Gojipedia:Media

As with any other wiki, media is the very thing to make a page presentable and interesting to look at. It allows us to present a topic in not only a text format, but also visual. Explaining what Godzilla's atomic breath looks like in a certain continuity is one thing, but being able to show its destructive power only serves to amplify the point.

The same applies to sounds created by the monsters, such as snarls and roars. Roars can be written in text format, or described, but being able to hear them is an entirely different matter.

However, as we don't own the specific rights to the images and audio we use, we must take precautions to avoid copyright infringement, while using these pieces of media in a way that qualifies as fair use.

Images
Images from other sites are allowed to be uploaded. However, with that comes a risk: watermarks. While watermarks are a natural process in image uploading with regards to other sites, especially gaming sites, one should strive to upload or find an image without a watermark. In the event that's impossible, taking an image yourself is also a possibility.

This is overridden in the event said watermarks happen to belong to the official copyright holders of whatever piece of media's relevant in the discussion. A Shin Godzilla image possessing a Toho Company Ltd. can be utilized on the wiki. The same logic goes for Legendary Pictures and any content they may put out.

Images should also be in the highest quality that they're available in by default. For example, screenshots and images taken from the 2014 Godzilla film should be in 1080p at the least. In addition, due to how movies are shot, many screenshots by default will be left with black bars located on the top and bottom of the screenshot. These are to be edited out, and the image should be saved in a .png format.

File naming is also a must. Most images should now follow the standard of...

Media name - Character/Creature/Trailer name - File number.png Which can be seen here. Godzilla (2014 film) - Asia Trailer - 00022.png

If you're uploading an image of a monster for an article, be sure that the image isn't a facial close up shot. The image should present a large part of the body, if not the entirety of it. Due to how wide a variety of kaiju are present within the Godzilla franchise alone, we have no current standard for image size. As long as the image properly shows the creature, it can be utilized.

Be sure images lack motion blur, artifacting, or distractions (such as other kaiju if you're focusing on one) before you upload them to the site. Images should be of a consistent resolution which is dependent on the piece of media and its time of release.

'''Note: Unless .gifs are being used to amplify a point, such as Godzilla's atomic breath, never use them in mainline articles, or galleries. They're generally unprofessional and thus unacceptable.'''

Image taking
Image taking in most cases isn't a hard process, but there's a certain surefire way to get properly scaled and rendered images for articles through the use of VLC.

VLC allows for frame by frame playthroughs of videos, screenshotting in the video file's native resolution, even if your monitor resolution is smaller than it, and also allows for automatic file naming, allowing for ease of use in image taking and uploading.

This program is free to use and is much more reliable than screencaptures taken from Youtube for example, which can suffer from compression, artifacting and other miscellaneous factors that VLC image captures don't suffer from.

Image uploading and re-uploading
Uploading an image is as easy as using Special:Upload, inputting your file name, and uploading. When using this, be sure to input the proper licensing for the image.

Re-uploading an image is also an alternative solution if you find an image that's low quality, and wish to replace it. This is better than outright deleting the prior image, and can be done by finding the "Upload a new version of this file" option located on the file's page.

Image licensing
With regards to images present on the wiki, all must be licensed, and categorized. Images taken from films produced by Toho for example use a tag. A list of copyright tags can be found here.

Image categorizing
We follow a rather simple categorization process at this wiki. As with regular page categories, images should be categorized for organization purposes and for the sake of being easy to locate. An image of the Shin Godzilla Godzilla incarnation would go under the category Category:Shin Godzilla: Kaiju images. The categories for images from this film would be gathered underneath the general Category:Shin Godzilla: Images hub category. No images from the film should be listed under this category, as this just serves as a hub for categories.

Audio
Audio on the wiki is limited to a few areas, mainly pertaining to creature audio. Audio should be uploaded in the format .ogg. Youtube videos containing audio are allowed to be used, however, this is generally limited to the wiki specific Youtube account, which will upload audio for the wiki in video format.

Rules against audio upload include prohibiting the uploads of full songs in any format. Audio samples that have been cropped for the sake of purchase previews can be used as long as the article it's placed in utilize them in a way that pushes or proves a point, be it about composition, lyricism, or any other educational purpose. Reiterating, full musical uploads are not allowed, as they go against fair use policies.

The uploads shouldn't be able to replace an official piece of media that can be purchased.

.Ogg files are generally uploaded into infoboxes, with the general format being presented below, whereas Youtube videos for creature audio are uploaded under a dedicated section of the article known as "Roar". They follow the same gallery format as image galleries.

.Ogg files: Video files:

Audio licensing
Audio licensing follows much the same format as image licensing. A simple tag is placed on the piece of audio.

Videos
Videos follow a relatively simple guideline for being uploaded and used. They must be uploaded by the copyright holder or any other official licensee before being put on articles. This includes Youtube channels and websites specifically granted these videos for whatever reason.

Videos can be uploaded and placed on a user's profile, however, there shouldn't be a spam of videos. Profiles aren't places to advertise Youtube channels, or anything. Thus, there's a limit of 3 videos that are able to be uploaded to user profiles.

Videos that aren't used frequently or only appear on forums will end up being deleted after their relevance fades.