Keiichi Sakurai

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Keiichi Sakurai
Keiichi Sakurai circa 2014
Born 1950
Kagoshima, Japan[1]
Occupation Cinematographer
First work Zone Fighter (TV 1973)[1][2]
Notable work Shin Godzilla (2016)
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I actually entered Toho Studios in order to create Godzilla movies. This was the whole reason why I joined the company. Back then we had a specialized special effects cinematography team that worked just on these type of movies and at one point that team kind of fell apart, it went away. I am the last special effects cinematographer for Toho Studios.
„ 

— Keiichi Sakurai, paraphrased from an interview with Famous Monsters TV

Keiichi Sakurai (桜井 景一,   Sakurai Keiichi) is a Japanese cinematographer. A lifelong fan of tokusatsu, he entered the genre as an assistant on the 1973 television series Zone Fighter, and was initially tasked with disguising the piano wires used to hold up scale models.[2][1] He joined Toho Eizo thereafter and participated in several of the company's subsequent special effects productions, including 1974's Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, for which he was a member of both the drama and effects crews.[1] In the 1990s, Sakurai served as a tertiary cameraman on three of the Heisei Godzilla films[2] before finally receiving billing as a cinematographer on Rebirth of Mothra 3. Sakurai has continued to shoot special effects for films and TV, and is a frequent collaborator of Shinji Higuchi.

Selected filmography

Assistant special effects cinematographer

Cinematographer

Special effects cinematographer

Associate cinematographer

Trivia[2]

  • Sakurai considers Submersion of Japan to be his favorite film that he worked on, and Super Fleet Sazer-X the Movie to be his best work as a cameraman.
  • Sakurai saw his first tokusatsu movie, 1957's The Mysterians, while in the first grade. The first Godzilla movie he saw was 1962's King Kong vs. Godzilla.
    • He would later credit The Mysterians with sparking his interest in tokusatsu, and motivating him to pursue a career in it. The movie was similarly influential for special effects director Koichi Kawakita.
    • Sakurai was initially disappointed with Godzilla's "cute" appearance in Godzilla vs. Megalon, as his perception of the character had been shaped by the "scary-looking" suit from King Kong vs. Godzilla.
  • While in high school, Sakurai wrote a letter to prolific effects director Eiji Tsuburaya asking for help getting into making kaiju movies, and received a response advising him to first attend university.

External links

Notes

  1. Also an assistant on the drama unit.[1][2]

References

This is a list of references for Keiichi Sakurai. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Nakamura et al. 2014, p. 90
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Homenick, Brett (8 October 2023). "GODZILLA IN FOCUS! Tokusatsu Cinematographer Keiichi Sakurai on Toho's Biggest Kaiju Movies!". Vantage Point Interviews. Translated by Harada, Maho.
  3. "日本沈没" [Submersion of Japan]. Toho Reference Room. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  4. "ノストラダムスの大予言" [Prophecies of Nostradamus]. Toho Reference Room. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  5. "惑星大戦争" [The War in Space]. Toho Reference Room. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  6. "地震列島" [Magnitude 7.9]. Toho Reference Room. Retrieved 19 November 2022.

Bibliography

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