Showa Era Film Stock?

For the discussion of Toho produced and distributed films or shows released before 1980.
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uroja
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Showa Era Film Stock?

Post by uroja »

Hey, all!

I was wondering if you guys could help me out with something. I've been trying to figure out what kind of film stock the mid to late Showa era films were shot on (I'm thinking vs. Mothra to Terror of Mechagodzilla). Super 8? Super 16? I've been googling for a while but have no leads so far.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

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Pkmatrix
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Re: Show Era Film Stock?

Post by Pkmatrix »

I've no idea, but I always assumed it was regular 35mm.

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SuperMonsterZero
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Re: Show Era Film Stock?

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uroja wrote:Hey, all!

I was wondering if you guys could help me out with something. I've been trying to figure out what kind of film stock the mid to late Showa era films were shot on (I'm thinking vs. Mothra to Terror of Mechagodzilla). Super 8? Super 16? I've been googling for a while but have no leads so far.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
The Godzilla movies were definitely not shot on 8mm. That would be like shooting a modern movie in 240p or some other ridiculously low resolution. They weren't shot on 16mm either. As far as I know they were shot on standard 35mm.

Did Toho ever do any 70mm films?
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tymon
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Re: Show Era Film Stock?

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I'm 95% sure that all of the films were shot in 35mm until Megaguirus...
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he-ba
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Re: Show Era Film Stock?

Post by he-ba »

SuperMonsterZero wrote:
uroja wrote:Hey, all!

I was wondering if you guys could help me out with something. I've been trying to figure out what kind of film stock the mid to late Showa era films were shot on (I'm thinking vs. Mothra to Terror of Mechagodzilla). Super 8? Super 16? I've been googling for a while but have no leads so far.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
The Godzilla movies were definitely not shot on 8mm. That would be like shooting a modern movie in 240p or some other ridiculously low resolution. They weren't shot on 16mm either. As far as I know they were shot on standard 35mm.

Did Toho ever do any 70mm films?
If I recall from the "Making of Godzilla vs Biollante" Special Feature on the Miramax DVD, GvB was the first movie in Japan to shoot it in 70mm
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Space Hunter M
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Re: Show Era Film Stock?

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he-ba wrote:If I recall from the "Making of Godzilla vs Biollante" Special Feature on the Miramax DVD, GvB was the first movie in Japan to shoot it in 70mm
Only some of the special opticals. The rest was flat 35mm masked to 1.66:1.

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ILL GREEN
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Re: Show Era Film Stock?

Post by ILL GREEN »

I always thought Toho used 16mm for the old showa flicks.

You are right though, no info about the visual equipment used to record those movies for I been searching on my own for about a year now. I love the color tone especially in vs Mothra.

uroja
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Re: Show Era Film Stock?

Post by uroja »

Thanks for the help, guys. So I guess I can safely assume it was 35mm? The reason I ask is because I'm editing a kaiju movie that was shot digitally and I'm trying to replicate the look of the film stock. Goji films have this scratchy, desaturated look to them so I thought they were shot on something other than 35, which can be pretty warm and crisp-looking. I guess it's just the age of the film that caused that look?
ILL GREEN wrote:I always thought Toho used 16mm for the old showa flicks.

You are right though, no info about the visual equipment used to record those movies for I been searching on my own for about a year now. I love the color tone especially in vs Mothra.
Me too! Exactly why I'm trying to replicate it.

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Re: Show Era Film Stock?

Post by Space Hunter M »

No, that's just because the people at the home video department are incompetent fools who don't know how to handle proper telecines. I can assure you that almost all of the classic films would look pristine when scanned with proper equipment. Nobody except amateur filmmakers used 16mm for theatrical ventures. Film gauges have nothing to do with color or contrast.

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tymon
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Re: Show Era Film Stock?

Post by tymon »

^Yep, the scratchiness and odd colors we grew up with were simply due to shitty transfers, not the film stock itself. uroja, check out Kraken's new Blu-Ray of Ebirah, Horror of the Deep - it's closer to its 35mm source than pretty much any Godzilla home video release on the planet at this point (next to Criterion's release). That's how these films should look, more or less.
JAGzilla wrote:And then there was The Giant Condor. He...seemed very dedicated to what he was doing?

uroja
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Re: Show Era Film Stock?

Post by uroja »

tymon wrote:^Yep, the scratchiness and odd colors we grew up with were simply due to shitty transfers, not the film stock itself. uroja, check out Kraken's new Blu-Ray of Ebirah, Horror of the Deep - it's closer to its 35mm source than pretty much any Godzilla home video release on the planet at this point (next to Criterion's release). That's how these films should look, more or less.
Space Hunter M wrote:No, that's just because the people at the home video department are incompetent fools who don't know how to handle proper telecines. I can assure you that almost all of the classic films would look pristine when scanned with proper equipment. Nobody except amateur filmmakers used 16mm for theatrical ventures. Film gauges have nothing to do with color or contrast.
Ah, I see. Now this is might be a bit off topic, but the Japanese footage from Power Rangers (the Kyoryu Sentai Zyruanger stock footage) had a similar look. Is this also due to transfers? Did those sentai tv shows in the 70's and 80's shoot on 35 as well?

Also, do those crappy transfers mean we'll never see the showa films (aside from the original, which I know has a Criterion release) as they were intended? :(

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SuperMonsterZero
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Re: Show Era Film Stock?

Post by SuperMonsterZero »

The Zyuranger footage cut into Power Rangers in 1993 looks like a video transfer of film footage. It looks like a different transfer than the later Japanese home video release of Zyuranger, which has different colors.

We'll be able to see the Godzilla films in better quality if somebody makes an actually competent transfer in the future.
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tymon
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Re: Show Era Film Stock?

Post by tymon »

SuperMonsterZero wrote:We'll be able to see the Godzilla films in better quality if somebody makes an actually competent transfer in the future.
To be fair, we've seen a few. Sony's DVDs of Ebirah, vs. Hedorah and vs. Gigan look great, as do the new Kraken Blu-Rays of those films. Ditto on Sony's Son of Godzilla and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla.
JAGzilla wrote:And then there was The Giant Condor. He...seemed very dedicated to what he was doing?

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