Corridor Crew dives into the production behind the third-act T-Rex set piece inThe Lost World: Jurassic Park, explaining how it exemplifies some of the best visual effects work that the 1990s had to offer.The 1997 sequel to Steven Spielberg’s monumentalJurassic Parksaw Jeff Goldblum’s Dr. Ian Malcolm recruitedto prevent a new batch of cloned dinosaurs at the Isla Sorna facility from being brought to the mainland by eager InGen executives. While it was a financial success,The Lost World: Jurassic Parkmoviewas a divisive sequel whose characters couldn’t live up to its impressive effects.
AsCorridor Crewturned their focus toThe Lost World: Jurassic Parkin the latest installment of theirVFX Artists React To…series, the movie’s climactic T-Rex rampage through the streets of San Francisco was broken down. They highlighted surprising digital items that seamlessly blended with the practical effects, the carefully composed creature effects' interactions with the physical environment, which were carefully timed to move alongside the digital creation, andexplained how careful planning helped the VFX stand toe-to-toe with modern movies. Check out their comments below:
When we say that VFX were better in the ’90s, this is an example of what we’re talking about. It’s not that the effects were better, it’s the mindset behind them were so much more integrated into everything. They were so much more planned out, like, you’re saying it’s like this whole shot was planned out exactly to all these different things happening, and they just got to add in the dino.
What This Means For The Jurassic Park Franchise
The Franchise Has Tried To Maintain A Consistent Look
With the franchise still ongoing to this day,theJurassic Parkserieshas both taken advantage of the latest technological developments available, while also becoming guilty of committing several of the major criticisms modern VFX has become accustomed to. After the franchise’s return with 2015’sJurassic World, the movie was finally able to visualize a functioning, somewhat successful park, with later movies further showing dinosaurs spread into other major modern settings. To create the creatures of the later film,a mix of practical and digital effects was used, though there was a greater emphasis on the latter.
Complete Jurassic Park & World Timeline Explained
Starting 65-million years ago, the timeline of Jurassic Park and Jurassic World spans 29 years and includes 6 movies and Netflix’s Camp Cretaceous.
Whilethe ratio between animatronic puppetry and digital dinosaurs has fluctuated between films, it can be argued that the franchise has been consistent in its methods over recent installments for the most part. Despite this, several VFX supervisors from ILM have opened up about the challenges this has brought, with David Vickery stating that quicker productions and faster sequences were hampering the careful work in ways that opposed the preferred way of handling VFX. As such,the upcomingJurassic World Rebirthhas been heralded as a return to past productions' methodologies.
Will Jurassic World Rebirth Return To The Lost World’s VFX Supremacy?
Why There’s Reason To Be Optimistic
As seen in the chart below,Jurassic World Dominionreviewswere generally poor from critics, with the film criticized for its messy storytelling and its failure to really explore one of the most interesting parts of theJurassic Worldpremise: humans and dinosaurs living side-by-side. The sixth film in the saga was still a massive financial hit, grossing just over $1 billion worldwide, but it certainly raised questions about the franchise’s future. Thankfully,Jurassic World Rebirthlooks to be in good hands.
91%
53%
52%
49%
37%
72%
78%
47%
48%
29%
77%
Gareth Edwards helms the upcomingJurassicmovie, and he has a great deal of VFX experience. In fact,Edwards got his start as a VFX artist, and he did the visual effects for his debut feature film,Monsters(2010). He has since directed movies likeGodzilla(2014),Rogue One: A Star Wars Story(2016), andThe Creator(2023), all of which were hailed for their impressive effects.The Creatorwas also made on a relatively modest budget of $80 million, pulling off a level of quality and quantity with its VFX shots normally reserved for much higher budget levels.
Jurassic World Rebirthtrailers have teased a return to the franchise’s roots, with key creatives citing a desire to recapture the magic of the original Spielberg movie. With David Koepp returning to write the script after penning the first two installments,the ingredients are certainly in place forJurassic World Rebirthto right the franchise’s ship, so to speak, after theJurassic World Dominionendingwhen it comes to both story and effects.
In an interview withEmpire, Edwards says ofJurassic World Rebirth: “It goes back to what I loved about the original, with an embarrassment of riches of different set-piece-type scenarios and tense, fun action moments.”
Our Take On The Lost World: Jurassic Park’s VFX Legacy
The State Of The VFX Industry Has Become A Much-Discussed Topic
Though developments such as the Volume used by many Disney productions have offered new VFX work opportunities,audiences have also more heavily scrutinized certain productions for their rushed VFX. As such, certain viewers have had a renewed interest in past movies, and have often shared Corridor Crew’s perspective. As moviegoers and experts online celebrate the best VFX has to offer in both contemporary releases and past releases such asThe Lost World: Jurassic Park, it is certain that companies are listening to see what audiences prefer.
One of the key problems with modern visual effects is not that artists are becoming less talented or lazier, but just that VFX houses are given less time to accomplish their shots. Some filmmakers, too, don’t have a clear idea of how to shoot to accommodate for VFX work in post-production, speaking to just how crucial it is to have a VFX supervisor’s perspective on set.The Lost World: Jurassic Parkmay be close to 30 years old, but it remains a testament to what can be accomplished when a visionary director knows how to blend visual and practical effects.
