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Eiji Tsuburaya (or Eiji Tsubaraya, July 7, 1901 - January 25, 1970) was
responsible for the special effects on many Japanese movies, including the
Godzilla series (1954-??).
He worked as a cinematographer in Kyoto from 1919, joining Shochiku Kyoto
Studios in 1926 as a cameraman. He moved between a number of studios and was
noted for his meticulous work. In 1938 he became head of Special Visual
Techniques at Toho Tokyo Studios. During the war he directed and produced
the special effects for a number of propaganda films, including Kaigun
Bakugeki-tai and Hawai-Marei Oki Kaisen. Post-war he went freelance with his
own production company. In 1954 he worked with Ishiro Honda and Tomoyuki
Tanaka on the first Godzilla (Gojira) film, Tsuburaya won his first Film
Technique Award for his efforts. In 1963 he founded Tsuburaya Productions,
producing the first 'monster' series for television Ultra Q (1966) and
following that with the highly popular Ultraman. He worked on around 250
films in total.
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