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San Diego Comic-Con, held from 18-21 July in San Diego, California, U.S., is known to be the largest pop culture related event in the U.S. The convention attracts comic and movie fans, as well as press, industrial partners, and promoters for various works. Marketing seeps through the event in all ways including wall-size posters, jackets for hotel room keys, as well as concept cafes. However, the one that stood out at this year's Comic-Con was the promotion for the movie Godzilla. Building up hype for the movie's release in May 2014 in theaters all over the U.S., Legendary Pictures had prepared a special event venue in Downtown San Diego for Comic-Con attendees. The event venue was near Downtown, and was reconstructed from a two-story storage facility. There were no signs of any monster on the building's exterior, and it could have been hard to miss if one was not looking for it.
The only little clue to the venue was the bold graffiti on the wall, as well as a small, sketched logo of Legendary Pictures. There were also signs featuring odd Japanese phrases scattered around.
Visitors who gathered at the front of the pavillion were led around the building on a tour. First, about 20 people were gathered and given a set of made-up, story-related instructions. Apparently, the visitors were going to the part of San Diego that had been ravaged by the Godzilla that had landed there. The mood was easy to get into and was reminiscent of a Disneyland attraction.
Finally, the doors to the building opened, and visitors were greeted with an amazing, never-seen-before world. One side of the building was a recreation of Japan in the Showa Era. Electronics stores, ramen shops, and street corners were nostalgic to the Japanese visitors and refreshing for the American visitors. From the menu at the ramen shop to the gigantic portrait of Eiji Tsuburaya, signboards, and labels, everything was of extremely high quality and there was an intricate attention to detail. There was a lot of respect for the original Godzilla as well as Japanese culture.
Opposite the recreated town were materials on Godzilla in manga, as well as a large collection of various information and props related to Godzilla. It was enough for one to get absorbed in and lose track of time.
However, due to the format of the tour, there is a limit on how much time one could spend inside the exhibition. Visitors were ushered from one room to another hastily. The pictures shown in this article are actually from only the first room. The pavillion continued to wow visitors with the second room, as well the third and largest room. However, unfortunately, photography was only allowed in the first room.
The second room was set in some internal security center in San Diego. Tour participants were told that Godzilla had appeared and would be attacking San Diego, and they were placed on high alert. The setting in the third room was the scene in the city of San Diego. Through the windows, visitors could see Godzilla passing through, as well as peering at the visitors through the window. It felt as though one had entered into the scenes of a movie. It was extremely impressive.
After visiting the attraction, one would definitely want to catch the flick coming up in 2014. The designs and settings in the exhibition were somehow related to the movie as well. Even though this is not a Japanese production, there were many Japanese elements and references to the original Godzilla. There are many details still unreleased about the movie, and fans are definitely looking forward to knowing more. It was indeed a great promotion for the upcoming Godzilla film.
Source: AnimeAnime
