Eiji Tsuburaya

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.