Category: News

Animatronic dinosaurs have always been a staple of the Jurassic Park franchise. The original movie was considered to be a breakthrough in terms of visual effects and the seamless way the filmmakers blended both the computer-generated dinosaurs and the physical on-set animatronics.

Jurassic Park – and it’s subsequent sequels – pioneered special effects in the film industry and the dinosaurs put on screen to this day still hold up against modern visual effects.

That’s why in 2015, many audience members felt as though Jurassic World didn’t quite fulfill what the franchise had established with the first trilogy, utilising only one animatronic dinosaur in the entire movie, with the rest of the dinosaurs being computer-generated by the talented artists at ILM.

That all changed however when writer/producer of the upcoming sequel Colin Trevorrow announced to us that animatronics will return in the sequel.

It was later revealed that Neal Scanlan and his team, fresh off Star Wars: The Force Awakens, will be making and puppetering the animatronics for the sequel, and judging by some of the dinosaur reveals in the trailer and behind the scenes reel, it has paid off!

Today, Neal himself gave the LA Times a bit of a tour of his work for the movie and shared details on how the dinosaurs are operated this time around.

“We tried to take onboard, to some extent, the ever-moving understandings of what dinosaurs may or may not have really looked like. One has probably assumed in the past that they were rather muted, but when you look in nature color is an important attractant. And would that have not been the case with these animals?”

As seen in both the behind the scenes reel and the trailers, Neal’s team built a full size T. rex along with animatronic models of Velociraptor ‘Blue’ and the new hybrid dinosaur, the Indoraptor. They created puppeteering aids, rod puppets and several prop dinosaurs for use on set, which were all imagined by both Neal’s team and ILM’s David Vickery to help the post-production process and to aid the seamless look between both VFX and the animatronics.

The animatronic model of Blue required 15 puppeteers hidden below to move the cable levers and use the radio control mechanism that brought her to life. They rehearsed the movements for each particular scene in advance so that the dinosaur could react to Bayona’s direction on set.

“Like a dance team we’re not thinking about the individual steps,” Scanlan says. “We’re just doing it. You’re thinking about it in a much more consuming way, like ‘Can you make her more aggressive? Can you make her more agitated? Can she breathe more heavily?’ It’s like music in an orchestra – everyone knows how to bring up the crescendo.

Recently, ‘Fallen Kingdom’ made headlines for having “the most animatronic dinosaurs since ‘Jurassic Park'” – while this is untrue, it no doubt is an homage to the classic trilogies heavier use of practical effects. Most of the dinosaur animatronics in Fallen Kingdom are head and neck only, attached to a static lower detail body model that’s to be replaced with CG in post. This particular approach can be seen with the Stegosaurus head animatronic from the Snapchat video:

Fallen Kingdom’s approach to animatronics is different than past Jurassic films, with all but the Indoraptor being built for laying down in a restrained and sedated pose. While the Indoraptor animatronic emulates the classic Jurassic style more, it seems it will be entirely replaced with CG in the final film, though the CG certainly is phenomenal and greatly benefited from the animatronic as its reference.

Needless to say both director JA Bayona and Neal Scanlan are striving for perfection with the practical and visual effects. From what we have seen in the trailers so far, both sides of special effects are excelling in this movie, which could potentially make it the sequel with the best visual effects.

Source: LA Times

The Japanese edition of the final Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom trailer has made its way online, and it may be the best one yet!

As always, going forward it’s best to understand that there are potential spoilers in the footage, and if you want to go in blind, you should look no further. That said, this doesn’t really show any new scenes, but rather extended looks at already revealed scenes, and is quite a well put together trailer.

Check it out below!

Overall, this trailer hits all the right notes: the beauty of the island and dinosaurs, the danger and adventure that comes with the territory, and the scares and mysteries that preside over that entire experience. It alludes to what else the story has to offer, without outright spoiling it (as the ‘Final Trailer’ did). It teases the Indoraptor without fully giving him away.

While I appreciated some of the epic shots from the final trailer, and they no doubt won over my excitement, I vastly prefer this trailer to it. If only I could erase some of the other spoilers best left for theaters from memory.

What are your thoughts on the latest trailer, and are you trying to avoid spoilers? Sound off in the comments below, and as always, stay tuned for the latest news!

Thanks to LeoAzabache22 on Twitter for the heads up!

Source: Jurassic World Japan

Following the final trailer, and the Chinese trailer, even more new Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom footage has hit the web!

Of course, if you’d like to remain as spoiler free going into the latest Jurassic Park sequel, it may be best to avoid watching the latest TV spots. However, with that in mind, this trailer doesn’t really showcase anything new – we always knew Claire and Franklin would escape the Baryonyx, and had already seen them climbing for the hatch in the Super Bowl trailer.

Considering this is a pretty par the course escape, with no big Deus Rex Machina surprises (that we know of), it’s pretty standard trailer stuff (unlike the final trailer giving away far too much, to a frustrating degree – but hey, it made me incredibly excited!)

Give the latest spot a watch below.

I wasn’t sold on the Baryonyx design from the first trailer, but aside from the super thick jaw, it appears that the angle was misleading. The Baryonyx looks great in this latest TV spot, and is quickly becoming one of my favorite Jurassic designs. Hopefully that trend continues going into the film!

Circling back to the note of spoilers, I do hope the marketing refrains from giving away more of the plot. They have already outlined the basic plot, and given away some huge set pieces shots I’d prefer to have seen in theaters first. Some of my favorite modern film advertisement was for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, showcasing just how effective expertly crafted ‘less is more’ trailers and TV spots can be.

What are your thoughts on this latest TV spot, and do you think marketing has shown too much? Sound off in the comments below, and stay tuned for the latest news!

Yesterday, Jurassic fans were treated with the third and final trailer for the upcoming Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom which gave us an even closer look at the story and characters in the movie.

Following the trend of almost every other large franchise these days, a new extended trailer has just debuted in China with even more spoiler-heavy footage. Check it out below:

With new looks at Rafe Spall, Ted Levine Toby Jones and BD Wong as well as a few more beautiful establishing shots sprinkled in, this trailer is less of an extended version of the trailer we received yesterday and more of a creation unto itself.

I personally feel like this trailer is considerably stronger in the narrative department than previous trailers, laying out a clear and honest look at the film we will see in June. Though some might consider it a little too concise.

We have compiled over 90 screenshots from yesterday’s trailer in glorious HD for your viewing pleasure.

Which trailer do you prefer? Are you back aboard the Fallen Kingdom hype train? Sound off below!

The “Final” Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom poster has arrived.

Presented without comment:

Looking for something different? Check out these awesome fan posters, our HD gallery of the stunning shots from the latest trailer, and of course, watch the trailer again!