Suitmation
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Suitmation (スーツメーション) is a term used in Japan for a Tokusatsu (special effects) technique to portray a daikaiju (giant monster) using an actor in a monster suit. Although the origin of the term is not quite known, it is said that the term was used to differentiate this technique from the "Dynamation" stop-motion animation by special effects wizard, Ray Harryhausen.
Eiji Tsuburaya, Japan's special effects pioneer, set the standard for Suitmation, starting with his work on the many classic Godzilla movies and other tokusatsu kaiju films from Toho Company Ltd. Other studios, including Daiei Motion Picture Company, Toei Company Ltd., and even Eiji Tsuburaya's own Tsuburaya Productions, continue to portray giant monsters (and even giant superheroes and robots) in movies and television using the Suitmation technique. The technique began to evolve as artists emphasized great detail. Design teams are sometimes only one or two people, and the suits can take a long time to develop. In the US, the term became associated with B-Movies and point out the cheesiness of "rubber suits" and when the US became highly dependent on CGI and soon saw "classic techniques" as being obsolete, Japan further perfected the art, and when CGI was integrated, it brought more out of the suits. In the US, effects artist such as Steve Wang, Rick Baker, Stan Winston, and a handful of others still do traditional techniques and treat the style as an art form, dedicating themselves to detail and precise realism for the suits. It was used on the tv sitcom Dinosaurs.
