Prop Agenda: It’s hard to believe Jurassic Park came out 20 years ago this June. I remember lining up with my dad and brother to see the very first showing in our area when it debuted. I think it was around noon (I don’t think we had midnight premieres in those days). Now, you can catch the film again, this time in 3D.
While many of us remember Jurassic Park as a watershed moment in digital special effects, it’s worth pointing out that the animatronics used in the film were groundbreaking as well. Stan Winston Studios built essentially a full-size Tyrannosaurus Rex puppet controlled with hydraulics, which was virtually unheard of at the time (and has rarely been attempted since).
3 comments:
This is one of the coolest movie props I have every seen. I have seen Jurassic Park countless times, and every time I can't believe how complicated the T-Rex was for the time at which the movie came out. The prop itself is huge, and the technology they were using was first-rate in the early nineties. If the T-Rex were to be built today, I can see it being built in much the same way as it was back then. Seeing this video and how the T-Rex moved in reality, I'm extremely impressed with how realistic the movie was able to make the dinosaur seem in post-production. The robot was a little jerky and a little slow, but in the movie it was smooth and fast-moving. I would be very interested to see how that was handled in the post-production phase of the movie.
I always love looking at behind the scenes articles for movies that came out a few decades ago, when a majority of special effects were miniatures and full scale mechanicals. For movies today, it is pretty obvious that most visual effects are done using computers. It's not that this isn't interesting, but it's basically the same for every film. As Jess said, it's really amazing how much better the animatronic appeared on film than in real life. It's watching things like this that make me feel that movies may have lost some of their magic.
I've gained such a greater appreciation for this film after seeing these making of clips. Unfortunately I have not been able to see it in 3-D yet but after watching it on tv last week I'm almost afraid to do so, I'm afraid that the movie I grew up loving will be ruined. This is partly based on the fact that I haven't entirely bought into the concept yet. But back to third clip for a minute, I was really surprised to learn that they chose to fabricate the frame from steel, but it makes sense all the same. And the amount of pressure and fluid to get the T-Rex moving desirably is pretty astounding.
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