Godzilla Sometimes Needed A Hand And The Long Forgotten "Puppet" Monsters From Toho

Many fans never knew that the close up shots of Godzilla in the early days was a hand puppet. Likewise Mothra, Manda, Kumonga and Kamacuras were also puppets. As a whole Eiji Tsuburaya and his special effects crew had to come up with all kinds of creative ways to portray their famous monsters due to both time limits and budget constraints.

The SYFY Wire recently published a great article about how puppets were effectively used in the Godzilla movie series:

THE REVOLUTIONARY PUPPETS OF GODZILLA, TOHO AND OTHER KAIJU MOVIES

The Japanese monster movie (kaiju eiga) is known — and frequently scoffed at — for its signature technique of suitmation: placing a stuntman inside an enormous rubber costume and turning him loose on an intricately detailed miniature cityscape.

It is important to note, however, that while this has been the go-to method for many decades, Japanese special effects artists have never shied away from using other techniques to bring their visions to life. Due to the physical limitations of suitmation, kaiju eiga filmmakers frequently supplement CGI, animatronics, separate props for feet and tails, very limited use of stop-motion animation, and even puppets to make their creatures all the more expressive on the silver screen.

Going all the way back to the original Godzilla (1954), one of the drawbacks of suitmation was inherently restricted movement in the head and neck areas. The monster costume constructed by Eizo Kaimi and Yagi brothers Kanji and Koei had been designed in a way so that the stuntman’s head would be positioned inside Godzilla’s neck — giving the creature a more inhuman shape as well as permitting the actor inside some limited visibility and ventilation through tiny holes in the throat.

The negative consequence of this design choice, however, was that the costume's neck was quite stiff — practically immobile — and thus making it difficult for Godzilla to perform actions such as snapping his jaws, an important tool in his assault toolkit. Not to mention, he could hardly turn his head without turning his entire body at the same time. The staff wanted this first iteration of Godzilla to exhibit violent, animalistic behavior, so a secondary technique would be required.

Here is a little more information from my article What Was It Like To Play Godzilla, King Kong, Rodan, Mothra ...?:

Nakajima endured wearing that 200-pound costume for the entire filming of "Gojira". Though other actors were cast to play the monster, only Nakajima could tolerate the costume, long working hours and awful filming conditions.

The filming for "Gojira" took place in the summer of 1954, which would be one of the hottest on record in Japan. Since the stages at Toho had no air conditioning and because Nakajima had to wear that heavy costume, the production was moved from a normal shooting during the day to a five pm to five am schedule. According to the actor "The crew often times said that the shooting schedule was the real Gojira (Monster)."

Let's get back to the SYFY piece:

To counter the problem, a half-body puppet was assembled. Built at a much smaller scale and used primarily in close-ups, its head and neck could be operated by hand, providing much more expressive movement than what was attainable with the suit. Now Godzilla could tilt his head in various directions as well as seize objects with his mouth. (In addition, the arms were electronically controlled with cables, helping maintain the illusion of a living creature.)

Semblance to the suit was spotty at best, but the puppet was nonetheless capable of performing actions the staff wanted, such as Godzilla lunging at the Hattori Clock Tower, biting train cars, and tearing down the NTV tower with his teeth. Under Koichi Kawakita's supervision in the 1990s, Godzilla costumes garnered internal mechanisms permitting limited head movement (tilting and swiveling), but in the beginning, filmmakers depended on ingenuity with secondary techniques to make up for the physical shortcomings of suitmation.

The 1954 puppet also came in handy when depicting Godzilla’s signature atomic breath. As the schedule did not permit sufficient time to fully animate every instance of the breath on film, all close-ups of this fiery weapon were accomplished with a water nozzle installed in the puppet's mouth. When enhanced with proper lighting, Godzilla appeared to be spitting a white-hot, explosive vapor.

Many films —and many monsters — have come since the original Godzilla, oftentimes retaining the supplement of partial-body puppets for close-ups, though the staff frequently expanded their efforts to include full-body props.

For instance, some shots of Rodan in Ghidorah the Three-headed Monster (1964) were pulled off with a puppet that was equipped with motorized wing movement. This allowed more convincing flapping motions than what could be achieved with a costumed actor and piano wires hooked to the wings. More recent films such as Godzilla 2000: Millennium (1999) and Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) occasionally resort to puppetry for tight shots of monsters gnawing and biting, reducing the chances of damaging the more elaborate (and expensive) suits.

Let me interject here. Not only was it expensive, it was down right dangerous as well. Here is an excerpt from my article that mentions a couple of times when suit actor Haruo Nakajima was injured:

As the years kept coming so did the monster roles for Nakajima. Next came "Rodan" then "Varan" and then "Mothra". The filming was long, hard and very dangerous. Nakajima admits that he was injured in some way or another on every single production. On the set of "Varan" the actor was hurt very seriously when a miniature building blew up underneath him. Despite being in severe pain he never let anyone know about it, "I felt like I could have gone to the hospital, but I knew if I had to go then the crew would have to go home, and not get payed for the time, so I stuck it out."

Likewise on the set of "Rodan" a cable snapped while Nakajima was inside the monster's costume suspended some 10-meters above the sound stage, "The cable broke and I began to spin wildly before the whole thing gave way and I came crashing to the ground. Luckily the costume had wings and I landed in the water which protected me."

Tsuburaya was very pleased to see that Nakajima was okay stating, "I'm glad that you didn't die."

The SYFY article concludes:

Puppets also prove useful in aiding forced perspective. In Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964), for instance, distant shots of Godzilla moving across the landscape were shot with a puppet. As it was about half as tall as a person, it helped forge the illusion that Godzilla was extremely far away when placed toward the far reaches of the set—something which wouldn’t have worked as well with the man-sized suit. The climax of Destroy All Monsters (1968) employed tiny duplicates of Manda, Baragon, Varan, etc. never meant to participate in the battle with King Ghidorah but simply to provide background motion while simultaneously aiding the illusion of distance.

But perhaps no other Japanese special effects artist has defined the wonders of wired puppetry as proficiently as Sadamasa Arikawa. A former cameraman for Tsuburaya, Arikawa more or less took over as Toho’s effects director in the mid-1960s, as his mentor began shifting focus to television projects at his own company. In terms of wire work, Arikawa’s magnum opus is Son of Godzilla (1967), with its assortment of giant praying mantises and a colossal spider, all portrayed with intricate marionettes. In particular, the giant arachnid Kumonga steals the show, its eight jointed legs in constant motion (each leg operated by multiple puppeteers perched in rafters above the set).

Another standout moment in Arikawa’s résumé is the serpent-like Manda (also a marionette) wrapping its coils around a monorail bridge in Destroy All Monsters (1968) before crushing the structure under its might. Scenes such as this required Arikawa and his crew to test their ingenuity. The usual overhead wires would only handle part of the task, so in order to get Manda to crawl over and underneath and then back around the bridge, the puppet was rigged to several wires, the various directions (above, sideways, etc.) changing according to the shot. Edited together, the results are absolutely astonishing.

Source

Related:

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (1954)(Toho)

"Using his beta capsule, Hayata becomes Ultraman!"

Kingukongu no gyakushu / King Kong Escapes (1967)(Toho)

10 Classic Sci-Fi Movies With Better Effects Than Modern Films

While moviemaking has made leaps and bounds in the realm of visual effects, there remain plenty of “classic” (at least 20 years old) movies with special effects that rival or even surpass what we can accomplish today.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

The greatest science fiction film of all time, with visual effects that are some of the most realistic and stunning representations of space travel ever to graced the screen. That such extravagant effects were possible in 1966-1968 is hard to fathom. The images as a shuttle docks at the revolving space station remain one of the finest sci-fi visual sequences ever created.

READ MORE

MORE NEWS STORIES

Star Wars: Episode VII To Shoot On 35mm

Jostling with Batman for our attention this morning is some very big news from the Star Wars-verse. J. J. Abrams' cinematographer of choice, Dan Mindel, has signed up to shoot Star Wars Episode VII. And Mindel confirmed at an Asc breakfast in Los Angeles that it will be filmed entirely in anamorphic 35mm.This marks a big step away from the high-def veneer of George Lucas's last two digitally-shot prequels, and a thrilling return to the scruffier, earthier look of the originals. Abrams is clearly looking to recapture the look and feel of A New Hope, a vinyl aesthetic in an MP3 age. It's a prospect that should have Star Wars fans nerding out. There was a clue or two earlier this year when Abrams told the Producers Guild conference that, "If film were to go away then the standard for the highest, best quality would go away.

READ MORE

READ MORE STORIES ABOUT STAR WARS EPISODE 7

Godzilla 2014 VFX: WETA, MPC, Double Negative, CafeFX, Amalgamated Dynamics Inc., The Third Floor

Godzilla 2014. Who’s responsible for special effects production as this movie, the hoped-for American improvement to that disaster of a so-called Godzilla movie of 1998, speeds toward a Summer 2014 release? Well, after some digging by this blogger, the Godzilla 2014 special effects team consists of: WETA, MPC, Double Negative, CafeFX, Amalgamated Dynamics Inc., and The Third Floor.

WETA was involved early, and was responsible for the overall design of the Godzilla creature up to 2012, and before giving way to MPC, or Moving-Picture Company, later that year. (UPDATE: Now for those of you asking why WETA gave way to MPC, I do not know the answer to that question, and I’m reluctant to speculate without some kernal of information.)

The question is, will WETA’s early involvement give way to an eventual listing in the movie’s credits? As of this writing, there’s no mention of WETA in the official Godzilla credits for Godzilla 2014 on the IMDB Database, either in WETA’s profile, or for the Godzilla movie itself.

For Godzilla, MPC’s Guillaume Rocheron is serving as VFX Supervisor, according to the MPC website, which has a special page on Godzilla. Mr. Rocheron served in a similar role for Legendary Pictures’ Man Of Steel. MPC’s overall roll is as coordinator for the efforts of the other vfx houses.

The company was also working on a trailer for Godzilla, as far back as December 2012, and while reports to this blogger were that it was to be released for the Super Bowl, it has not been shown because of legal issues with the family of the late J. Robert Oppenheimer, who’s quote “I am become death..” was to be employed to what was rumored to be “frightening effect” in the trailer and was seen to a smaller degree at Comic Con 2012, but the legal squabble has put that on hold, for now.

READ MORE

READ MORE GODZILLA STORIES

'Monsters' and 'Godzilla' Director Gareth Edwards Remembers Ray Harryhausen

From Indie Wire

In 2010, British visual effects artist Gareth Edwards' directorial debut "Monsters" took the indie world by the storm by presenting an alien invasion tale containing impressive CGI exclusively produced on Edwards' laptop. Since then, Edwards has attracted the attention of Hollywood and is currently working on a reboot of "Godzilla" for Warner Bros. However, given Edwards' DIY approach to visual effects, we thought it was appropriate to ask him for his thoughts on the iconic stop motion pioneer Ray Harryhausen, who died this past week in London at the age of 92. The following is excerpted from a conversation with Eric Kohn.

Ray Harryhausen was a massive inspiration for me. His films used to come on during every bank holiday in the UK when I was a kid. I grew up watching them. Even though you knew what you were seeing wasn't possible, you couldn't help but watch it and try to figure out how it was done. I remember buying lots of books. There was a local bookshop with a film section that had some books on special effects, including some with chapters on Harryhausen. That's how I got into visual effects.

Way before digital came along, the only way to achieve some of the things in your head was to go about it the hard way with stop motion animation. It's so much harder than what we can do today. I can't wrap my head around it. He would do scenes like Medusa's snakes on her head and managed to keep track of every single movement of every snake one frame at a time. It took a level of discipline and genius that we don't need to do visual effects today. It's quite remarkable what he did -- and I don't there will be anyone quite like him ever again.

He definitely had an impact on a lot of people in the industry. I was in film school when "Jurassic Park" came out and it was clear that computers were going to be way forward in terms of a lot of visual effects. But his sheer perseverance and his decision to do this stuff at an early age when he was inspired by "King Kong" is amazing. Even when I was trying to learn graphics there were very few books about them, so I can't imagine how few resources there were back when he was starting up. He was very much self-taught. He just pictured sequences and figured out how to do them. They would work wonderfully.

I was really lucky to meet him. Shortly before Peter Jackson's "King Kong" came out in 2005, I was working at BBC doing visual effects on a TV show for a producer. She went to work on another documentary about HG Wells. As part of it, she wanted to interview Harryhausen about "War of the Worlds." I got a text from her one day asking, "Do you want to meet Ray Harryhausen?" I swore in the text back to her, but basically I said, "Yeah!"

READ MORE

Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger - Trivia - Photos - Trailer

From IMDB

John Phillip Law was originally set to reprise the role of Sinbad, which he had played in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. Patrick Wayne wound up playing Sinbad instead.

After the live action filming was done, it took animator Ray Harryhausen almost 1½ years to do the animation, all from his own home studio.

At $7 million - a drop in the bucket by today's movie budgets - this was the costliest of the Ray Harryhausen films to date.

An actor in make-up originally was to play the Troglodyte but animator Ray Harryhausen said they were striving for "that fantasy effect that [King Kong] had, that wonderful never-neverland of fantasy". So he created the creature himself.

Animator Ray Harryhausen was forced to create a baboon creature, as an actual animal would have been difficult, if not impossible, to train

According to Ray Harryhausen's memoirs, British singer/actor Paul Jones was among the various British and American actors short-listed for Sinbad.

This is the second Sinbad film to have an actor who's played Doctor Who. But while Patrick Troughton was the Doctor before his appearance in this film, Tom Baker appeared in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad right before becoming the Doctor.

Laurence Naismith was first choice for the role of Melanthius but was unavailable due to other commitments.

When approaching the castle of Milanthius, the obvious stand-in for Jane Seymour wears a green dress, while Seymour herself wears blue.

(More After The Break)

During Dione's introduction on "Casgar" (after she calls off the rock-throwers) there are two reaction shots, one of Hassan, the other of Maroof. These are obviously from the later "Hyberborea" segment. The hilly backgrounds and the fact that Maroof is suddenly bare-chested give the inserts away.

The eye patch worn by Zabid changes sides between the right eye and the left during the sequence when he intercepts Zenobia's boat, indicating reversed shots.

During the time that Zenobia transformed herself into the seagull, the locket is visible with the magic elixir around the seagull's neck, but when the seagull is in flight, the locket is nowhere to be found.

The Troglodyte disappears after its battle with the Tiger. It cannot be seen even on the wide shot when the temple is collapsing.

When Zenobia's son is killed and she goes down the steps to see him at the end of the film, you clearly see she is wearing two shoes and no longer has the bird's claw on her right foot.

READ MORE

"Fascinating. Horrible, but fascinating." - 20 Million Miles to Earth Trivia

From IMDB

One of the reasons the film takes place in Italy is that Ray Harryhausen always wanted to vacation there but could never afford to go on his own.

Ray Harryhausen's original design for the monster was a giant cyclops, similar to the one he later used in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. He discarded the idea after making a clay model of it, and eventually settled on the reptilian Ymir.

Since he planned to use a real elephant for some of the footage in the zoo, Ray Harryhausen asked for one that was 15 feet tall, but the film was only able to procure an eight-foot-tall one for him. In order to make the elephant look much bigger, a 4'6" actor was cast to play the zookeeper.

Though the creature is referred to as the Ymir in reviews and websites, the name is never mentioned in the movie. Ray Harryhausen was concerned that audiences would mistake it for the Arabic title "Emir".

The Ymir roars in the film are variations of elephant roars sped up and modulated in pitches at different rates.

The Ymir is a vegetarian, eating grain when first attacked by the farmer with a pitchfork.

Distance from Earth to Venus- The closest approach of about 39.5 million kilometers (23.6 million miles)

Ray Harryhausen: a man feeding peanuts to the elephant that later battles the Ymir. He did so because the actor scheduled to play the part didn't show up. He later appears in a crowd fleeing the zoo.

(More After The Break)

The General, fearing that the space ship has sunk, points to a body of water on the map and says that the lost astronauts are now "20,000 leagues under the sea." Of course, it's a coy reference to the recent sci-fi flick 20000 Leagues Under the Sea (and Jules Verne's novel). However, a league is about 3 miles; no ship could sink 60,000 miles under the sea since the earth isn't that large. The Verne title refers to the amount of miles traveled under the sea, not how deep the craft was operating. So the General has made a geographical error while trying to make a hip quip.

The general and scientist consult a wall map of the world to locate the small village in Sicily where the rocket has crashed. At the end of the scene the camera pulls in for a close-up of Sicily, and we see that there are no city names printed on the map - not even major Sicilian cities like Syracuse or Palermo, let alone a tiny fishing village.

After testing the release of the wire net from the helicopter, an enlisted man with one stripe on his uniform says to Col. Calder, "The hook's working fine, sir!", to which Calder replies, "That's good, sergeant!" One stripe is the insignia of a private, not a sergeant.

READ MORE

"Professor, there's a big lizard back there and he's heading this way!" - The Valley of Gwangi Trivia

From IMDB

Gwangi is a native American word that means lizard.

Gustavo Rojo is dubbed by Robert Rietty

When this film was first conceived it was supposed to have been a follow-up to King Kong, but was never made. However, version of the "cowboys in Africa" footage was shot, and wound up being used in Mighty Joe Young.

Due to a mishearing of the word "fuck" by the BBFC the 1995 video release was wrongly given a '12' certificate. This was corrected for the 2003 DVD and the rating changed to a 'U' certificate.

In 1971, Warner Brothers cleverly reissued this film in the USA on a double bill with When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth.

Leading lady Gila Golan was re-dubbed, but the voice actress remains unidentified.

The roping of Gwangi was achieved by having the actors hold on to ropes tied to a "Monster stick" that was in the back of a Jeep. The jeep and stick when filmed with Gwangi are on a back rear projection plate and hidden by his body and the portions of rope attached to his body are painted wires that are matched with the real ropes.

Special effects master Ray Harryhausen has said that sequence of the elephant performing its act and its subsequent fight with Gwangi were done with no shots of a real elephant because no such animal was available. However, there is an elephant in the very early scene of the Wild West show's parade through the town, and Ray's animation puppet is a perfect double for it.

The pterodactyl picks Lope up by his shoulders but when T.J. is cleaning his wounds there are several claw marks down his right side and none on his shoulders.

(More After The Break)

Early on, young Lope tells Tuck Kirby that the arena is two miles outside of the town. This is confirmed by Tuck encountering Professor Bromley's paleontological digs in open desert during his return from his first visit to it. However, at the film's climax the arena is clearly within the town.

When Gwangi is chasing the cowboys out of the valley through the rock pass, one person falls off his horse twice.

Gwangi's apparent color changes several times over the course of the movie because there was so much animation to do that Harryhausen did not have enough time to do proper color testing.

READ MORE

Should Star Wars: Episode VII ‘use less CGI’?

From Yahoo

Ever since the original trilogy, 'Star Wars' has led the way when it comes to special effects. Whether it's landspeeders, lightsabers or Death Star trenches, those iconic scenes that we know and love have paved the way for modern visual effects. But in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Mark Hamill revealed that he thinks Episode VII should "use less CGI". And to be honest, I couldn't agree more.

"I said to George that I wanted to go back to the way it was, in the sense that ours was much more carefree and light-hearted and humorous - in my opinion, anyway… I hope they find the right balance of CGI with practical effects."

This has been the problem with Star Wars for a long while - at least since the start of the prequel trilogy. The balance was all wrong and they relied too heavily on ground-breaking new effects. 'Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace' felt more like a tech demo than a film - it pioneered new techniques in the same way that the original trilogy did… but it definitely lacked the character and atmosphere that made the originals so great. And while it looks as though Lucasfilm are trying to rekindle the old magic by bringing back the original stars, is that really enough?

"I love props," Mark Hamill explains. "I love models, miniatures, matte paintings - I'm sort of old school. I think if you go too far in the direction of CGI it winds up looking like just a giant videogame, and that's unfortunate… If they listen to me at all, it'll be, 'Lighten up and go retro with the way it looks.'"

READ MORE

(MORE AFTER THE BREAK)

Star Wars X-Wing bed: You won't find this at IKEA

From Pocket Lint

A dad in America has built his son the coolest custom bed on the planet. And that planet is Dagobah.

Although we don't have any specific details on the recipient, one lucky kid now owns his own X-Wing fighter, which has been constructed as the canopy over his Star Wars-themed bedspread. And he can even sit in it to watch TV, as a flatscreen has been attached to the front, aping the view the pilot would get from the cockpit.

READ ARTICLE

You've just crossed over into the Dinosaurus Zone

Special effects wizard Marcel Delgado was given less than half the time originally agreed upon to create the dinosaur models for the 1960 movie 'Dinosaurus!.' The studio initially agreed to give him five to six weeks, as he requested, but two weeks later he was told that they would begin production on Tuesday. As a result the stop-motion animation crew used their brontosaurus model and miniature jungle set to film a shot for an episode of TV's Twilight Zone, "The Odyssey of Flight 33."

The Monstrous Movie Clip Of The Day: Dinosaur Wrangling Made Easy?

Written By: Ken Hulsey

Way back in 1969 the master special effects Ray Harryhausen created one of the most spectacular stop-motion animation shots for the movie "The Valley of Gwangi". To the casual viewer this sequence may not seem like a hard illusion to pull off but to those who know how the scene was achieved it stands as a true testament to hours of hard work and an amazing attention to detail.

Here is the problem that was presented to Harryhausen, "How do you get live action cowboy actors on horseback to lasso an Allosaurus model (Gwangi) that is only about a foot tall and make it look real?" The effect was achieved by having the actors actually lasso a pole that was the same height as a real Allosaurus that was mounted to the back of a Jeep. The jeep and pole when filmed with the miniature dinosaur are on a back rear projection plate and hidden by the body of the model, and the portions of rope attached to it's body are painted wires that are matched with the real ropes for each individual frame by Harryhausen using his keen eye looking through the camera's viewfinder to ensure everything lined up perfectly. The model of Gwangi also had to be manipulated to make it look like the horses and their human riders were reacting to the dinosaurs movements and not vice versa. Overall the five minute sequence took almost a month to complete via this process.

MORAV: MISSIONS Is Go!

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Source: Fon Davis

For the last couple of years I have been chronicling the progress of what looks like an amazing giant robot themed sci fi series called "M.O.R.A.V.". Late last month I got a couple of emails from the team behind the project, including creator Fon Davis, about spreading the word about a fundraiser on Kickstarter to .. well ... give the series pilot a kick start.

Giant robot fans responded to this ... and how, pledging to donate above and beyond the $40,000 Davis and his crew needed.

This overwhelming support caught Davis off guard as this message he posted on Facebook illustrates:

"I have been staring at my computer with my jaw dropped for some unknown amount of time, just taking it all in. With less than a day to go you funded MORAV: Missions.

Then I thought, what on earth can I say that would express the excitement we are feeling at my studio right now and verbalize the perfect "thank you" you all deserve for supporting our project?

I don't know what the perfect "thank you" is, so I'm just going to share.

I am deeply moved by all the work, encouragement and kind words you have all shared in your blogs, websites, groups, facebook walls and twitter feeds. When we started this campaign on kickstarter a month ago, I had no idea how emotional this whole experience would be. Every time someone would pledge some money or share our kickstarter link, I felt a warm feeling that frankly, took me off guard. It was not just money, it was a belief in our project. It was a vote of confidence. It was helping an old friend out. It was helping me realize a dream. It was supporting your local artist community. It was joining our team.

Thursday we will launch our first funded project on MORAV: Missions. I will be sure to share the experience with you so you can see what you have joined us in creating. We won't let you down!

Thank you for all the generosity and support you have given us and continue to give us. As I am typing this we are now exceeding the goal amount. You are all amazing! Keep it up! The extra will make an even better MORAV! We will spend every penny on making MORAV: Missions something you can all be proud of.

Thank you sincerely a thousand times to the moon and back!"

Fon Davis

M.O.R.A.V.: Missions Plot:

The story begins with the robot pilots and their peers testing and training then follows them through their struggles with the hardships of war. The audience witnesses the start of a global arms race to build the greatest giant robot army in the world. MORAV covers many decades chronicling the characters through a coup de'tat followed by a civil war that eventually leads to World War Three. The viewer will actually get to see the entire historic saga of robot warfare through the eyes of the men and women immersed in this reality.

If you like robot science fiction, MORAV could be what you've always wanted to see but no one has done. This kind of gritty realism is uncommon in the robot science fiction genre. The show is heavily focused on keeping stories character based and making the environment tangible. There is an effort to bring the audience into a world where robots really walk the streets. The robots in this series do not jump, fly, and shoot lasers out of their eyes. They are designed the way giant robots would be if they were real.

The Nation of Kumala. Divided into two separate states, they have endured an uneasy peace for hundreds of years, but now they find themselves embroiled in a bloody conflict that pits East and West at each other’s throats for control of the entire country.

Across the Jilta Straits lies her sister country of Tangri Island. A peaceful nation with a rich blend of traditional Asian heritage and Western-influenced modernisms and, not unlike any other paradise on Earth, there are those who wish to exploit her and take what she has to offer, no matter what the cost.

As tensions evolve into all-out war, heroes from both Tangri and Kumala unite with a corporate peacekeeping detachment of the Joint Nations Defense force in an attempt to prevent the onslaught of genocide. If they fail, the conflict could destroy Kumala and threaten not only the stability of Tangri Island, but engulf the remainder of South-East Asia into a global war.
But even as Tangri’s King deploys his historic special forces team, The Dragon Army, in an attempt to help subdue the ethnic cleansing in Kumala, the JND is secretly testing a new and devastatingly powerful robotic super-weapon on their peaceful island, one that will ravage Tangri’s future before the King’s forces have time to react.

Lines will be drawn, friendships tested, alliances forged, and the balance of military might will be forever changed by a weapon the likes of which no one has ever seen or imagined.

Giant Robot Fans Unite! MORAV Needs A Kickstart

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Sources : Fon Davis / Todd D'Amario

For the past three years I have been talking off-and-on about an amazing giant robot series called M.O.R.A.V. ((Multi-Operational Robotic Armored Vehicle) which has been a pet project of Hollywood effects master Fon Davis. The series has been a true passion for Davis along with a team of movie and television effects veterans who have devoted hours of spare time and money to create a unique sci fi showcase that is heavily inspired by the Japanese anime classics, "Patlabor" and "Macross".

As is the case with any effects heavy project both time and money have been issues that have plagued "M.O.R.A.V." since its conception, yet Davis and company believe in their vision and have kept the giant mechs marching over most obstacles in their path.

Now three years down the pike Davis is so close to his goal of getting a pilot episode that he can shop to networks completed he can taste it. All he needs is another 40 grand and the episode can be completed.

Like many projects I have talked about in the past Davis has created a "Kickstarter" page where fans can donate what they can to help raise the needed funds to move forward.

Now I understand that one cool photo (above) and my word isn't going to cut it. You need a little more before you open up your check book. I got ya. Check out the clip and the synopsis below:



The story begins with the robot pilots and their peers testing and training then follows them through their struggles with the hardships of war. The audience witnesses the start of a global arms race to build the greatest giant robot army in the world. MORAV covers many decades chronicling the characters through a coup de'tat followed by a civil war that eventually leads to World War Three. The viewer will actually get to see the entire historic saga of robot warfare through the eyes of the men and women immersed in this reality.

If you like robot science fiction, MORAV could be what you've always wanted to see but no one has done. This kind of gritty realism is uncommon in the robot science fiction genre. The show is heavily focused on keeping stories character based and making the environment tangible. There is an effort to bring the audience into a world where robots really walk the streets. The robots in this series do not jump, fly, and shoot lasers out of their eyes. They are designed the way giant robots would be if they were real.

The Nation of Kumala. Divided into two separate states, they have endured an uneasy peace for hundreds of years, but now they find themselves embroiled in a bloody conflict that pits East and West at each other’s throats for control of the entire country.

Across the Jilta Straits lies her sister country of Tangri Island. A peaceful nation with a rich blend of traditional Asian heritage and Western-influenced modernisms and, not unlike any other paradise on Earth, there are those who wish to exploit her and take what she has to offer, no matter what the cost.

As tensions evolve into all-out war, heroes from both Tangri and Kumala unite with a corporate peacekeeping detachment of the Joint Nations Defense force in an attempt to prevent the onslaught of genocide. If they fail, the conflict could destroy Kumala and threaten not only the stability of Tangri Island, but engulf the remainder of South-East Asia into a global war.
But even as Tangri’s King deploys his historic special forces team, The Dragon Army, in an attempt to help subdue the ethnic cleansing in Kumala, the JND is secretly testing a new and devastatingly powerful robotic super-weapon on their peaceful island, one that will ravage Tangri’s future before the King’s forces have time to react.

Lines will be drawn, friendships tested, alliances forged, and the balance of military might will be forever changed by a weapon the likes of which no one has ever seen or imagined.

Do I have you now? Go to Kickstarter - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/morav/morav-missions-live-action-series-pilot?ref=emai

SyFy To Go Behind The Scenes Of B Movie Effects In MONSTER MAN

Source: NBC / Universal

Syfy is expanding its slate of original reality programming by greenlighting Monster Man, a docuseries about a quirky Hollywood creature-making family, it was announced today by Mark Stern, President of Original Content, Syfy and Co-Head of Content for Universal Cable Productions.

Six one-hour episodes have been ordered from Gurney Productions, the team behind Syfy’s exciting new series Haunted Collector.

Monster Man goes behind the scenes of one of Hollywood’s most respected monster prop building workshops. For more than thirty years, when studios want a bizarre creature or out-of-this world alien, they’ve turned to Cleve Hall and his very unique family business. Only the horrifying monsters they build match the craziness of this highly dysfunctional, extremely talented family.

“We are entering the creative world of a very eccentric, artistic family,” said Mark Stern. “Cleve and his team will give our viewers a rare behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to bring monster props, puppets and costume pieces to life. But they’re also a family business, so the unusual dynamic between them is half the fun.”

Cleve Hall has been in the prop design game since he was a teenager. Monsters are his specialty, which fits the personality of a man who dresses in all black and drives a hearse. Hall has created masterpieces for countless B-movies and big budget flicks for Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks, Warner Bros and Disney, including favorites Ed Wood and Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. Hall has also lent his talent to numerous television programs including Yo Gabba Gabba, for which he received an Emmy nomination. Additionally, he has worked with rock bands including KISS, creating Gene Simmons’ Demon Armor, as well as Insane Clown Posse, Alice Cooper, Tenacious D and DEVO.

Monster Man follows Cleve Hall, his daughters Constance and Elora Hall, his ex-wife Sonja Maddox-Hall, best friends Roy Knyrim and Johnny Saiko, as well as office manager Cindy Miller. Executive Producers are Scott Gurney and Deirdre Gurney for Gurney Productions.

Production on Monster Man is slated to begin shooting in Los Angeles in July 2011 with an anticipated January 2012 debut.

Digital Effects House Turns To Columbia Professor For "Rise Of The Apes"

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Source: Techeye

It seems that Peter Jackson’s effects studio is having fits trying to make realistic computer generated hair for the stars of Fox’s upcoming "Planet of the Apes" prequel "Rise of the Apes." In fact Weta Studios is having so much trouble trying to get it right that they have turned to Columbia University’s Eitan Grinspun, who created brand-new state of the art animation software for the Disney animated feature "Tangled", to work on two of their upcoming projects. The other being Steven Spielberg's "Tintin", where the title characters dog Snowy apparently needed a shampoo and a clip as well.

I would like to go into all the details of how Grinspun has used geometry and advanced mathematics to create a program that can simulate "real" human, or in this case, simian / canine, hair, but after reading the professor’s remarks about it, I have to admit, I know probably less now then when I started. That’s why he is a Columbia professor and I’m some dude behind a keyboard trying to write about it.

To sum it all up, the Apes were having a hair issues, Fox hired a genius to figure out how to fix it and now they will be ready to overthrow us human types in grand cinematic glory.

"Where there is fire, there is smoke. And in that smoke, from this day forward, my people will crouch, and conspire, and plot, and plan for the inevitable day of man's downfall, the day when he finally and self-destructively turns his weapons against his own kind. The day of the writing in the sky, when your cities lie buried under radioactive rubble! When the sea is a dead sea, and the land is a wasteland, out of which I will lead my people from their captivity! And we will build our own cities, in which there will be no place for humans, except to serve our ends! And we shall found our own armies, our own religion, our own dynasty! And that day is upon you...NOW!! "

See Also: The 100 Greatest Monsters From Movies And Television #21 - #30 / Harry Potter Star Felton Cast In RISE OF THE APES / Brian Cox To Be The Bad Guy In RISE OF THE APES / Andy Serkis To Play Caesar In RISE OF THE APES / James Franco Cast In The New PLANET OF THE APES film / Planet of the Apes: Caesar Set To Begin Production In July / Scott Frank Plans To Take Planet Of The Apes In A New Direction / Is Fox Planning To Re-Boot The Planet Of The Apes? / Escape From The Planet Of The Apes (1971)(20th Century Fox) / Beneath The Planet Of The Apes (1970)(20th Century Fox) / Actress Profile - Linda Harrison / Planet Of The Apes (1974)(TV) / Planet Of The Apes (1968)

Arkansas Family Builds Ultimate GODZILLA Suit

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Source: BlueRidgenow.com

When Legendary Pictures goes out to try and find someone to create a Godzilla suit for the upcoming film, they may not have to look in Japan, but in rural Arkansas instead.

Indeed the Baker family, father Rick and his two sons Rock and Kyle, have already created a great looking Godzilla costume that is ready for filming.

The Bakers estimate that they have invested about 200 hours and some $600 on creating what they consider to be the ultimate Godzilla suit, which is an combination of several of the monster's designs from it's 50 plus year film career.

Working day and night in the garage of their Hilltop Upholstery business in St. Joe, Arkansas the Baker boys turned rubber and plastic into a monster movie icon, which for the three men, was a true labor of love. Rick Baker is a self-described old fashioned horror movie buff, while his son Rock is an aspiring comic book artist.

Yet, it was brother Kyle who got the first opportunity to try on the Godzilla suit, which featured a fan in the head and pouches in the back for ice to keep the wearer nice and cool. But the sophistication of this Godzilla costume didn't just stop there, the melting ice from the internal pockets is also circulated throughout the suit via a complex tubing system. This Godzilla also features realistic looking eyes which can be moved by remote control.

As Kyle put the monster through it's paces he turned the head of more than few passers by on US highway 65 that runs adjacent to the makeshift monster studio that also doubles as an upholstery business.

Though the suit weighs some 75 pounds and has a rather lengthy tail attached, Kyle Baker had little trouble taking Godzilla for a test drive.

"I can actually feel it push against me," he said, "but I don't really feel the weight. It's so well balanced."

Though Legendary Pictures is presently developing a new American Godzilla movie, the Bakers believe that their best chance to break into the monster suite business will not come from Hollywood, where CGI effects now have become the standard, but in Japan, where the art of suit acting is still practiced.

To show of their skill, the Baker family packed up their monster and headed to Chicago for the annual "G-Fest" convention. It was their hope that since so many Japanese film industry types would be in attendance, they may get the opportunity to impress them and possibly land an opportunity overseas.

Yet there may still be hope for a job here in America, if Legendary Pictures listens to the Godzilla fan community and opts to combine the classic Godzilla suit acting with computer graphics for their film.

Will it happen? Only time will tell, but with any luck the Baker's will be able to crush miniature cities with their creation here in America rather than overseas.

See Also: Tim Burton On For MONSTERPOCALYPSE - Still In Line For GODZILLA? - More Film Details! / A Reason To Be Optimistic About Godzilla 3D (2012)? / Hot Off The Press! Page 77 Of Todd Tennant's "Godzilla 1994" Online Comic / Godzilla, Anguirus, And The Case Of The Missing Monster Suits / Godzilla 3-D, Godzilla 2012, Rumors And Misinformation Abound / What The Fans Want To See In An American Godzilla / Godzilla 2012 - Legendary Pictures/Warner Bros (Fan Group) / It's Official! A New Godzilla Movie Is Coming In 2012! / Get Ready With Your Finger Missiles And Robot Punch! The Shogun Warriors Are Coming To The Big Screen! / Japanese Uber Geekdome - Godzilla Related Cosplay & The Return Of The Life-Sized Gundam / "Godzilla 1985": 25th Anniversary / All Monsters Attack (aka Godzilla's Revenge)(1969)(Toho) / A Godzilla Plush Doll For All You Little Monsters / Run For Your Life! It's Godzilla!!...No...Wait It's A Crustacean / Putting Legendary Pictures Godzilla Into Perspective / Legendary Pictures Announces New Godzilla Movie! / Roland Emmerich Proud Of Godzilla, Not Making Sequel / Toho Tells Comcast, "Didn't You Learn From Subway? You Can't Use Godzilla To Sell Cable TV!" / Peter H. Brothers' Ishiro Honda Bio To Be Published / G-FAN No. 88 Summary / Schedule Conflict Knocks Out Godzilla Film Fest / G-FEST XVI News / Preserving Godzilla And The Blu-Ray Announcement / Godzilla 3D - Opinions Swirling Swirling Swirling / Godzilla 3D Begins Pre-Production For 2011 Release / A Pin-up Girl Riding Godzilla - Now This Is Art! / Godzilla & The Monsters Of Mass Destruction Trailer / Steve Bissette Creates Special Artwork For New Hampshire Screening Of King Kong vs Godzilla / G-FAN #87 Summary / Ishiro Honda Bio Being Negotiated / Robert Scott Field Is Joining Kenji Sahara At G-FEST XVI / King Kong And Godzilla Invade The London Subway

A Special Effects Video Bonanza - Galactic Raiders - Dinocroc vs Supergator

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Sources: Larry Arpin / Jim Wynorski / Avery Guerra

Everyone knows that the backbone of any fantasy or science fiction film is it's special effects. Now, George Lucas can go on and on about how any movie effect is boring without a good story to set it up, but as we know from his "Star Wars" prequel series, good effects can make up for a week story, or even fill in where there is no story at all.

When it comes to movie effects, and in particular monster movie effects, there are three ways to go. The very time consuming art of of stop-motion animation, the sometimes effective and some times not, art of putting a man in a monster suite, like the Japanese "Godzilla" and "Gamera" films use, or the quicker and cheaper computer generated type of effects that are permeating the movie industry.

Well I have good examples of two of those types of effects for you here today.

First, I want to show you a great video by film maker Larry Arpin on how he is doing the effects for his independent film "Galactic Raiders". For the film, Arpin is doing it the old-fashioned way, using stop-motion monsters.

As I said before, this process is very time-consuming. That is probably why "Galactic Raiders" has been in production for over a year and a half.

I do give Larry a lot of props for following in the footsteps of Ray Harryhausen in producing these effects. I honestly wish more people would go back to this.

Now we move to the complete opposite end of the effects spectrum with a clip from Jim Wynorski's "Dinocroc vs. Supergator". As you can probably guess, this film features modern computer generated effects.

Many people are fans of what technology has done to improve the quality of movie effects, and no one can argue that the medium has put the tools for creating impressive effects into the hands of film makers who can now make the kinds of films that were impossible to produce just a decade ago.

Which is better? Well that depends on who you talk to. I personally believe that each has their place in modern film making. Sometimes combinations of all the above methods work out best. The Japanese, for example, have used stop-motion, suite actors and CGI effects in their recent monster movies, with mixed results. Hollywood, on the other hand, likes to throw as much computer generated effects at you as they can.

In the end, I think that film makers will always be discovering new and inventive ways to produce film effects using whatever is available to them, and who can say what the future will hold. Whether you do it 'old-school' like Arpin, or with the power of the computer, like Wynorski, movie effects continue to spark the imagination and inspire future film makers to produce their own fascinating films.

See Also: The Monster Mash - 08/17/09 - A Look At Smaller Monster Movie Productions / Behind The Scenes Photos From Galactic Raiders / Galactic Raiders - Making Larry Arpin's Dream Come True

Jim Wynorski Releases Images Of The Late David Carradine From 'Dinocroc vs. Supergator' / Dinocroc vs. Supergator - Let's Get Ready To Rumble! / Has Jim Wynorski Created The Fattest Movie Monster Of All Time? / Cleavagefield Special Effects Photos / B Movie Celebration Scores World Premiere Of Cleavagefield / The First Trailer For Cleavagefield / The First Image From Cleavagefield / A Brand New Promo Photo From Cleavagefield / Cleavagefield - Giant Monsters And Giant Breasts All In One Movie! / Another Bizarre Hollywood Death: David Carradine

Getting Grumpy: VFX In Land Of The Lost

Source: Universal / Getty Images

For the Land of the Lost series, the Kroffts created 40 minutes of stop-action dinosaur animation that was repurposed over the three-year run and used many times. That was the first time video and stop-motion were combined and used on television.

Much to the pride of this team, the film is also using groundbreaking technology to create visual effects; as always, photorealism is the goal. “This is not ‘a routine expedition’ for us in VFX,” puns Oscar®-winning VFX supervisor Bill Westenhofer. “We are responsible for many things in this film…from creating key characters like dinosaurs Grumpy and Alice to extending the sets and Sleestak armies.”

Naturally, Westenhofer and his team at Rhythm & Hues were heavily influenced by Jurassic Park and the benchmarks set 16 years ago for dinosaur design. With the tools they had in front of them, however, they were determined to take the Land of the Lost dinosaurs to a whole new level…especially for Marshall’s cunning antagonist, Grumpy. Explains Silberling of the T. rex’s motivation: “It’s Moby Dick. Grumpy is obsessed with Marshall and will stop at nothing to track him down.”

Logically, the Rhythm & Hues team began designing Grumpy by using existing illustrations of T. rex. Combining some of these characteristics with nontraditional ones separated Grumpy from the pack. For example, little horns were added on the back of his head. A 3-D model of Grumpy was then sculpted and scanned into the computer. Creating movements such as arm placement that will show actual wrinkling, the animators began working on the endless details it took to make him photorealistic.

Grumpy is a fully functioning character in the movie that interacts with the other actors, so he has to have a personality. Laughs Ferrell: “Outside of The Flintsones, I think this is the first time you see a dinosaur vindictively pursuing a character.”

Ferrell, Friel, McBride and Taccone found their imaginations put to the test when they shared scenes with Grumpy. In place of the carnivore, one of the digital technicians would hold a 16-foot pole to serve as a marker for the performers. Nicknamed “Grumpy on a Stick” by the crew, the setup had a brightly colored ball on the end that allowed actors to find their eye line.

Shooting in the Land of the Lost Dumping Ground while they were on location in the vast Trona Pinnacles near Death Valley, California, also proved difficult for the VFX team. This set is where the dinosaurs come to feed and where the Grumpy chase sequence begins. “The Grumpy chase, when he is in active pursuit of Marshall, is huge and was a really hard challenge for Rhythm & Hues,” notes the director.

Continues screenwriter McNicholas: “This chase is a huge chunk of the script. When I went to the desert and saw how Brad had set this up, I was amazed. It was incredibly elaborate, packed with jokes and information.”

From shot to shot, it was a constant concern for Silberling, Beebe and VFX supervisor Westenhofer to make sure there was enough room on the screen for the dinosaurs. “It’s challenging to make sure you have space in the frame when you have a 40-foot-long animal,” notes Westenhofer.

Improv on Land of the Lost didn’t exist only on stages and locations. It also happened in the digital world. Recalls Westenhofer: “One of my favorite moments is when Will Ferrell chose, on the fly, to fist bump Grumpy. This will be the first time on the screen you shall see a person do this. It will be hysterical.”

Throughout the story, the cast interacts with dinosaurs. Both on land and on wires, it proved a tremendous challenge for VFX to marry images of real people interacting with CGI characters. To ensure authenticity of look, Westenhofer worked closely throughout production with DOUG COLEMAN and his stunt team to get the exact angles he needed. When a stunt using people was taken as far as it could be taken, the VFX team jumped in to extend the action.

At one point in the film, Marshall must hop onto Grumpy’s back and take a ride. As this visual effect combines both stop-motion and motion-control rigs, the scene was quite complicated to pull off. Prep for this sequence began a month before shooting, with a nine-person crew from Rhythm & Hues operating the high-tech computer and camera gear on set.

To capture the motions of a prehistoric ride, Ferrell was placed on a mechanical saddle that was programmed to move in different directions. So the filmmakers could get a rough sense of the scale of the final product—and see what was happening on the spot, the computerized pre-viz image of Grumpy was laid on top of the live visual feed.

The dinosaur and creature action in Land of the Lost does not stop with Grumpy. From showtune-loving baby pterodactyls that hatch out of eggs and thousands of spiders that crawl out of fruit given to Marshall by Chaka, to a giant crab that gets cooked, the VFX team had more than enough work on its hands.

Signature action pieces, such as the raft falling over the Devil’s Canyon waterfall when the earthquake hits and Marshall, Will and Holly passing through time and space into another universe were handed to Rhythm & Hues to create digitally. Even more challenging, they had to seamlessly retain the comic elements of the film as they designed the environments.

Indeed, an entire world—from the dirt on the ground to the three moons of the sky, was created from the bottom up. Extending backgrounds where the sets end and creating a landscape for the Land of the Lost flora and fauna took much creativity and manpower from all involved in the project.

During an 84-day shooting schedule, one week of shooting in which the VFX department was in total control took place on a blue-screen stage. When principal photography wrapped, Rhythm & Hues switched gears to full throttle as 150 artists were brought on board to finish environments, imagine dinosaurs and add the most intricate of details for the world that time forgot.

This constant pursuit of our heroes by Grumpy led to some physically demanding days for the cast. The principal players wore harnesses for a week and were hoisted 30 feet into the air as they were snapped up by man-eating vines inside Grumpy’s feeding station. Take after take, they dangled over a pile of more than 300 handmade bones, gaining momentum (and soreness) when they joined hands and swung back and forth.

To add to the glamour, prior to shooting on location in Dumont Dunes, the cast was fitted with butt molds. These molds were crafted in plastic and hidden under their costumes so they could easily (and rapidly) slide down the steep 45-degree-angled sandy hills without hurting their respective posteriors in the process.

As Dr. Rick Marshall, Ferrell was required to engage in multiple stunts. From saving Holly by jumping onto a swinging cage raised above a deep pit to being thrown aloft by Grumpy, the maneuvers were challenging for the comic performer. Even though he was harnessed and had rehearsed with the stunt team, it was still a bit scary. “Out in the desert at Trona Pinnacles, they rigged this crane and pulleys that hoisted me 30 feet into the air…as if I was being picked up by my backpack with Grumpy’s teeth,” says Ferrell. “Fortunately, we got it in one take, because it would have taken a lot of psyching up to do that again.”

As his character was scripted to fight Enik the Altrusian while on high wires, Danny McBride also learned to get comfortable above ground as well. This was also the first big action-movie experience for Anna Friel who, among other things, became skilled at swinging Holly’s leather belt as a weapon against the Sleestak.

Jorma Taccone also had his share of physical challenges. He had to learn primate mannerisms that included walking while staying hunched over and running while using his hands as well as his feet. To get into character, Taccone watched National Geographic Channel DVDs. When it came time to suit up, however, he realized he had no idea how tough it would be to maneuver in that posture.

While Holly and Will are not brother and sister in the film, they bicker just as much as they did on the show. Though McBride and Friel had it down to a science, sometimes the play fights got a little out of hand. Recalls Friel: “Danny would joke that during the fight sequences I was dangerously close to clocking him in the eye. During one take, I did hit him a bit, but he said he was fine. Unbeknownst to me, he went to his makeup trailer and came out with a big black eye and bleeding. I never felt so bad. He milked it for all it was worth, and good on him.”

Contests McBride, who says he was indeed walloped by his co-star: “Anna will say that clocking me was an accident. She will say that I was in her way. But if you review the tape, you’ll see that she is lying through her teeth. And it was a hard hit. I’m not going to lie. Almost brought a tear to my eye, but I had to keep cool and you know, act like it didn’t hurt.”

Michael Lantieri and his special effects team of 25-plus were handed the arduous task of simulating a major earthquake at the Sleestak Temple Plaza that threatens to annihilate the Land of the Lost and all its denizens. The effects included having tons of simulated heavy debris fall about our heroes.

One of the big-ticket items used was nicknamed the “Weber Pod” (as it resembles a Weber barbecue) by the crew and required five cameras to capture every angle. Explains Lantieri: “It’s a giant egg-shaped pod on the end of the stage that weighs 18,000 pounds. We knocked the legs out from underneath it and tumbled it down the stairs into the temple. It is always a challenge to be safe and get it to do what you want it to do, but it worked.”

By allowing debris to fall and shaking the cameras and sets with giant motors and concentric cams, the team simulated the quake with a combination of maneuvers. Continues Lantieri: “We built extra lighter-weight debris that we put on trips and releases so that we could drop them into the set on cue…as we moved the camera through. We took existing pieces of the set, split them and used hydraulics to split the 15-foot Sleestak head sculptures open.”

It was an intricate game of rigging to re-create the earthquake and tumble huge boulders across the set. Lantieri and his team took pieces of the set rock walls and cut them apart in giant pieces that measured 20 feet by 30 feet. They then attached motors and hinges to the pieces so that they would shake and loosen up. Much like the shifts that would occur in an actual earthquake, the parts moved out of sync.

The prop department joined the SFX department in creating items for Land of the Lost that weren’t par for the course of a typical film. At one point, the cast is slimed with Grumpy’s T. rex snot, which the SFX team designed from a coagulated methylcellulose. Ever the fringe scientist, Marshall even dowses himself with dinosaur urine that looks quite real but was actually green tea.

One of the key props for the film was the Tachyon Meter, Marshall’s homemade invention that enables his crew to transport to other dimensions. The prop department, helmed by SCOTT MAGINNIS, worked with production designer Welch and rendered a drawing that included flashing lights, see-through pumps and electronic readings. From a hodgepodge of objects, including an old iPod, they made by hand four identical versions of this measurement tool to be used throughout production.

Explains Welch: “The cumbersome strap-on Tachyon Meter is the kind of cobbled-together technology that you look at and think, ‘This guy is out of his mind.’ But at the same time, you think, ‘Maybe this actually works…’”

In addition to the Tachyon Meter, the props department souped up a vintage Toyota Land Cruiser for Marshall’s road adventures. The roof housed all manner of scientific gadgetry to allow him to stay mobile and prepare for anything that could possibly happen to a rogue scientist.

See Also: Universal Releases The Complete Land Of The Lost Series In A Collectible Lunch Box / Universal Launches New Land Of The Lost Games / Sci Fi Announces Memorial Day Land Of The Lost Marathon And Other Summer Programing / Land Of The Lost Cha-Ka Funko Force Bobble Head / Land Of The Lost Sleestak Funko Force Bobble Head / A New Promo Image For Land Of The Lost / The Land Of The Lost Movie Poster / Hold Onto Your Tenticles Sigmund And The Sea Monsters Is Coming To The Big Screen / The First Photo Of Enik From The New Land Of The Lost Movie / Surprise! The New Sleestaks Look Like The Old Ones! / Land of the Lost (TV 1974-1977) / The Land That Time Forgot (1975)

Terminator Salvation: Building The Devil's Army

Source: Warner Bros

"One of the joys of this film is you get to see all the machines in the lexicon of Skynet," says "Terminator Salvation" director McG. "It's just like a contemporary military: you've got machines in the water, in the ground, in the sky... It was an amazing adventure just looking at the different Terminators of this world because you want to see the success and failure of everything Skynet tried on their way to the T-800, their most proficient killing machine."

Created from drawings by production designer Martin Laing and his team of art directors, the army of machines that rampage through "Terminator Salvation" came to life under the direction of Stan Winston, the legendary creature creator who designed the original T-800. Sadly, Winston passed away during the making of this film. "Stan confided in me once that he created imaginary monsters as a child to keep him company," McG reflects. "He said he felt like the only kid in the world who did this. Little did he know his childhood friends would come to be the heroes of millions. But most of all, Stan was a good guy who loved what he did. It was a real honor to have had the opportunity to work with Stan Winston. I intend to dedicate this film to his memory."

John Rosengrant, an effects supervisor at Stan Winston Studio, led the 60-member team to create this generation of Terminators, and also oversaw all the special effects make-up. Winston originally hired Rosengrant to work on the first "Terminator" film and became the artist's mentor. It was the beginning of an incredible journey, one that has seen phenomenal advancements in animatronics and special effects over the intervening years.

For Rosengrant, the sheer volume of work demanded by this production required some innovations. "The challenge on 'Terminator Salvation' was to come up with lighter-weight materials that still replicated metal," says Rosengrant. "We used combinations of urethanes and plastics, which were painted using breakthroughs in paint technology to achieve a metal look."

On "Terminator Salvation," the challenge also became creating Terminators that would be logical extensions within the world of the "Terminator" universe. "Because we're in a period prior to the timeframe of the first three films, we had to, in a sense, reverse-engineer," explains Laing. "In the same way that your laptop from ten years ago was thick like a brick and then, over time, got thinner and thinner, the Terminators you already know are the thin laptops and our Terminators are the bricks. They're more primitive in their brutality and bigger in their design."

On top of that, McG had a specific aesthetic in mind that would color the entire film, but especially the machines. "I didn't want a shiny, robotic world," McG expresses. "I didn't want a clean future. I really wanted a distressed future. I wanted a dirty patina on the metal of the machines, like they're a bunch of Soviet era tanks that haven't been able to go in and get painted or tuned up in a long, long time."

Moreover, because the film takes place post-Judgment Day, a full complement of Terminators, many of which were only hinted at in the earlier films, is revealed. "We are in an interim period," says Christian Bale, "In the flash forwards to 2029 that we've seen in previous movies, Skynet has absolute dominance of all the armies of T-800s and Hunter-Killers. But what we're seeing here is the genesis of the T-800. In the present, we've got a lot of T-600s, which are more primitive versions of the T-800, and a phenomenal array of machines."

Skynet's preeminent foot soldier is the T-600, which McG describes as "bigger and nastier" than the T-800, "a `57 Buick compared to a 2009 Mercedes Benz."

A hulking seven-foot-three, rudimentary version of what would eventually become the T-800, with a simplistic rubber skin pulled over the face and rag-tag clothing to hide the endoskeleton, the T-600 "prowls the badlands looking for anything with a heartbeat, an unrelenting machine with a singular focus of killing," McG continues.

They carry a mini-gun, an M203 lower unit, capable of anywhere from 3,000 to 6,000 rounds per minute, and a backpack full of ammunition. The filmmakers wanted to design the T-600s as machines that are no longer manufactured but maintain their patrols in the field, battered and weathered, their camouflage mostly lost, damaged in battle, or eaten away by the elements. As Kyle Reese said in "The Terminator," "The first ones were easy to spot."

Created using both rigged and manned puppets in combination with CGI, the T-600s appear in the film in various states of disrepair. "It gives them a creepy, zombie-like quality when you see, for example, the whole lower jaw exposed or areas torn out of their faces," says Rosengrant.

Seen in "flash-forwards" in the earlier films was the Terminator aircraft called the Hunter-Killer. Hunter-Killers, or H-Ks, patrol the skies, scanning the ground below with massive floodlights. Like the T-600s, the "Terminator Salvation" version of the H-Ks represents a more rudimentary beast than what Skynet would eventually develop.

Patrolling like drones in search of human survivors are small devices called Aerostats. These four-foot-long aerial sentries buzz about the land, hunting for any sign of human life. Equipped with digital camera and laser-imaging technology, they send wireless reports back to Skynet, which then sends in the Harvester.

"One of my favorite Terminators is the Harvester, which are the machines that collect the people," says McG. Approximately 80 feet tall, the Harvester resembles a spider, with multiple steel arms and legs extending from a thorax-like body with jointed claw-like appendages for capturing its prey, and multiple camera eyes on long stalks for viewing the carnage. "Its job is to break into any structure where humans are hiding, grab its prey and put them in the Transporters to be taken to Skynet."

But failing that strategy, the Harvester unleashes Moto-Terminators. "Because the Harvester is such a big beast, as it's collecting humans there are always going to be the few that escape," Laing continues. "So, in the same way that a shepherd uses sheepdogs, the Harvester has Moto-Terminators, which are bike-like Terminators that race off after the humans and bring them back. They also have guns and the ability to kill, but the goal is to retrieve escapees and return them to the Harvester so it can put them in the Transporter."

These slick machines are based on the Ducati motorbike, a personal favorite of director McG. The Italian company was approached by the filmmakers and was thrilled to be involved. They supplied four identical hyper-motored bikes for use in filming.

"We had to have credible-looking Moto-Terminators in this picture, so we went to the designers and the whole team from Ducati," says McG. "Ducatis are sleek, powerful, agile machines, so that felt like a great place to start as we created the language of the Moto-Terminators."

The visual effects team was able to overlay the Moto-Terminator look over the practical Ducatis. The production also had a practical Moto-Terminator made in Los Angeles, which was used during filming.

Skynet covers the land with these machines, but for the seas, lakes and rivers, it has developed a unique underwater Terminator called the Hydrobot. Resembling four-foot-long segmented serpents, eyeless but with razor-sharp heads that drill into their victims, Hydrobots respond to sound and vibrations in the waters they prowl. "The Hydrobots turned out to be pretty fun, interesting characters," says Rosengrant, "sort of a cross between a psychotic crab and some sort of sea serpent. They're wicked, vicious things with these pincher-like claws on the front and an auger kind of drill bit. Once that gets a hold of you, you're definitely finished."

These machines were especially challenging for Rosengrant and his team, "not only because of how detailed they were but because they had to work in water, and were going to get punished pretty hard," he continues. "When working in water, most of the radio control devices that you would usually use are out the window; instead you're working with cable or pneumatics. And the Hydrobot needed to be durable enough to be wrestled and thrown around and chucked out of helicopters and punched through things, but at the same time not be so unwieldy that we couldn't puppet it."

They ended up using a combination of steel structures that were kept as lightweight as possible and lightweight urethane parts painted to look like metal. "We ended up getting a lot of extra shots that none of us thought we would get with the practical model," Rosengrant states. "We thought it would have to be augmented with CGI, but we were all amazed by how well it turned out."

Watching the Stan Winston puppeteers working the various rigs, Bale found their dedication inspiring. "They'd practiced for so long, and really got the movements down," says Bale. "With the Stan Winston team, it's incredible to see the painstaking detail they give all their work, their incredible patience, and their complete love for what they do. I love seeing people who are just obsessed with what they do, and these guys are obsessed with building models. They want to perfect what a T-600 really would look like turning its head and attacking somebody. They take it very, very seriously, and I think that's wonderful."

But by far the most innovative of Skynet's creations isn't entirely metal: Marcus, the human Terminator hybrid who learns of his cyborg adaptations over the course of the film.

Marcus's special effects make-up and prosthetics were created by Rosengrant, whose team developed several variations to accommodate the many different conditions Marcus finds himself in, including a full reveal of the interior endoskeleton after his capture by the Resistance.

A combination of large prosthetic pieces sculpted using the latest technology, make-up, and CGI, the creation of Marcus was a complex endeavor that demanded creativity and patience, especially on the part of Sam Worthingon, who spent as many as six hours straight in the make-up chair being worked on by a team of three artists.

The total effect, which McG was able to accomplish with help from the creative team of artisans from every corner of the production, was an iconic vision that truly created a new chapter in the "Terminator" saga. "Every other picture in this series has been present day," the director says. "Our film is a totally new beginning. We show the genesis of these fearful machines; we go into Skynet. We see the CPU that will represent the rise of the machines to a place of complete dominance. It was an incredible thrill for me to play a part in the continuation of this incredible story, which inspired me so much throughout my life, and remains prescient and relevant today."

For Bale, who was able to see footage during production of the Terminators in action, the thrill was equally intense. He notes with a wry smile, "We went through filming thinking we were the leads, but it ain't so in the slightest. People aren't coming to see us. We've got to provide some kind of a story to it, because no matter how great the Terminators and the explosions are, you've got to have a good story or otherwise what's the point? But let's face facts: the Terminators are the rightful stars of the movie. And they're going to blow everyone away."

See Also: Judgement Day Happened: Building The World Of Terminator Salvation / Schwarzenegger Confirms Terminator Salvation Appearance But Only In Stock Footage And CGI / The Trailer For The Asylum's Terminators / The Governator Returns! - A Big Bad Killing Machine From Terminator Salvation / Terminator Salvation Terminator Voice Changing Helmet / Exclusive Images From Asylum's The Terminators / The Sexy Women Of Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun-Li / New Terminator Salvation Flash Poster And Video Clips / Production Artwork For Terminator Salvation / Dark Horse To Release 25th Anniversary Terminator Comics / Warner Bros - Comic Con 2008 Sneak Previews / Special Effects Master Stan Winston Passes Away / The Japanese Now Have Human Robots - How Long Will It Be Until We Are Replaced!