Sites for Toho FX information? in Japanese Giants Forum

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Sites for Toho FX information?

Author	Comment
bipolarber	Sites for Toho FX information?	Lead	[-]
May 3 12 11:14 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I've been trying to research Toho's approach to their kaiju films, but I'm not having a lot of luck. Do you guys know of any sites that are good, credible sources of information on this? "[The audiance] will populate the darkness with more horrors than all the horror writers in Hollywood could think of. If you make the screen dark enough, the mind's eye will read anything into it you want! We're great ones for the dark patches." -VAL LEWTON
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DougGorius		#1	[-]
May 3 12 2:15 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	You could go to Tohokingdom.com. I don't recommend their forums, though.
HFL.thelatarniaforums		#2	[-]
May 3 12 6:05 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Ha! Me neither! Back when I was there people could insult you for having a different opinion, and mods wouldn't do anything about it. Not sure if things have changed since the last few years, but yeah steer clear.
Hachigatsu		#3	[-]
May 3 12 7:53 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	� As for any sites with real, in-depth, and accurate info... Sadly, no. Most of the books written in English on the subject don't delve into technique. But, you should watch a documentary made by an expat friend of mine, Norman England: "Bringing Godzilla Down to Size" is about the men who made the visual effects for the classic Toho films of the 1950s-1960s. August Ragone Author EIJI TSUBURAYA: MASTER OF MONSTERS Blog THE GOOD, THE BAD AND GODZILLA Last Edited By: Hachigatsu May 3 12 8:09 PM. Edited 5 times.
bipolarber		#4	[-]
May 4 12 1:35 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	�Thanks for sharing that link! I've been trying to find that one on DVD somewhere, and I hadn't had much luck. (Watcing, and taking notes.) As for any sites with real, in-depth, and accurate info... Sadly, no. Most of the books written in English on the subject don't delve into technique. But, you should watch a documentary made by an expat friend of mine, Norman England: "Bringing Godzilla Down to Size" is about the men who made the visual effects for the classic Toho films of the 1950s-1960s. "[The audiance] will populate the darkness with more horrors than all the horror writers in Hollywood could think of. If you make the screen dark enough, the mind's eye will read anything into it you want! We're great ones for the dark patches." -VAL LEWTON
DerGolem		#5	[-]
May 4 12 2:02 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	bipolarber wrote: I've been trying to research Toho's approach to their kaiju films, but I'm not having a lot of luck. Do you guys know of any sites that are good, credible sources of information on this? The documentary Bringing Godzilla Down to Size is a bonus feature on Classic Media's Rodan/War of the Gargantuas DVD set. Also what do you mean by "approach"? If you mean how they did the effects or why they did the effects a certain way most of the major English Kaiju/Tokusatsu publications out there answer those two questions. You have August's book on Eiji Tsuburaya, Stuart Galbraith's Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo, Steve Ryfle's Japan's Favorite Mon-Star and David Kalat's A Critical History and Filmography of Toho's Godzilla Series 2nd Ed. Then there are the various fanzines: August and Bob Johnson's Markalite (if you can track it down), J.D. Lee's G-Fan, Ed Godziszewski's Japanese Giants, Edward Holland and Joe Rileyand's Monster Attack Team and Martin Alt's Mad Scientist. All of these publications have reliable information, interviews with actors and technicians, "making of" background stories and generally copious behind the scenes photographs. There are also some websites with this same kind of info. Toho Kingdom has already been mentioned but check out some of the articles of Kieth Atkin's site Sci-Fi Japan. They have some great articles of the making of movies like Frankenstein Conquers the World and Mantango and TV series like Ultraman Max and The Space Giants just to name a few.
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Hachigatsu		#6	[-]
May 4 12 2:40 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Hey! There's also my numerously Rondo-nominated blog (shameless plug) — LOL! But seriously, none of these really go into the execution of the visual effects as a main focus — how they were made, how were certain shots accomplished, etc. — it's all about the overall production, but not visual effects specific. At least, to my mind, I've never seen much, except for a particular article in some fanzines and the like, and translated interviews with Toho's visual effects staff. August Ragone Author EIJI TSUBURAYA: MASTER OF MONSTERS Blog THE GOOD, THE BAD AND GODZILLA
Stuart4th		#7	[-]
May 4 12 10:57 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Vanity - thy name is August. For starters, it's transparently disingenuous for August to say Norman England "made" Bringing Godzilla Down to Size. Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski conceived, produced, and wrote it, while Norman was essentially a hired hand brought aboard to direct and help coordinate its production. This is not to diminish Norman's very real contributions to the show, nor the contributions of many others, particularly the special effects veterans who generously made it possible in the first place. As DerGolem points out, while it's true the nuts and bolts of special effects production are not the "main focus" per se, audio commentary tracks on various Classic Media, BFI, Shout! Factory, Sony and other label releases have been extremely detailed in describing how particular effects shot were achieved, while information found in various books, magazines, and fanzines have gone into exhaustive detail as well on specific films and facets of spfx production. "bipolarber"asked a legitimate question which DerGolem more than adequately answered. The plug for August's numerously Rondo-nominated blog wasn't any more necessary than the unsubtle dig at Steve and Ed. Stuart Galbraith IV's CINEBLOGARAMA
Jameson281		#8	[-]
May 4 12 11:54 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	you should watch a documentary made by an expat friend of mine, Norman England: "Bringing Godzilla Down to Size" If being a contributor is enough to be credited as the creator of a work, and Norman England is now going to be credited as the "maker" of "Bringing Godzilla Down to Size", I think I'm going to start referring to John Paul Cassidy as the "author" of EIJI TSUBURAYA: MASTER OF MONSTERS.
Goji		#9	[-]
May 8 12 5:28 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	You smell that? The overwhelming odor of smugness permeates the air, particularly in this very topic. By "made", August probably simply meant "filmed". I sincerely doubt he didn't mention Ed. G and Steve Ryfle on purpose. Way to blow something out of proportion. Talking smack about someone you dislike on your personal blog is one thing, but trolling them on an internet message board is an all new kind of low.
Stuart4th		#10	[-]
May 8 12 8:36 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	You may be right, Goji. Ragone's omission might not have been intentional. No, he might just be sucking up to Norman ahead of his trip to Japan! Stuart Galbraith IV's CINEBLOGARAMA
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Sites for Toho FX information?

Sites for Toho FX information?