Jurassic Park Dinosaur Effects Hold Up 30 Years Later

Special effects are instrumental in the success of a big budget movie. They are the driving force in action/fantasy/science fiction movies where people interact with things only thought possible in the imagination. The problem, however, is that special effects that are cutting edge now can look dated in the future. But, some movies found the perfect recipe to make long lasting effects that continue to captivate viewers – and a good story doesn’t hurt either.

On June 11, 1993, director Steven Spielberg introduced a future classic and box office gold with Jurassic Park. Based on the novel by Michael Crichton, the movie is set at a theme park where real dinosaurs have been recreated through the magic of science. Its owner, industrialist John Hammond, invites paleontologist Alan Grant, paleobotanist Ellie Sattler, and chaotician Ian Malcolm to assess the park, with his grandkids, Lex and Tim, touring as the target audience. Once the visitors are inside the park, things go very, very wrong and the no longer extinct dinosaurs find new prey to hunt.

To bring the dinosaurs to life, Spielberg hired Stan Winston for the animatronics, Dennis Muren from Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) for the digital compositing, Phil Tippett for go motion (a form of stop motion) for long shots, and paleontologist Jack Horner to supervise the designs of the dinosaurs. Winston’s team created the completely detailed models, then complex robotics that were covered in latex skins to give a realistic look at the closeups.

Tippett developed go motion animatics of the tyrannosaurus rex attacking the car and the raptors in the kitchen, but results weren’t up to Spielberg’s standards. To fix the problem, Muren suggested that they could create the dinosaurs in motion using computer generated imagery. As a pitch for the assignment, ILM animators Mark Dippé and Steve Williams developed a walk cycle for the T. rex and were approved to do more work for the movie. Tippett stayed on board to supervise dinosaur movement and consult on anatomy, and his team was retrained to work in computer animation.