Well its official. In a black and white way of saying, my journey, my fan film of 4 years (6 if you include the 2 previous years it took me to build my Godzilla, Hedorah, Ebirah and Zombie Kong suits) GODZILLA BATTLE ROYALE . . . is finished.
The first 640x480 true resolution export of my personal cut was successful. I also have a video wrap mp4 and 5 dvd's burned (with more on the way). At 92 minutes long and nearly 8GB of memory, I can honestly say its definitely not only the best work of my life but also my favorite I've done out of alot of things I've attempted in life.
I started working on this film back in the summer of 2010 when I was asked to participate in a G-fest fan video for the following year. It was such a fun experience to portray a character I always looked up to from my youth. I then started learning how to edit film and do visual effects and offered to work on the post production of that project. The following year, our video was shown on the Pickwicke Screen to a very admiring audience reaction. On top of that, I even threw in a "mock trailer" (much in the fashion of how MACHETE might have first been intended) for good measure and even that recieved a huge pop from the audience when it opened for Gamera II at the Pickwick in 2011.
After that, I decided that I needed to take this "mock trailer" to the next level and make it into a full film (also kinda like MACHETE. I'll just say it, I'm a Rodriguez fan). I filmed green screen shots of any kaiju cosplayer who wanted to participate, all the while assisting G-fest with their more original video projects they were doing at the time as a volunteer thing. So from 2011 to now, I've been pulling double duty between my project and G-fests projects.
At first my original story only had about maybe 10 monsters in it and was much shorter. Most would probably tell me now that alone might have been too much. But I didn't care. I was going with the attitude of "the more the merrier." As a kid I always loved watching each individual film or vs film, but I always wanted to see a film where godzilla and his friends from the old series teamed up against all the bad guys, at one place, at one time (Godzilla Final Wars doesn't technically count as Godzilla faced all the monsters sequentially and not all at once, and Destroy All Monsters was 10 monsters against 1 bad monster which was kinda one sided) in a justice league or avengers fashion. Sure there was Destroy All Monsters, but unf that wasn't released in the US until that Zilla film was released and by that time I was in High School and was focused on other things. Every now and then though I'd revisit my old past time and still have that itch to create that kind of a story if I could. Never did I think that years later I'd actually be doing it.
By 2012, the story had grown even more, more kaiju costumers offered their help, great actors and friends offered their help (most of whom weren't even kaiju fans), I collaborated with some who at the time inspired me, and I even had the great honor of filming 2 celebrity cameo appearance on my green screen. One by Robert Scott Field of "Godzilla vs King Ghidorah 93" and one of Japan's greatest actors, Akira Takarada San (Gojira 54/King Kong Escapes/Mothra vs Godzilla/Godzilla vs Sea Monster/Godzilla: Final Wars). At the time, the excitement level was high and I thought I'd seen it all. I was literally convinced that "there's no way we can lose with this" and that I had formed the "perfect team."
However as film and post production moved along, it wasn't without its problems and dark side to things. I'm not gonna name names, situations, what happened or he said/she said. Thats not the point of this post. As far as the bad times and incidents are concerned, whats done is done, and its in the past. I have no regrets on how I did things or the direction I took this film in. At the same time thou, I wanted to stay on good terms with everyone involved with this project and wanted nothing more than for them to have fun working on it and maybe get some good expeirence for their own with acting or film pursuits down the road. Unfortunately, I've learned one harsh truth about film itself. It sometimes causes tension that, no matter how much you try to avoid it, it eventually comes out. Despite that though, I was still able to finish things and for some, we were still able to work through things and make it happen nonetheless. For those I might have offended or ruffled feathers with, it was not my intention to do so and I hope that maybe one day we could be civil again as I don't like grudges and try my best to maintain friendships within reason. If not, then I wish those individuals the best in all their future endeavors at very least and thanks again for the help you gave.
As I approached the final stages of this film, I think most of my friends can agree that this project was kinda "consuming" me in a manner of speaking. I wasn't getting out much, I wasn't eating or sleeping healthy, the minute I came home from work, I'd literally be right at my computer tackling fx shots, editing or sound leveling till 10pm to sometimes 2am on work nights. I knew it wasn't right, but I pressed on. Because as ridiculous as some might take my efforts here, I BELIEVED in it. It was a vision I needed to bring to life. And it wasnt like after 3 years I was just gonna throw my hands up and say I quit. There were indeed some times where I and others can admit that I almost did, but inside, I knew that it wouldn't have been right of me nor would it have been fair to those who gave their time for me (despite the fact that it was kinda consuming me).
Now that the deed and first export is finally finished, I can honestly and technically say that whether the fans like or hate my film, I stuck it out, put forth the effort and have my own bragging rights (in the sense) that I and those who helped me accomplished something very rare, ambitious, and unique in its own right. Whether its a big hit with the fandom or the sci fi community, thats up for them to decide as thats not within my power. I'm not gonna lie. I don't handle criticism very well nor have I ever. But I also understand that trying to please everyone is the same thing as perfection. It just doesn't exist no matter what effort or what resources you have.
I recently saw an interview that a friend of mine did with that new Legendary Pictures Godzilla film director Gareth Edwards. Most of you know that I'm definitely not keen on that new design (I think the film itself has a chance). However Gareth said something that really puts things into perspective. He stated how that as much as he'd love to please all G-fans with this new film, he knows that not everyones going to buy into it as that would be impractical. As a filmaker, you have to put out what "you love" and then you can only hope that others who view it might agree with you. Same goes for me and anyone like me who makes a film, fan film, or whatever form of art you pursue.
I've got a lot to learn still with dealing with criticism. I realize that. At the same time thou, its painful when you know the effort you put and yet some can simply just knock it like its nothing. Anyone who attempts anything they want and doesn't accomplish or attain what they wanted is going to be hurt on some level regardless of how they handle it. I do agree that rejection comes with the territory and that we all have to learn how to deal with it regardless. I get comments all the time on how my suit sucks (and yet it has almost a quarter of a million views on youtube). I've had alot of ppl say that my film is campy or cheesy. Not really a bad thing but camp and cheese are not terms I associate GBR with. Rather epic, nostalgic and a tribute to the oldschool monster film is more how I see it. A few who previewed have claimed the film is definitely good with amazing efforts but there's too much monster action or the film is a bit long or a "never-ending firework show." Fair enough being that its a feature length 92 minute fan film. On the other hand I took that bet for a reason.
Henry G. Saperstein who was instrumental to the American success of some of Godzilla's films back in the 60s and 70s made an interesting statement. "A monster film always starts off with conference or a human situation detailing whats going on, that there is a monster, and what they're going to do about it. This goes on for 5-10 (sometimes even 45 minutes in the Godzilla films) at which point the audience is going to tune out. We're here to see a monster film, so where's the monster???" Yes he's speaking more in terms of a television standpoint back in the day, but I still feel that that statement holds up very well today, even from a film standpoint too. Most of the Godzilla films were 60-70% human story and 30-40% monster story. You wouldn't even see the monster til sometimes 45 minutes into the film. As much as I wanted to go "oldschool" and "tradition" with my film, I also wanted to "break with that tradition" of the human story overpowering the monster side of things and tackle the story more "visa versa". My human story acts to tie the monster action together so we have a story going but the focus is more on the monsters themselves and the fight telling the story much like a wrestling match would. So I kinda took Saperstein's statment and my vision of a long epic monster battle, in my home city of Chicago, and I put my money on that. All the while I can only hope a good majority of the fandom and a good amount of sci fi fans (and maybe even a few non fans) might come to appreciate that I was attempting something different in that sense. But thats for them to decide I guess. For a film thats titled Godzilla: Battle Royale, you can bet your @$$ that your gonna get a #*@(n monster battle.
So here we are today. I'm guess some of you might be wondering how I'm feeling or how I'm interpretting all this. I can honestly say that I feel a "whirlwind" of different emotions. Happiness, sadness that my jouney has kinda ended, relief, hope of maybe repairing conflicts and yet a lingering feeling of "what next??" I kinda saw this coming but even when you expect a reaction and then experience it, its usually always different on how you expect it to play out. At this point, I have a few more exports in HD and a special version for G-fest to make into a "Part 2" version to what was shown last year. If there's one thing I really got out of this whole experience was that it was "educational" and even uplifting when some involved told me what an honor it was to do what they always wanted to do since the first time they saw a monster film.
At this juncture, I had submitted my film to C2E2 and Acen, but unfornately they were not interested. Dragon Con in GA showed some interest and asked me to send them a finished copy once completed which I will do (crosses fingers). As far as G-fest goes, I hear they're definitely interested in showing it, its just a matter of where and when. Though with all of whats going on with Legendary Godzilla and other things happening there this year, I just hope we might be able to provide an exciting contribution as we always try to do. Other cons, I'll look into other anime or possible film fests or fan film fests. Hell I'll even send a copy to San Diego Comicon and that George Lucas Star Wars fan film submission thing just for $&@^s and giggles (there are quite a few Star Wars references in my film). If anyone who heads any comic or sci fi related events might be interested in showcasing our film (or might know anyone that would), please put out the good word for us if you can. We also have that new like page I set up last month. If any of you (especially my cast and crew) could do me the small kindness of liking our page and just making a little shout out on your pages about our film and what we worked so hard on these past 4 yours, I'd be eteranlly grateful. Please use this link:
www.facebook.com/godzillabattleroyaleAlso if there's any websites/blogsites/news articles that might be interested in interviews exclusive viewings of my film, I'd be more than happy to provide them and any info you want as a means of maybeing "helping each other" out. I'd really love if I could possibly get in the tribune/suntimes or the news about our efforts. I know I'm kinda dreaming there, but don't we all kinda want that at some point or another after we work on something so hard for so long??
If there's a few other things I hope this film does, I hope that whether you like it or hate it, I hope that maybe it'll be something "memorable". I hope that maybe I can inspire others like me, years from now, to go forward with visions of their own and make them happen how they see fit like I did. It'd be very nice to leave a mark where I might see fans do drawings of our battles or even resin sculpts like they do at G-fest. I know, that might be asking or expecting quite alot there. I'm just saying it'd be cool. And if none of that even happens, I'll get over it. If anything else, I just hope that since I threw "everything I had in me" in this film, everyone might walk away with at least somethings or even one thing that entertained them through it. And I'm not just saying for me alone, I mean for everyone who contributed.
I just wanna take this opportunity to thank everyone, AND I MEAN EVERYONE, who acted in, assisted, participated, supported and/or believed in our efforts to do something fun, unique and creative here. I'm eternally grateful and will always cherish the good memories we lived and had making this project. If anyone (cast or crew) involved wants an early viewing, a test dvd copy or a get together to see the film now or later, please message me and I'll be happy to arrange it.
Its been long @$$ haul. But with God as my witness, WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GODZILLA BATTLE ROYALE is FINISHED, DONE, and READY TO BE SHOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SKRRRRREEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
by rockstarbd82 » Mon Apr 28, 2014 8:44 am 
) and the full version of Godzilla Battle Royale on Gojira's 60th Anniversary (Nov. 3rd 2014).
Can't wait to see the results. 
