Jurassic Park (1993)

Jurassic Park’s revolution came from marrying animatronics and early CGI so each covered the other’s weaknesses. Stan Winston Studio built life‑size, hydraulically articulated dinosaurs, including a 9,000‑pound T. rex with foam‑latex skin over steel vertebrae. Rain scenes became legendary problems: water added weight, jittered sensors, and caused the T. rex to “shiver,” forcing technicians to towel it off between takes. For movement at scale, Phil Tippett’s go‑motion approach—animating physical models—was initially favored, but ILM’s Dennis Muren proved computer animation could deliver convincing mass and skin deformation, thanks to motion studies, muscle rigs, and subsurface shading. The pipeline emerged on the fly: animators referenced ostriches and elephants, matched real camera lenses with virtual ones, and composited CG into live plates using film‑grain patches so pixels sat in the emulsion. Foley artists layered wet chamois, tiger growls, and baby elephant squeals to create dinosaur voices that felt animal yet novel. Spielberg designed suspense through blocking and sound—notice how the first T. rex reveal withholds a musical cue, letting thunder and metal groans drive dread. Practical inserts—feet crushing mud, tails against cars—were prioritized so audiences had tactile anchors before any CG wide shot. That blend let 63 visual‑effects shots feel monumental, not synthetic. The industry learned the lesson: use physical footage to sell scale, then deploy CG sparingly to extend the impossible. Three decades later, those choices still read as real.https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Aimpawards.com%20%22Jurassic%20Park%20%281993%29%22%20poster&tbm=isch