Computer Graphics World

Edition 3

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e d i t i o n 3 , 2 0 1 8 | c g w 4 5 J U R A S S I C E V O L U T I O N : 2 0 1 8 he first Jurassic Park marked a turning point for computer graphics and a near career-end- ing wake-up call for puppet masters who had, until that film, provided and performed animatronics for creatures in most feature films. But in Jurassic Park, audiences saw a dinosaur move freely within a natural landscape for the first time. It was a gentle Brachiosaurus, the first dinosaur that Dr. Grant (Sam Neill) and Dr. Sattler (Laura Dern) saw when they arrived to check out the park. The characters in the film were awestruck when the Brachiosaurus reached a tall tree and stretched her long neck up to munch the leaves. Dinosaur fans must have been, too. Artists at Industrial Light & Magic had created CG dinosaurs for that film aer proving to Director Steven Spielberg that the digital beasts were believable. Twen- ty-five years later, they're still creating Jurassic dinosaurs – more CG dinosaurs than before. ILM has been the lead visual effects vendor for all the Jurassic films in the franchise, including the latest – Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Directed by J.A. Bayona, Universal Pic- tures' fih film in the franchise stars Bryce Dallas Howard as the Dinosaur Protection Group's leader Claire Dearing, Chris Pratt as animal trainer Owen Grady, and James Cromwell as Benjamin Lockwood, the for- mer partner of John Hammond in InGen, the company that had originally cloned the dinosaurs. When Fallen Kingdom begins, the dino- saurs have been le to their own devices for two years aer the theme park on Isla Nublar was destroyed in the fourth film, Jurassic World. Now, a volcano is about to erupt on the island. So, Lockwood sends Claire and Owen on a rescue mission. Aer arriving on the island, in a scene reminiscent of that first dinosaur spotting in Jurassic Park, Claire and Owen see a Bra- chiosaurus, one of many dinosaurs that did just fine without human intervention. But not for long. If a volcano erupting on their idyllic island weren't enough, unbeknownst to Lockwood, Claire, and Owen, the rescue crew has ulterior motives. They transport the dinosaurs to cages inside Lockwood's mansion in Northern California to be sold to the highest bidder. All the dinosaurs except Blue, the Velociraptor Owen had trained in Jurassic World. The profiteers have other plans for Blue. ILM's David Vickery was the overall visual effects supervisor on Fallen King- dom. Artists at ILM's studios in London, Vancouver, and San Francisco did the bulk of the work on the film, with subcontrac- tors ILP, El Ranchito, Scanline, and Image Engine pitching in. NVisible handled on-set graphics and helped in post, as well. The filmmakers shot Fallen Kingdom in Hawaii, at Pinewood Studios in the UK, and in other UK locations. Creature effects artist Neal Scanlan's team created and per- formed animatronics for the film. We've come full circle. "It was really important for J.A. to have lots of animatronics," Vickery says. "There's a lot of nostalgia around animatronics and the way you remember films that feature animatronics. Jurassic Park was a huge part of J.A.'s life as a teenager and as a film- maker. So, Colin and J.A. wrote scenes into Fallen Kingdom to feature animatronics and show them at their best." Animatronic Hybrids Scanlan's team built full-size animatron- ics for the T. rex, Blue, and baby Blue, an- imatronic parts of a new hybrid dinosaur called an Indoraptor, and busts for several other dinosaurs. "Neal and I sat down early on to figure out how to work together and bring our strengths to the table," Vickery says. T Images ©2018 Universal Studios and Amblin Entertainment and Legendary Pictures Productions LLC.

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