Month: December 2016

Jurassic World Sequel director J.A. Bayona today announced on Twitter that Bernat Vilaplana will be the Editor on the upcoming sequel that is scheduled to start filming at the beginning of March. This comes one week after Bayona announced that Oscar Faura will serve as the film’s Cinematographer.

Bernat Vilaplana(left) with Elena Ruiz(right) at the Goya Cinema Awards in 2013

Bernat Vilaplana joins the sequel having served as film editor on many films including Pan’s Labyrinth, Crimson Peak, The Impossible and the upcoming A Monster Calls which is also directed by J.A. Bayona.

2006’s Pan’s Labyrinth

What do you think of Bernat Vilaplana joining the Jurassic World sequel, which hits theaters in June 2018, as the film’s editor? Let us know in the comments below and on our forums.

Source: Twitter

The Hollywood Reporter and Spanish website El Pais have both reported that director of the upcoming sequel J.A. Bayona is currently on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, scouting for locations for Jurassic World 2. El Pais stated: “Bayona is in Hawaii preparing the second part of Jurassic World.”

This correlates somewhat with our report last August where we revealed that the location scouting will take place in November. Our friends at Reel News Hawaii have also heard that location scouts for the sequel are currently on island.

Deep in pre-production on Jurassic World 2, Bayona is also making the press circuits for his latest movie, A Monster Calls. Speaking with Birth.Movies.Death., the director revealed that Claire will not be wearing her infamous heels this time around, instead she’ll be wearing some form of boot, much more suited to the environment. He also revealed that there will be new dinosaurs in the film:

“Claire doesn’t wear high heels in this movie,” Bayona promises. That will make it easier for her to flee its prehistoric menagerie, which will have some additions. “There will be new dinosaurs,” the director says, and then adds, “Finding that proper balance between what the audience is expecting and new stuff is always a challenge in doing a sequel.”

While mentioning how this is the largest and most complex movie he has worked on, he discusses his love for the original and why he’s excited to be directing an instalment:

“I remember the first time I saw that first Brachiosaurus, and the huge impact it had on me,” he says. “I have always been a huge fan of Steven Spielberg, and I never thought I would end up doing a Jurassic movie. So it’s very exciting and a privilege to work with Steven, Frank Marshall and the other producers.”

In another interview with ComingSoon.net, Bayona was asked about the underlying political themes that the Jurassic Park movies have, and if the sequel will feature similar themes:

“Yeah, you’re right,” Bayona told us. “I think there’s a lot of that in the new ‘Jurassic.’ I think there’s a lot of possessiveness towards our creations. I think it’s very interesting where the new movie is heading. It’s so different from the other films, it talks a lot about the moment we live in right now. It’s darker… but at the same time it’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s a blockbuster, you have Chris Pratt, it’s a great adventure, but it’s very interesting the way the film is darker than the other ones.”

He also spoke with them about why he was offered the sequel and how it will relate to his previous films:

“You need to adapt, you need to know where you are,” suggested Bayona. “‘Jurassic’ is going to be very different from ‘A Monster Calls’ or ‘The Orphanage,’ but they called me because they loved ‘The Orphanage’ and ‘The Impossible’ and they wanted me to be leading the new ‘Jurassic.’ I think you’re going to find some stuff that will remind you of my movies. At the same time I’m very aware that this is Steven’s baby and I’m going to take care of his baby as much as possible, knowing where I am all the time.”

I am excited to hear that the sequel will be darker and hopefully it will feel more in line with the style of The Lost World. With Bayona’s background in horror and drama, I hope the sequel will feel less safe and less secured than Jurassic World, and the terror that is present in the first three movies will return.

In related news, Chris recently found two new domain names registered by Universal Pictures: IslaNublarRescueMission.com and AllCreaturesHaveRights.com. Obviously the domains lead nowhere, but it hints at what may feature in the sequel. 

With scouting now taking place in Hawaii, Universal registering domain names, and auditions taking place, Jurassic World 2 is in full pre-production and will be filming in February/March of 2017.

Which new dinosaurs do you hope to see in the sequel? Let us know in the comments section below!

Source: Birth.Movies.Death., ComingSoon, El Pais, THR

Back in September Colin Trevorrow confirmed to us that the upcoming Jurassic World sequel would feature more animatronics than its predecessor. Jurassic World skewed noticeably CGI heavy, only utilizing an animatronic neck and head for the dying Apatosaurus. Now, speaking to The Hollywood Reporter J.A. Bayona elaborated on their upcoming plans and challenges:

“Obviously you don’t have real dinosaurs — sometimes you have people playing dinosaurs — but we love animatronics and we’re trying to do as much with them as possible, it’s complicated because the audience now is so used to seeing CGI that they’re sometimes reluctant towards animatronics. But at the same time, I think animatronics bring soul and reality to it. We’re trying to find the balance between animatronics and CGI in order to cheat the audience so they don’t know what they’re seeing.”

Unfortunately, the mention of audiences having a reluctance to accepting animatronics as ‘real’ on screen feels like pushback from the studio. It’s no secret those in charge of the business end have a tendency to prefer CGI over practical effects for numerous reasons – and they often seem to covince themselves it’s an artistic favor for the audience, when in reality it is not (for more on the challenges modern filmmakers face with utilizing practical effects, give our podcast with Matt Winston a listen). The Thing (2011) particularly made a name for itself when the studio forced to replace all its practical effects work with CGI.

The Jurassic Park franchise has always done an amazing job balancing its practical effects work against CGI, and the results show. The first Jurassic Park still holds up – namely with the practical effects, which look stunning and lifelike. Jurassic World is a strange film, visually. In terms of the technology, it is the best looking Jurassic film – however, the majority of its creatures are the worst looking in the franchise, coming off as cartoony and not grounded in reality. The major exception for this tends to be the Indominus Rex, who looked stunning in almost every scene, and had a sense of reality behind her animation. There is certainly nothing wrong with CGI when done right, and 90% it is done right and the audience doesn’t even realize what they’re seeing isn’t reality. However, when you can actually put something real on screen, it’s going to have a sense of reality that computer generated images do not.

Take the Tyrannosaurus Rex from Jurassic Park, and compare her to the Rex from World. Park outclasses her entirely, and while World’s CGI may be more advanced, it has almost no sense of reality behind it when compared to the orginal.

No audience is going to say that the top image from Jurassic Park looks less realistic than the bottom one from World. However, that’s not to say practical VFX are always the answer – I think the CGI compys in The Lost World look far better than the practical counterparts. Actually, I think the CGI Compys look ridiculously ahead of their time and more real than most creatures in World.

There is nothing wrong with animatronics/practical effects when used right – nor is there anything wrong with CGI. For some reason those in audience (and sometimes the industry) tend to lead a crusade against one or the other, which is certainly unnecessary as both are phenomenal artistic tools. But make no mistake, practical effects are the underdog currently. They’re more difficult to get right, take more planning and time, which tends to scare studios. However when they are done right they will almost always outclass CGI (unless we’re talking about real jaw droppers like Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean.)

All I ask is that Universal listens to the artistic talent heading the franchise, and listens to the fans. Jurassic Park made a name for itself for cutting edge practical effects, and CGI. Take a note from Lucasfilm and Disney with the Star Wars franchise: embrace its history, its legacy, its identity. Let the franchise continue to be what made it special, and let it blow audiences away with what they see on screen.

Jurassic World may have visually faltered at times, but now that the franchise has proven itself in the box office, let it redefine cutting edge effects as it resurrects dinosaurs once more. Jurassic World 2 is in a position to usher in a new epoch of visual effects, and I hope it embraces its chance fully. I dare say fans would even embrace a delay if that is what it took to get realistic animatronic work in the film.

As always, sound off in the comments below and weigh in on the discussion, and check out our interview with Matt Winston below:

Source: The Hollywood Reporter