Audio Portrait of a Student Worker

Relationships between Shots

            The editing of the final battle scene in the Japanese film King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) makes a remarkably significant contribution to the storytelling of the film, despite the campy feel of the movie. The scene opens with a long shot of what are evidently two puppets of the titular characters grappling before quickly cutting to an extreme long shot of a Japanese castle, immediately followed by an alternate angle of the same building where the monsters can be seen fighting in the background, and lastly cutting to another shot of the puppets. The next sequence juxtaposes another long shot of the monster battle heading closer to the building between two shots of the various human characters in the story. The order of these shots, along with the increasing tempo of the music track, builds tension that foreshadows the inevitable destruction of the castle.

            One can almost forget about the castle as the camera cuts back and forth from Godzilla to King Kong as they fight until the shot where Godzilla is standing right next to it, keeping Kong at bay with his atomic breath. The shots of the castle being destroyed by the monsters is also very impressive as the medium shot of the two tearing it apart neatly follows through with the close-up of the building as it crumbles. The cuts with the close-ups of each monster destroying the castle are a bit sloppier and rather humorous, since the building is not even visible in these shots, but the last few shots make up for it. The cuts of the two falling off the cliff, rolling down it, and hitting the water as the music fades out work together to signal the end of the battle. Even in a movie as ridiculous as this one, the order of the shots in accordance with the soundtrack and the transitions from image to image can do wonders to the storytelling of a piece.

King Kong vs. Godzilla - Ending (Mono Mix) by SpaceHunterM