undead brainspasm: Update: Imagining the Monster

As a quick update on The Man Who Summons Kaiju [aka Kaijû wo yobu otoko] (Japan-2010; dir. Daisuke Andô) -- the 25-minute kaiju short film made for NHK television in Japan and soon to be broadcast there -- we have some conceptual drawings of the monster itself... and this, the first released shot of the actual monster from the film, as he drags his tail through the sand on his way back out to sea:

One of the interesting things about these conceptual drawings is that they not only give us a view of the kaiju as it will appear in the film, but are actual props from the film -- drawings made by the young filmmaker whose obsession with making a giant monster film manages to awaken a long-dormant "sacred monster" from the Yayoi period of Japanese history (c. 300 BC–300 AD).

This following image looks like it may be part of the film's actual storyboard. At any rate, it's a scene I want to see in all its glorious live-action spectacle!

In related news, apparently the SFX for The Man Who Summons Kaiju are being handled by Kiyotaka Taguchi, who did assistant digital FX work on Gojira, Mosura, Kingu Gidora: Daikaiju soukougeki [aka Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack] (Japan-2001; dir. Shusuke Kaneko), and built miniatures and set-dressed for Gojira tai Mosura tai Mekagojira: Tôkyô S.O.S. [aka Godzilla, Mothra, Mechagodzilla: Tokyo SOS] (Japan-2003, dir. Masaaki Tezuka) and Gojira: Fainaru uozu [aka Godzilla: Final Wars] (2004; dir. Ryuhei Kitamura). He also directed the short kaijiu films G (2008) and Chohatsu Daikaiju Gehara [Long-haired Giant Monster Gehara; Geharha, The Dark and Long-Haired Monster] (2009), as well as episodes of the kaiju TV series MM9. His 2D digital FX work appears in films as diverse as The Grudge 2, The iDol, Battle Royale II, the Sinking of Japan remake, Monkey Magic, the American remake of the Thai ghost film Shutter and the 20th Century Boys trilogy. Such an impressive resumé bodes well for The Man Who Summons Kaiju's monster!

Below Taguchi is at work on some very miniature miniatures for The Man Who Summons Kaiju -- with the monster artfully blocked from view: