Buildings in Live Action sequence in The End of Evangelion

[The Eva Monkey]

Someone refresh my memory. I thought I recalled a post in the past few years where someone pointed out these buildings and saying something like "Hey, remember those buildings in the background of the live action sequence? Those are totally Tokyo-3 buildings that don't exist in real life super imposed into the skyline."

They don't look like any buildings I've seen in real life. This is a fact right? I feel like this is really obvious, but someone help me out here.

Edit: I was thinking of a post on Reddit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/evangelion/com ... cause_the/

Will anyone refute that these are CGI/Miniature. Buildings like this don't exist in real life, right?

[DarkBluePhoenix]

It certainly is from the tail-end of the minature's Era in EoE, as CGI won't that goo in late 90s. It certainly has the feel of a minature. The entire scene looks like a minature, not just the background, but the fore ground as well, at least that's how it looked from the gif you linked us to. But you're very right, I've never seen any buildings like that ever in real life.

[Mr. Tines]

One thing to do would be to identify the real world location of the foreground and thus demonstrate the lack of such buildings in the background -- there are enough anime vs reality comparisons out there e.g.

SPOILER: Show

that it might have been done already. And if not, there's always Google Earth -- if it's good enough for /pol/ to play spotters in Syria with, it should be good enough to identify a piece of the environs of Tokyo.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

First of all: Holy Crap! I never noticed those buildings until this very moment. Thank you, Eva Geeks!

Second: I went back and I'm watching the shot over and over again on BD. If that is CGI or Miniature, I can't tell. The camera is hand-held, and very shaky throughout the shot. But the buildings in the background move along with the rest of the camera movements too seamlessly and perfectly. I doubt it's CGI, because CGI Rei dated very poorly in EoE. (Nothing but white, female bodies with blue spheres for heads.) If it's miniature, then either the whole set is a miniature (foreground, background, telephones lines, everything) and there's a small camera on rails photographing it as it passes by, or only the buildings in the background is a miniature integrated with a live-action foreground, which would make that the most seamless matte work to have been accomplished in the 1990's.

[CommanderFish]

I doubt it's CGI, because CGI Rei dated very poorly in EoE. (Nothing but white, female bodies with blue spheres for heads.)

Wait, there are CGI Reis in EoE?

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

^ Yes. It's during the Kom Susser Tod scene, right after Unit 01 penetrates GNR's forehead. Shinji sees a bunch of smaller Reis swimming inside. Those are all CGI. Freeze-frame it and you'll notice they're all just blue spheres with a female body attached to it.

[Rei IV]

I just always thought those buildings were part of the actual Tokyo skyline. I swear, I thought I was looking at Shinjuku.

[Mr. Tines]

Trying to find pictures of Shinjuku in 1997 has been a little frustrating.

Here's 2013 with Mt Fuji in the background -- that would be taken from somewhat north of east, and the sun would be generally to the left.

[Director Black]

There was CGI used in End of Eva?

Oh, the red souls in instrumentality once it starts. I guess I haven't paid attention to the bag CGI since I was so enthralled in the actual film itself. Looking at it now, I'd argue that it adds to the mystique of Eva.

But for the buildings, they sure as hell don't look like CGI and considering the use of it in Instrumentality, they're either actual real buildings or done so convincingly that they look real.

Then again, this was made in '97, and I doubt any Eva fan outside of Japan would actually know if those buildings actually existed.

[Dr. Nick]

My bet is they're miniatures. Double skybridges are such a rare feature, and here we have two of those in one shot.

But perhaps make an account here and ask the skyscraper geeks.

[The Eva Monkey]

But perhaps make an account here and ask the skyscraper geeks.

Should have thought to try this. Thanks.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

There was CGI used in End of Eva?

Oh, the red souls in instrumentality once it starts. I guess I haven't paid attention to the bag CGI since I was so enthralled in the actual film itself. Looking at it now, I'd argue that it adds to the mystique of Eva.

There's some CGI Rei's swimming around in the middle of the Nom Susser Tod scene too.

[cyharding]

If they are miniatures, it could bring up an interesting parallel with TV episode 25. And the end of the AU sequence, Shinji is looking at what appears to be a model of the Tokyo 3 skyline. I can't say if this was supposed to be an intentional call back or not, but it might be something to consider.

[Director Black]

If they are miniatures, it could bring up an interesting parallel with TV episode 25.

Why would a studio that almost went bankrupt feel the need to add to their budget by building miniatures of a city that they can shoot in real life? That's really shaky logic.

Though, when Shinji is looking over Tokyo 3 in Episode 26 (Correction), it could tie into the entire live action sequence as the other parallel world Shinji visited.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

Why would a studio that almost went bankrupt feel the need to add to their budget by building miniatures of a city that they can shoot in real life? That's really shaky logic.

Evangelion was the first show to put Gainax in the black, so their previous "nearly bankrupt" state at the time was a thing of the past by Ep 25. The only thing the studio was really short with at that moment was time, hence the rushed state if many of the episodes towards the end of the series.

[Joy Evangelion]

Was anybody ever able to get to the bottom of this?? I've actually been wondering what was up with the buildings since before Eva Monkey brought it up in this thread(too many viewings of EoE for my own good), so a definite answer would do much to sooth this evageeks soul.

For what its worth(nothing, really) I've been looking at the image from time to time for the last couple weeks, and I think it looks pretty CG.

[The Eva Monkey]

Was anybody ever able to get to the bottom of this?? I've actually been wondering what was up with the buildings since before Eva Monkey brought it up in this thread(too many viewings of EoE for my own good), so a definite answer would do much to sooth this evageeks soul.

For what its worth(nothing, really) I've been looking at the image from time to time for the last couple weeks, and I think it looks pretty CG.

Got a couple responses on r/Japan. They were all certain it was fake.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Japan/comments ... l_or_fake/

I don't have any hard proof, but I went through tons of Google images and couldn't find anything remotely resembling it in photos.

I would think if we could figure out things like who designed that one bridge in NGE/EoE... we could have found out if those buildings existed in real life.



thread/293/Who-designed-the-Geofront/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puente_del_Alamillo

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

For what its worth(nothing, really) I've been looking at the image from time to time for the last couple weeks, and I think it looks pretty CG.

If the buildings are CG, then that's some absurdly impressive matte work and camera match work going on for Gainax. The telephone lines passing in front of the skyline don't have any matte lines, and the buildings match the movements of the hand-held camera, which is very shaky at time in the shot. You'll also notice a light starts to shine on the buildings on the left in the shot, maybe to simulate a rising sun or the glare moving on the building from the camera's perspective?

Anyway, I was thinking the whole shot might be in miniature form, what with the perfect match to the camera movement and the telephone lines passing in front of the skyline. But I really can't tell one way or the other.

[Joy Evangelion]

If the buildings are CG, then that's some absurdly impressive matte work and camera match work going on for Gainax. The telephone lines passing in front of the skyline don't have any matte lines, and the buildings match the movements of the hand-held camera, which is very shaky at time in the shot. You'll also notice a light starts to shine on the buildings on the left in the shot, maybe to simulate a rising sun or the glare moving on the building from the camera's perspective

You seem to know much more about this than I, so I'll just go with what you say F^4.

I would think if we could figure out things like who designed that one bridge in NGE/EoE... we could have found out if those buildings existed in real life.

It's a shame we couldn't get the full background on them. Well, now we have something good to ask if we ever run into Anno or Sadamoto or Takeshi Honda.

[Guy Nacks]

Of course, it also helps that that entire shot is hazy as fuck, so it helps disguise whether it's a miniature or not.

In all honesty, the cinematography for the entire live action sequence is amateurish at best and outright terrible at worst. It's like they didn't even bother hiring a DP or renting the most basic Lowel kit.