To knock down Godzilla with real hands, they set up 2,500 dominoes / BOSS "Godzilla: The Shock of a Blue Day"

The problem

This web film was released as part of a collaboration between BOSS and Godzilla to celebrate the completion of the movie "Godzilla vs. Kong." It was shot at the Toho Studios where the original 1954 "Godzilla" was filmed, with full supervision from Toho.

The insight

The film shines a light on a historical fact: that tokusatsu, the special-effects filmmaking technique born in Japan, came out of the trial and error of film crews inspired by overseas movies in the 1930s. In an age when CG can fake almost anything, the heart of this project is its belief in the value of doing something "for real."

The idea

Using the original Godzilla suit, the film is built around a chain of falling dominoes that leads to Godzilla's appearance, visualizing the passion of the filmmakers as a physical chain reaction. Director Nobuaki Hongo insisted on "shooting something real, with no fakery," and the dominoes were genuinely toppled by hand. Because the final shot has the camera rising on a crane for an overhead view, the hardest part of the shoot was getting Godzilla's face to tilt straight upward, tipping the body back as far as possible just before it fell.

What happened

Released on 5/28/2021, the video racked up about 2.3 million views within two weeks. The activities including this campaign later became one of Suntory's annual initiatives that led to it being selected for the Grand Prix category at the 75th Dentsu Advertising Awards.

Afterthought

Dominoes, set up one by one by human hands, knocked down by human hands. I didn't expect something that simple to stir up so much feeling. It would have been so much easier to just use CG, but the nerve it took to choose "the real thing" instead seems to overlap perfectly with the sheer weight of a monster like Godzilla.

Awards

• ACC Gold 2022

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