Moments That Changed The Movies: Jurassic Park

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences produces a series called Academy Originals that features some of our favorite movies and the innovators who bring it all to life. A recent short film had us reminiscing about the beloved Spielberg flick, Jurassic Park. As the youngsters who grew up with this film know well, Jurassic Park captivated our attention and imaginations with its sci-fi narrative and human-hungry dinosaurs. I mean, what else do you really need? What you may not have realized as a pre-teen developing a newfound interest in dinos was how groundbreaking the film’s visual effects were for the industry 21 years ago. As Moments That Changed The Movies: Jurassic Park explains, the film’s creatures were intended to be done with stop-motion animation and just a sprinkle of computer-generated motion blur effects. Once the team at Industrial Light and Magic got involved and decided to try and create the dinosaurs digitally, the CG game changed completely. It was the first time the moviemakers were able to produce fully digital assets that looked and moved so realistically.

If it weren’t for these visionaries willing to push the limits and take chances, we would have been deprived of some of the greatest scenes of the movie (including the ending). Watch the clip above to learn more.