It took everything I had not to raise my hands in the air as if riding the front car of a rollercoaster as our shuttle bobbed and weaved through the winding stretch of Lucas Valley Road. With each farmhouse and animal enclosure we passed, I felt more and more lightheaded. It could have been the increase in altitude, but likely, we were on our way to one of the most historic retreats in Hollywood, Skywalker Ranch. I could not think of a better place to learn about Ultraman: Rising, an animated film honoring its title character’s legacy and cinematic history.
What is Ultraman: Rising about before we get into the nitty-gritty? The story centers on baseball star Ken Sato, who reluctantly returns home to take on the mantle of Ultraman. But the titanic superhero meets his match when he is forced to adopt a 35-foot-tall, fire-breathing baby Kaiju, Emi. Throughout the emotional and action-packed adventure, Sato must rise above his ego to balance work and parenthood while protecting the baby from forces bent on exploiting her for their own dark plans.
Press events are always a gamble. The studio buys the ticket, and you take the ride, gaining a unique perspective as you experience the passion and artistry behind what you’re there to see. Netflix spared no expense in presenting Ultraman: Rising in a blinding light of visual spectacle and sound as we entered the Stag Theater, aka the “Vatican of Movie-watching,” for a viewing experience as epic as the sight of Ultraman battling Kaiju in the bustling metropolis of Tokyo, Japan.
To fully enjoy the Stag Theater experience, I chose optimal seating at the room’s center. The Stag is outfitted with THX-certified M&K Sound, producing a volume and clarity that would make any audiophile weep joyfully. The film’s director, Shannon Tindle, led the presentation alongside co-director John Aoshima, Composer Scott Stafford, Sound Editor Leff Lefferts, and Sound Engineer Gary Rizzo. Stafford was the first to dazzle the crowd with details about composing the film’s score.
While the music in Ultraman: Rising consists of everything from larger-than-life battle anthems to emotional laments, Stafford says the harp is the heart and soul of the auditory experience. As lights dimmed and the theater filled with sound, I could hear an orchestra seeding the air for a soundscape tended by droning strings and a siren-like choir. The pained moans of a massive Kaiju on the verge of death ripped through the Stag as helicopter blades echoed across lazy ocean waters. Stafford shared that he composed multiple pieces of the score before the animation process began, providing a unique atmosphere and feeling to the project’s early processes. Giving a storyboard presentation or screening a vertical slice of a scene with the music already implemented provides the demonstration with an extra level of oomph.
Next, Leff Lefferts and Dave Rizzo occupied the podium, ready to present the inner workings and process of sound mixing. Choosing scenes that highlight some of their best work, I could hear every blaring car horn, thunderous punch, ear-splitting roar, and the disastrous results of collateral damage brought on by Ultraman’s fight with a colossal creature. Rizzo emphasized that he and Lefferts took full advantage of Industrial Light & Magic’s tools to create the mix for Ultraman: Rising.
When I asked the duo how they decide what sounds to prioritize when creating a mix, Lefferts said there’s a hierarchy in place that helps determine a scene’s flow. It’s more of a feeling you develop after years of experience than a set of complex rules. To get the right mix, you must listen to the audio repeatedly to discover what’s important and eliminate overlap. If a car horn interrupts the dialogue, it’s time for a do-over. If too many sounds crowd the scene, it becomes a process of elimination. The right mix requires trained ears and mastery of the audio tools available. There’s no room for error if you want the audience to become submerged in your world.
If you listen carefully, you’ll hear samples and echoes of Kaiju from Ultraman’s past in Ultraman: Rising. The creative team wanted to honor the hero’s legacy and pantheon of skyscraper-sized beasts in multitudes, and one way to do that was by including sounds that mimic the Kaijus from previous eras. Another way to ensure authenticity was by asking James Scott to help recreate unique sounds found only in Japan, such as the chimes of the Yamanote Line in Tokyo, Japan (a sound removed for the final version), crosswalk audio prompts, and police sirens.
On the topic of influence, Shannon Tindle revealed that director Robert Benton’s 1979 drama Kramer vs. Kramer helped inspire Ultraman: Rising. At first, I thought he was kidding, but then Tindle pointed out that, at its core, Ultraman: Rising is a story about parents warring over a child. While that could sound strange, given the giant robot-battling nature of the franchise, Ken Sato’s journey from a self-centered showboat celebrity to a concerned and proactive parent makes for one of the year’s best-animated films.
The next stop on our tour was a presentation hosted by VFX Supervisor Hayden Jones. In his youth, Hayden watched Doctor Who, an arena of science fiction wholly removed from the larger-than-life heroics of Ultraman. While in the running, Industrial Light & Magic did not agree to create the effects for Ultraman: Rising right away. First, Jones binged the character’s entire history before taking the next step, evaluating art assets, including drawings, animatics, and intended design.
As Jones guided us through building effects, he emphasized the amount of work and detail poured into every aspect of what we see on screen. There isn’t a single part of Ultraman: Rising that doesn’t take advantage of ILM’s expertise and accessibility to state-of-the-art programs that determine the look and feel of the film. Everything from the character designs to animation, shading, cloth mapping, lighting, rigging, and polishing flows through the VFX department.
When watching Ultraman: Rising, pay close attention to the water, with inspiration for its design rooted in manga, anime, Cowboy Beebop, and Studio Ghibli films, such as Porco Rosso and Ponyo. The water contains speed lines, giving the liquid mass a sense of motion even when all is still. As the element froths and churns, you can see the lines stretch and recede as if the water is breathing in tandem with Ken’s labored respirations or Gigantor’s final gasps before death takes hold. The finished product is a site to behold. However, seeing the steps taken to bring the water to life offers a new perspective.
Another creative force who helped inspire the art and animation of Ultraman: Rising is Akira and Steamboy writer Katsuhiro Otomo. You can feel his presence throughout the movie, particularly during Emi’s birth sequence. Otomo’s work is famous for depicting speed, extreme emotionality, and a lived-in feel. While Ultraman: Risings‘ Tokyo is perhaps cleaner than Otomo’s, the city’s population density, grid structure, towering complexes, and propensity to incur collateral damage are similar. Ultraman: Rising wears its influences proudly, though it manages to iterate on them with added style and originality.
Despite having access to every art tool under the sun, ILM often looks for excuses to invent new systems to push the boundaries of animation and effects. ILM created a new face-rigging program for Ultraman: Rising, granting the studio access to an array of emotions, looks, and intuitiveness. Using a complex range of dials, sliders, and switches, animators can manipulate a character’s face for a broader scope of articulation. The more access to a character you have, the better because many film elements change the overall look of every adjustment. Lighting, particle effects, shading. It all augments the art, sometimes in unpredictable ways.
Toward the end of the day, ILM showed us a series of character action tests in which animators act out motions and dialogue in front of a camera as reference material. While watching the performances side-by-side, seeing how much of the artist remains a part of the final product was remarkable. Some artists go above and beyond to bring the characters to life before trying to build an animation to match their efforts. Additionally, not all actions are sweeping and exaggerated. Often, it’s more difficult to animate a character’s subtle movements than when they’re dramatically flailing about. Animating a character listening, thinking, and considering their next move can present unique challenges to even the most seasoned artists.
Furthermore, only some things are created from the ground up. Some assets, such as walk cycles, can be reused, though they often serve as the foundation for animations that change depending on the environment and other factors. You can drop a character’s walk into a scene, but adjustments to the animation are made within frames, creating an entirely new movement sequence. It’s a delicate dance between animator, character, and action.
In a year boasting several animated films that go above and beyond to entertain, such as The Wild Robot, Inside Out 2, and Flow, Netflix’s Ultraman: Rising explodes with emotion, personality, and jaw-dropping visuals and sound. Its story is not what I would have expected from an Ultraman film in 2024, yet I am in awe of its outstanding blend of giant robot spectacle and tenderness. Witnessing the delicate process of how Tindle, Aoshima, and their talented team at Lucasfilm created Ultraman: Rising is something I’ll never forget, and I consider myself privileged for the opportunity. I’ve loved animation for as long as I can recall, and exploring the magic of making memorable characters and stories come to life at places like Skywalker Ranch and ILM is a dream come true.