compete with Godzilla. Yuasa took courses in special effects filmmaking and directed some of the film's effects in cooperation with Tsukiji. The script was still incomplete when the order was given to create the Gamera suit. Tsukiji's concept artwork was handed over to art director Akira Inoue and independent consultant Masao Yagi for further sketch designs and clay models. Yagi was assigned to build the suit and enlisted the aide of his father and associates from Toho's art department. The final suit weighed over 60 kilograms and was produced with plaster reinforced by latex. Gamera was portrayed by various "tough" members of Daiei's prop department. The Gamera suit was made to walk on all fours to make filming easier and distinguish it from other upright monster characters. Gamera, the Giant Monster was the only film in the series shot in black-and-white. This was due to the budget being cut by the studio due to low confidence and the cancellation of Nezura. Yuasa stated that the first Gamera film had a budget of about ¥40 million and that the film went "over budget a little bit". Due to the film's low budget and tight schedule, the crew experienced various production issues: outdated equipment, insufficient electrical power to light up a sound stage for special effects filming, and faulty props. The flying Gamera prop burned through several wires it was attached to, causing it to crash. For the Arctic sequences, ice was delivered en masse by three trucks, however, the ice quickly melted and forced filming to be delayed for three days while the flooded set was being dried out. Yuasa received criticism from his own staff and there was consideration of hiring Tsuburaya Productions to complete the film. However, Yuasa refused and was determined to finish the film using Daiei's resources. English versions The film was acquired and heavily altered by Harris Associates, Inc. and World Enterprises Corporation for its American release. Similar to the American release for Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, new footage was produced in New York City featuring American actors. This was done to replace footage from the Japanese version featuring poor performances by expats, poor English delivery by Japanese characters, and to further influence the plot from an American perspective. The American version restored shots deleted from the Japanese version and added an extra "m" to Gamera's name in order to prevent audiences from calling the