King of the Monsters

Austin-Alex Bennett Galvera Costume

“In the Spring of 2015, my brother Alex and I started working on a senior thesis film during our last semester of college. Called “Sayonara, Galvera!”, the short follows one of the last suitmation actors who loses his job and his dream of becoming the next puppeteer of a Godzilla-esque monster named Galvera to the rising tide of computer-generated special effects. We knew that in addition to telling the story of these actors that we wanted to create a pair of giant monster suits and stage our own Kaiju showdown. So we set out scouring the net for inspiration and resources, including this site, to help us along this long journey.

This is the making of our love letter to Godzilla and the men who brought him to life.”

— Austin Bennett

How the Costume Was Built

Within each image gallery you’ll see how the costume was built. Choose a gallery and click the image thumbnail for the larger view. Below the large image you will see the description… we hope you enjoy!

Planning Body Head Legs Hands/Arms Dorsal Plates Tail Texture Painting

Galvera Sketches

Cardboard Foam Template

Cardboard Foam Template 2

Muscle Sketches

Foam Under-Suit

Foam Under-Suit 2

Test Fitting Arms and Torso

Test Fitting Arms and Torso 2

Cylindrical Neck

Basic Shapes Combined

Heavy Helmet Frame

AustinBennett_Godzilla_Body_15

Dad Cutting Metal Frame

Riveting Metal Frame

Test Fit Metal Frame

Cutting the Mold

Glued Teeth to Frame

Adding Facial Pieces Side

Adding Facial Pieces Front

Decisions Decisions

Decisions Decisions 2

Decisions Decisions 3

Galvera hasn’t been skipping leg day!

Adding Extra Material

Digitigrade Leg

Sketching Musculature

Cylinders Circumferences

Creating Dorsal Plates

Mapping Locations

Standing Tall 2

Scissor Detailing 1

Scissor Detailing 2

Scissor Detailing 3

Scissor Detailing 4

Scissor Detailing 5

Lightning Bolt Groove

Texturing Almost Complete

Progress Inspires

Progress Inspires 2

RD 407 Mask Latex by Monster Makers

Water and Glue Layer

Lightning Bolt Design

Lightning Bolt Design 2

Lightning Bolt Design 3

Ready for My Close Up

video

Lights, Camera, Action!

Here is a quick video showing the team filming a scene in a conference room where he isn’t too impressed with the presentation.

finished costume

Previous

Next

Links

Contact

Have you already completed your own Godzilla costume and want to feature it here? Then by all means contact me and we'll work together to add your costuming experience to this site.