InterBEE REVIEW2016

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13History of Tokusatsu and Mr. Higuchi“Tokusatsu” combines special meth-ods to enable images that cannot nor-mally be filmed. “Godzilla”, produced in 1954, was a breakthrough in Japanese movies. Higuchi grew up watching a multitude of movies and TV programs inspired by Godzilla, and read-up on the making of such works in magazines. Through this interest, it came to him, that “some amazing person was making these movies”, and he eventually played an active role in his passion by working part-time at the filming of a Godzilla movie when he was 18.He also took part in the amateur movie company, DAICON FILM. He then joined GAINAX, which was formed by the same members. He then became a freelance movie maker, making movies including the Heisei era “Gamera” series, “Sakuya: yokaiden”, (Sakuya: Slayer of Demons), “Shurayuki Hime” (Lady Snowblood), “Pistol Opera”, “Lorelei”, “Kakushi Toride no San Akunin” (Hidden Fortress: The Last Princess), and “Nobo no Shiro” (The Floating Castle).While making such movies over a 30 year period, his technique changed from tokusatsu using miniatures to CG (computer graphics) VFX (visual effects).Mr. Higuchi says that while taking on challenges such as “making a movie like Star Wars”, “producing a lived-in feel that makes miniatures look just like the real thing”, “shooting with real scenery rather than relying on models”, his tech-nique became “CG without miniatures” as a way to save manpower.Lacking an ample budget, Higuchi unconsciously tread a dangerous course while seeking what could be done using this technique.Expression I want to aim for in the futureAfter his speech, we asked Mr. Higuchi about tokusatsu and future plans.- Looking back, how did it go?Higuchi: The speech was for one hour and a half so my intention was to bring as many video materials as pos-sible. But I finished explaining my life’s work quicker than expected, which saddened me (laughs).- In the current era where CG video expression has become the norm, “Kyoshinhei Tôkyô ni Arawaru” (Giant God Warrior Appears in Tokyo), which included tokusatu techniques, was well-received.Higuchi: I wanted to go about it properly, but tokusatsu using minia-tures has now become the most expen-sive method. Old techniques can be made less expensive, but a cheap look is unacceptable – these are my main concerns. On more and more occa-sions, we were saying, “So wouldn’t it be cheaper to do it with CG”. How do we create value by choosing tokusatsu despite the advantages of CG? We have to create this value.- What new challenges do you want to take up in the future?Higuchi: I want to develop these works by working with younger people and people from abroad. I can’t achieve anything alone. Over the last 10 years, during which I set up in business myself and tried various things out, I have come to see basically what’s what. Maybe I could just develop that further, but I would rather come into contact with different kinds of people in new fields – find new expression, and so on. I think that the NHK drama, “Guardian of the Spirit”, I am currently work-ing on could be such a project.Mr. Shinji HiguchiMovie Director / Special Effect Director