‘Jurassic Park’ Behind-the-Scenes: 1 Part of the Brachiosaurus Puppet Was Over 7 Feet Tall
Jurassic Park broke ground for a lot of movies to come. When the show hit theaters, fans everywhere were stunned at the imagination and creativity that went into the movie besides its storyline. Fans loved how the movie could transport them back to 65 million years ago when dinosaurs existed.
While the movie’s visuals are something to behold, a lot of work went into creating the huge puppets to appear as realistic as possible on television. One part of the Brachiosaurus was reportedly over 7 feet tall.
The premise of Jurassic Park
After a dinosaur handler in Jurassic Park is killed, a team of investors heads on to the fictional island of Isla Nublar to investigate what happened and to certify the park’s safety.
The park belongs to industrialist John Hammond. Lawyer David Gennaro brings chaos theorist and mathematician Ian Malcolm to the team, while Hammond invites Drs. Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler, a paleontologist and paleobotanist.
When the team arrives, they meet a live Brachiosaurus. The team then learns that the scientist at Jurassic Park managed to clone the dinosaurs by extracting dinosaur DNA from mosquitoes. The DNA was preserved in amber, and DNA from frogs was used to seal any gaps in the genome.
The scientists then ensured that all the dinosaurs were created as females so that no breeding would take place. The team then discusses the ethics of cloning, and Malcolm warns the team about the consequences of genetic engineering.
Meanwhile, the park’s computer programmer Denis Nedry plans to steal a fertilized dinosaur embryo after receiving a bribe from a corporate rival of Hammond’s company. He deactivates the security systems to enter the embryo storage room and places the embryo inside a container made to look like a shaving cream can.
His sabotage ended up disabling almost everything in the park, including the fences and the electric vehicles. A Tyrannosaurus rex escapes and attacks the team injuring Malcolm. Nedry gets lost in the rain and crashes his car and a Dilophosaurus ends up killing him.
Artists had to get into character to make the dinosaurs look realistic
Many moving parts go into movie production, especially where there is a lot of CGI in use. Artists and actors usually have to do extra work to ensure that they bring out the most realistic performances of what they are trying to portray.
For Jurassic Park, the digital artists recorded themselves, acting like a herd of Gallimimus. The video was then used for reference when carving out the animal’s body and movements. They used it to animate the iconic stampede scene, which helped them enact a realistic instinctive behavior.
Artist Stan Winston and his crew made raptor suits and got into them to get a clear visual of the animals’ movements. All of the dinosaurs on Jurassic Park are featured for only six minutes. The number of dinosaur effects shots make up a mere 14 minutes in the 2 hours 7 minutes film.
The ‘Jurassic Park’ Brachiosaurus puppet was over 7 feet tall
The average Brachiosaurus was estimated to be 23 meters long and 29 feet tall. Its height and length were supposed to be akin to that of a four-story building. When the digital team created puppets for the Brachiosaurus in Jurassic Park, they went to great lengths to ensure that they got every detail correct, including its long neck.
According to Mental Floss, the filmmakers created the exoskeleton and would operate the dinosaur robots. Most of the creations involved the puppet’s upper half, and the other half would be added using CGI. As for the Brachiosaurus, the digital artists created a 7.5-foot-tall puppet of the animal’s head and neck.
