Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

I grew up with Godzilla as a rubber suit monster.
When I was a kid it looked real to me because there was no such thing as CGI. So it was cool.
Once my eyes matured. I saw the suits for what they really were. But still enjoyed them because I liked them as a child.

Once I saw what CG could really do. I got hooked.
Today's kids and adults are bombarded with top notch CG by film makers.
I really don't see how guys in rubber suits can compete anymore.
I see CG as inevitable for the character to evolve and be more flexible.

I know it's sacrilegious to want to see Godzilla done in CG.
I know many people refuse to let go of the suits because it's nostagic for them.
But it's something I'd like to see. So much so that I actually did it myself.
What if the G98 design looked like a suit monster like my CG characters?
Would it have been a success?
I know I would have enjoyed it much better myself.
It's not so much about looking real. As it is about looking more modern.
Suits are cool. But they are dated.
The GFW suits are really cheesy. And I for one hope they make people change their minds and want to see something more modern looking.

This stuff takes a very long time to create and render on one computer at home. But if I can do it. Then certainly Toho can do it better.
A suit can be made CG and still look like a suit. That's what's so cool about it to me. You don't have to make it look like a giant Iguana.
I hope my animation illustrates that.
Sorry it's so small. But I have to keep my bandwidth under control.

Is it really so bad to want to see the characters given a more modern look?


-ScottA

why would you want to use cg to make it look like an actor in a suit? the suits and miniatures look so different now, and despite what Hollywood would try to make us think different does not equal bad.
what makes the suits in GFW "cheesy"? people throw that word around as a description without ever saying what makes it that way.
i'd rather see suits. with the overdone cg these days in nearly every movie solid 3-D objects look NEW and FRESH.

David

Who said anything about a well designed suit? Hell, you could star in the monster movie yourself!

@ScottA:

> Today's kids and adults are bombarded with top notch CG by film makers.

I don't think so. Top notch CGIs are rare -- people are mostly bombarded with mediocre stuff. If you're experienced you can see tons of fake looking shots in all kinds of movies, because top notch work is extremely expensive. Most CGIs do not look "real", but they are accepted anyway, because people like the films they appear in. Sames goes for suits and miniatures. I have shown Gamera 3 to many "mainstream" friends and reactions have always been great. They liked what they saw and noone ever came up with the question about how the effects were done. They simply liked it for what it is -- a well made film.

Look at how fake the CGI in Spiderman 2 looked and that movie had a $200 million dollar budget.

I'm not a CG hater at all. I love it, especially as a new animation medium. (examples: Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and The Incredibles)

BUT, should Godzilla be done with CGI, it has to BE Godzilla! None of this "realistic" nonsense. Godzilla is not King Kong, who's a plain animal. Godzilla is a make-believe monster, like an Oriental dragon, not a "realistic" animal. GINO was done by people who had absolutely no understanding of Godzilla, and should be beaten severely with a night stick.

Now the new Godzilla video games pretty much got it right! THAT'S the CG Godzilla we should've seen.

I personally still prefer the suitmation Godzilla, but I'm okay with a CG Godzilla, as long as it's done right. I get the feeling it'd be done better if in Japan!

King Kong is not a plain animal- if he had been, he would never have lasted 70 + years. his creators have stated that they never intended on the movie being anything but "implausible" (that's the word they use). Kong was worshipped by islanders and had real personality and he didn't quite act the way a plain animal would.
sound familiar?
again, the fun of these movies for me is seeing something strange- suits, puppets, miniatures. cg has become so common place now even films that don't need it tend to put it in there. it's not a very special effect any more.

David