The digital dinosaurs had more than one way to arrive
Jurassic Park's dinosaurs came from computers and from puppets. The useful surprise is the balance. Industrial Light & Magic gives the finished film six minutes of computer-generated dinosaurs, cut together with nine minutes of practical creatures. A movie associated with the arrival of digital effects also depended on objects that could occupy the set. The digital dinosaurs represented a leap forward in the use of computers to create images for the screen. Computer graphics were still uncommon in film in the early 1990s, making the move to photorealistic creatures a substantial change.
Steven Spielberg's 1993 film brought together ILM's digital dinosaurs and Stan Winston's practical work. Amblin describes a remote island theme park populated by genetically recreated animals. Once the attractions become a threat, the visitors have a rather pressing reason to stop admiring the facilities. The premise puts the effects to a clear dramatic use: these animals must be impressive enough to attract visitors and convincing enough to frighten them. Amblin says the final approach combined computer imagery with full-scale animatronic creatures from Winston's shop.
The plan changed during development. Amblin says the filmmakers were considering go-motion, a form of stop-motion puppet animation developed at ILM by Phil Tippett in the early 1980s. Dennis Muren showed tests of digital dinosaurs that looked convincing enough to alter the approach. ILM's retrospective says there was less than a year remaining before release when the new plan took shape. The breakthrough came with a deadline attached. The tests mattered because they showed a possible result, rather than merely promising one. ILM credits Steve Williams and Mark Dippe with the demonstration that helped change the plan. The digital dinosaurs were convincing in movement, giving Spielberg something visible on which to base a major production decision.
That change did not make the experienced animators disposable. ILM describes work led by Tom St. Amand to build an articulated model with motion sensors. Movements made through the model could become digital information for the computer creatures. In plain terms, the team found a way for hands accustomed to moving physical models to help move the new ones. St. Amand worked with ILM's machine shop and research and development group. The stop-motion armature carried motion encoders, which were paired with the Tondreau Go-Motion system to translate movements into digital data for the models in Softimage.
ILM's production archive adds another measure of restraint: fewer than sixty shots featured fully computer-generated dinosaurs. It also describes software that allowed more freedom to move the camera while combining digital creatures with filmed backgrounds. That mattered because the animals could belong to a moving scene, rather than making the scene arrange itself around a conspicuous demonstration. Another tool, Viewpaint, let artists paint directly onto models and see the result in context. Surface appearance and movement were both parts of making the digital dinosaurs belong in photographed surroundings. The Dinosaur Input Device was created in collaboration with Phil Tippett, Randal Dutra, Tom St. Amand, and the team at Tippett Studios.
The human story came from Michael Crichton's 1990 novel, adapted by Crichton with David Koepp also working on the screenplay. Amblin names Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, and Richard Attenborough among the cast, and lists wins for visual effects, sound, and sound effects editing. Ariana Richards and Joseph Mazzello also starred, alongside Martin Ferrero, Bob Peck, Wayne Knight, and Samuel L. Jackson. The cast's encounters with the prehistoric predators turn the park's promise of spectacle into a struggle for human survival. ILM also lists the BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects among the film's honors.
The production credits identify Kathleen Kennedy and Gerald R. Molen as producers, Dean Cundey as cinematographer, Rick Carter as production designer, and Michael Kahn as editor. John Williams composed the music. Dennis Muren supervised visual effects, with Mark A.Z. Dippe named as co-visual effects supervisor. ILM's visual effects art director was TyRuben Ellingson, and its visual effects producer was Janet Healy. The production also pioneered film input scanning. Jurassic Park became the first major film to use that commercial animation package.
The film's original 1993 release earned about $357.1 million at the domestic box office. Its success was followed by The Lost World and Jurassic Park III, then the Jurassic World films. Beyond the first movie, the digital dinosaurs also opened possibilities for filmmakers to put realistic animals, fantasy creatures, and digital people into live-action scenes. ILM highlights views of dinosaurs walking through a field and eating leaves from treetops as milestones in effects and filmmaking, scenes in which the computer animals moved freely within photographed surroundings.