Best composited Godzilla scene?

[ray243]

I'm a relatively casual Godzilla fan compared to most users here. I might not have watch every single Godzilla movie, nor do I recall every fact about Godzilla, but I do enjoy watching Godzilla movies.

I have recently went back and re-watched a number of Heisei-era/millennium era movies and found them to be a little disappointing. I know a lot of Godzilla fans here hated GINO and how fake a CGI godzilla looked, but personally I find the portrayal of Godzilla in the Japanese film to be fairly unrealistic as well.

My biggest grip with the Japanese films is they generally did a pretty bad job when it comes to compositing Godzilla into real life footage. I understand that film and special effects composition during the 80s isn't an easy task because there is no computer to aid the special effect artist, but there should be no excuse why the millennium era films suffer from the same problem as well.

Take a look at some of the screenshots from Godzilla: GMK

http://tarstarkas.net/pics/movies/g/gmk09.jpg
You can easily tell the lighting on Godzilla himself and the lighting of the city isn't consistence at all. Godzilla is underlit while the real life town/city is brightly exposed to natural daylight.

http://tarstarkas.net/pics/movies/g/gmk08.jpg
The same problem exist in the second screenshot of Godzilla entering the harbour.

This is are just some of the badly composited scenes. So, if these scenes simply highlight the fact that Godzilla isn't really walking past a real city, does anyone have scenes or screenshots whereby Godzilla was nicely composited into a real life city and can allow the audience to suspend their disbelief easily?

[ray243]

I do not have the privilege to post pictures yet. So you would have to click on the image links.

[ray243]

Yup. Thanks!

[ray243]

It's a lot easier to composite a non-moving object. Not to mention it is in black and white.

Colour composition seems to be something that most Japanese special effects crews struggle with. However, it is not like Hollywood composition is flawless. King Kong (2005) is an excellent example of poor composition as well.

[20th Century Boy]

It's been a while since I saw it, but a few composite shots from the opening sequence of Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla were very convincing. I'm talking specifically about the scene where Godzilla is rising from behind the reporter and the scene where people are running in the rain while Godzilla's foot smashes a house in the background.

[Tamura]

One of my favorites:

[Rody]

Of course, G2k also had that iffy pan away shot of Godzilla entering the bay earlier in the film, and that awful multicolored shot of Godzilla approaching the UFO.

Ah, the Millennium series; what could have been but wasn't.

[Rody]

^True.

There was one shot in Mothra vs. Godzilla that looked pretty good; when Godzilla is approaching the electrical towers.

[Tomzilla]

This is one of my favorite shots:



-Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla

[Breakdown]

^ That actually is a pretty convincing shot, I like it.


Ironic considering the crappy movie it originates from, lol.

[Rody]

^ You took the words right out of my mouth.

Oh! Here's another good scene (which I know has been brought before, but deserves mention again):


The eerie tone of Godzilla's roar added something to the scene as well.

[Terasawa]

Rody, though that is definitely a great scene, it's not a composite shot.

Here's another particularly awesome (and brief) shot from KING KONG VS. GODZILLA.

[ray243]

Hmm...isn't it sad that a Heisei-era scene can look as good as/better than a millennium era scene?

[eabaker]

To be fair, the Heisei and Millennium eras did attempt some matte shots with much more difficult separations than most of the great ones being cited from the Showa era.

[Mincecraft]

This isn't all that great...

But I think this shot is a little better.

That one came out pretty well in my eyes...

...especialy when compared to, well, ya know...

[Rody]

Rody, though that is definitely a great scene, it's not a composite shot.

Was that entire scene a set, then?!
...Or do I have even worse understanding of composite shots than I thought?

[eabaker]

Rody, though that is definitely a great scene, it's not a composite shot.

Was that entire scene a set, then?!
...Or do I have even worse understanding of composite shots than I thought?

Yeah, that's all one big miniature set. Tsuburaya's team was good!

[Rody]

Now that is truly awesome.

[Terasawa]

Was that entire scene a set, then?!
...Or do I have even worse understanding of composite shots than I thought?

Yeah, that's all one big miniature set. Tsuburaya's team was good!

Yep! Filmed in Toho's Big Pool. Here's a BTS shot of Nakano's crew filming the climax of IMPERIAL NAVY in the same pool. The camera crew at the top shows just how big the backdrop was.

[ray243]

Hmm, Godzilla should be lowered a bit. The shot makes it look like Godzilla is walking in the air..