minus One" at the Governors Ball following the Oscars show at the 96th Academy Awards in Los Angeles, California, on March 10. (Reuters Photo)

Director Takashi Yamazaki proved that his unique “two-way approach” in making “Godzilla Minus One” can still bring home Hollywood’s most prestigious prize. 

Yamazaki and his team let out whoops of delight as “Godzilla Minus One” won the Academy Award for Visual Effects in Los Angeles, California, on March 10.

The triumph shed a spotlight on Yamazaki’s filmmaking prowess. 

Most Japanese and foreign films that make full use of visual effects (VFX) such as computer graphics have a VFX specialist in addition to the main film director.

However, Yamazaki is a rare type of director who oversees the challenging demands of both. 

Yamazaki made his directorial debut with “Juvenile” in 2000, after writing his own script and honing his VFX skills at Shirogumi Inc., a video production company to which he still belongs.

He has also been involved in screenplays for films with original stories, such as “Always: Sanchome no Yuhi” (Always: Sunset on Third Street), which is set in the 1950s, and “Eien no Zero” (Eternal Zero), which is about a suicide attack in World War II.

“Godzilla Minus One” is the story of the iconic reptilian monster attacking Japan immediately after the end of World War II, and the film is an Yamazaki original.

In this sense, it is a “three-way” approach for him.

The Visual Effects Award had been awarded to massive box office blockbusters such as “Jurassic Park” and “Titanic” in the past.

Yamazaki didn’t think his film was at a disadvantage nominated in the same category along with major Hollywood productions.

“The small number of people, the short time frame and the small budget had an impact,” he said. “And because I do it myself, I can visualize straight from my head for this amount of money and this amount of time.”

The imaging and the look of the film were solidified before shooting began through the script and other mechanisms.

Once the full-length feature was shot, the final version was finished by a small elite VFX team.

Yamazaki took the lead in all aspects of the project, which certainly made the price-performance ratio of the VFX even better. 

The story, which is full of dramatic images, such as Godzilla chasing after a small boat with its head above the surface of the sea, is a touching drama based in Japan’s Showa Era (1926-1989). 

As a specialty of Yamazaki’s work, even a Godzilla film can make audiences shed a tear.

From the opening to the ending, Yamazaki’s aesthetics are dyed in the colors of his work.

In his youth, he was shocked and inspired by the Hollywood blockbusters “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “Star Wars.”

Yamazaki made a science fiction film on 8mm film with friends when he was in junior high school, which was his starting point.

He entered the film-making industry with a yearning for Hollywood.

Yamazaki said that he met Steven Spielberg at a gathering of Oscar-nominated filmmakers and that Spielberg praised "Godzilla Minus One."

“It was a more gratifying moment than being nominated,” Yamazaki said.

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