Special Effects
Ashley Freer
When they shot this scene they did it on a sound stage in California so that they could control the animatronics of the dinosaur. They also wanted to make sure that the interactions with the breaking of the fence and the tearing of the car was as real as possible. The special effects team went over how the fence would rip if a dinosaur had actually bit down on it.
Fun Fact:
The full-sized animatron of the T-Rex weighed about 13,000 to 15,000 pounds. During the shooting of the initial T-Rex attack scene in the downpour, the latex that covered the T-Rex puppet absorbed great amounts of water, making it much heavier and harder to control. Technicians worked throughout the night with blow driers trying to dry the latex out. Eventually, they suspended a platform above the T-Rex, out of camera range, to keep the water off the dinosaur during filming.
Director of Photography
Kreigh Carter
Dean Cundy was the Director of Photography for Jurassic Park. He was DP for some other movies such as Halloween, Back to the Future, Honey we Shrunk Ourselves, and the fog. He has done many movies but it looks like horror movies are his forte.
Now to talk about some of the cinematic elements put together in this scene. The scene starts out with the kids in the car with Donald the lawyer. There is a shot where you see the lawyer looking in the rear mirror and you can see if shake as the dinosaur walks up. This shot was inspired when Spielberg was driving up to the studio. There was a song playing loudly and it had a lot of bass and shook the mirror. He thought that would be a great insert shot for the movie when the TRex walks up.
There is a nice POV shot where the audience is put in the head of the little boy with the night vision goggles as he tries to find out where the tied up goat went.
Next shot that I found interesting is the camera starts from inside the car showing where the goat used to be, then it the camera with use of a jib or crane it moves up and sees the bloody goat leg that is on the top of the car, and then it moves to its last position above the car and we see the TRex for the first time as he swallows up the last bit of the goat. I found this interesting because with one camera movement they showed where the goat started, where its leg ended up, and where the rest of it went.
Next interesting shot that I like was we are in the car with the girl. She is trying to turn off the light but it is shining outside of the car. The TRex moves down into frame and light hits it right in the eye. The TRexes head fills about seventyfive percent of the frame and we see its eye dilate when it hits the beam of light. This was a great use of lighting and composing the frame just right to bring the fear the kids were feeling to the audience.
This movie accomplished many things in the way of cinematography and this scene in particular was very innovative for its time.
Now to talk about some of the cinematic elements put together in this scene. The scene starts out with the kids in the car with Donald the lawyer. There is a shot where you see the lawyer looking in the rear mirror and you can see if shake as the dinosaur walks up. This shot was inspired when Spielberg was driving up to the studio. There was a song playing loudly and it had a lot of bass and shook the mirror. He thought that would be a great insert shot for the movie when the TRex walks up.
There is a nice POV shot where the audience is put in the head of the little boy with the night vision goggles as he tries to find out where the tied up goat went.
Next shot that I found interesting is the camera starts from inside the car showing where the goat used to be, then it the camera with use of a jib or crane it moves up and sees the bloody goat leg that is on the top of the car, and then it moves to its last position above the car and we see the TRex for the first time as he swallows up the last bit of the goat. I found this interesting because with one camera movement they showed where the goat started, where its leg ended up, and where the rest of it went.
Next interesting shot that I like was we are in the car with the girl. She is trying to turn off the light but it is shining outside of the car. The TRex moves down into frame and light hits it right in the eye. The TRexes head fills about seventyfive percent of the frame and we see its eye dilate when it hits the beam of light. This was a great use of lighting and composing the frame just right to bring the fear the kids were feeling to the audience.
This movie accomplished many things in the way of cinematography and this scene in particular was very innovative for its time.
Set Designer
Todd Miller
The set designer on a film is responsible for taking the production designer's vision and creating it in real life as a set. The set designer works under the art director to accomplish this. The set is extremely important in film-making because it shows the environment where the scene takes place. The majority of movie scenes are shot somewhere other than where the audience is told the scene is taking place. This makes the set designer's job both very difficult and very important.
John Berger, Masako Masuda, and Lauren Polizzi are the three set designers credited for 'Jurassic Park.' Berger is also known for his work on 'The Hunger Games' and 'Transformers.' Masako has worked as a set designer on such films as 'X-Men: First Class,' 'Eagle Eye,' and 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.' Polizzi was a set designer on blockbusters 'Independence Day' and 'Forrest Gump' along with many other films. All three of these set designers brought experience to 'Jurassic Park' in creating sets of places that don't actually exist; they were not recreating a physical location. This would prove useful for designing sets for 'Jurassic Park.'
Our chosen scene from 'Jurassic Park' is made to look like it takes place outdoors, however, everything is shot inside a studio on a set. The film is set on a far-off, made-up island, Isla Nublar, and much of the film was shot using Hawaii as a stand-in for the island. This scene on the T-Rex paddock, however, isn't shot anywhere Hawaii, it is shot at the Warner Brother's Studio in California on a huge sound-stage. This was necessary in order to control the elements (in this case, rain) and protect the very expensive equipment being used in the shot such as the animatronic T-Rex.
This scene was probably intended to be the feature scene for the movie. It is remembered as one of the more memorable scenes of 'Jurassic Park' so it needed to be well executed. Fear and suspense were the primary communicative objectives that the film-makers were looking to create in this scene and the set designers were among those tasked with creating those emotions in the audience. The darkness and the rain contribute to the feelings of fear or uneasiness as well as the snapped electric fence lines that are hanging in a jumbled mess and the squelching mud. The audience's lack of ability to see very far into the distance keeps their attention on the events of the scene and adds to the suffocating sensation and the feeling of being trapped with the T-Rex.
Set designers play a crucial role in film work and their work often goes unnoticed and that is really the way it should be. A film with a good set designer should appear like a film that had no set designer at all. If the audience can tell that a set designer has been working on the scene they're watching, that set designer has failed.
John Berger, Masako Masuda, and Lauren Polizzi are the three set designers credited for 'Jurassic Park.' Berger is also known for his work on 'The Hunger Games' and 'Transformers.' Masako has worked as a set designer on such films as 'X-Men: First Class,' 'Eagle Eye,' and 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.' Polizzi was a set designer on blockbusters 'Independence Day' and 'Forrest Gump' along with many other films. All three of these set designers brought experience to 'Jurassic Park' in creating sets of places that don't actually exist; they were not recreating a physical location. This would prove useful for designing sets for 'Jurassic Park.'
This scene was probably intended to be the feature scene for the movie. It is remembered as one of the more memorable scenes of 'Jurassic Park' so it needed to be well executed. Fear and suspense were the primary communicative objectives that the film-makers were looking to create in this scene and the set designers were among those tasked with creating those emotions in the audience. The darkness and the rain contribute to the feelings of fear or uneasiness as well as the snapped electric fence lines that are hanging in a jumbled mess and the squelching mud. The audience's lack of ability to see very far into the distance keeps their attention on the events of the scene and adds to the suffocating sensation and the feeling of being trapped with the T-Rex.
Set designers play a crucial role in film work and their work often goes unnoticed and that is really the way it should be. A film with a good set designer should appear like a film that had no set designer at all. If the audience can tell that a set designer has been working on the scene they're watching, that set designer has failed.
Production Designer
Ryan Forsey
A production designer is the person responsible for the overall look and feel of the respective film, TV show, video game, music video, or commercial advertisement he or she is working on. The production designer works with director and director of photography to select the settings and location to establish a look and specific aesthetic style to visually tell the story. The term "production designer" was coined by David O. Selznick in reference to William Cameron Menzies as art director while working on Gone with the Wind.
The production designer guides key staff in other departments such as the costume design, hair and make-up, special effects and locations to create and maintain a unified visual appearance to the project, in this case: Jurassic Park.
One of the most difficult tasks of a production designer/art director in the production of a film, is to visually communicate, stimulate moods, contrast features, and psychologically appeal to the viewing audience.
A large part of the production designer/art director is done in pre-production. When brainstorming ideas, discussing particular shots, logistics, potential obstacles to overcome and finally staffing. In short the production designer is in charge of everything visual for a film.
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| Production Designer - Rick Carter |
One of the most difficult tasks of a production designer/art director in the production of a film, is to visually communicate, stimulate moods, contrast features, and psychologically appeal to the viewing audience.
A large part of the production designer/art director is done in pre-production. When brainstorming ideas, discussing particular shots, logistics, potential obstacles to overcome and finally staffing. In short the production designer is in charge of everything visual for a film.
Rick Carter is referred to as one of the best production designers in the history of cinema. He not only worked on Jurassic Park but also on Back to the Future II & III, Forrest Gump, War of the Worlds, Avatar, War Horse, and Lincoln. Winning Oscars for both Avatar and Lincoln and being nominated for Forrest Gump andWar Horse. He is the leading expert when it comes to production design on what he refers to as "hybrid" movies. Those movies which not only use a great deal of physical effects, sets and locations, but also rely heavily on that of life like computer generated effects. Thus combining the two aesthetics to form a consistantly compelling and believable production design for the duration of the film.
Go to 20:08 "Production" to hear Rick Carter talking on the location shoot in Hawaii.
What was the most difficult part of making Jurassic Park? Go to 25:40 to fine out!
