Dinosaur (2000)
The film Dinosaur was produced just after the time when 3D generated graphics were becoming widely available and were being used in main stream lower budget films. This film was produced by Disney, and Disney wanted to make the film seem as realistic as possible, unlike some other Disney films.
The dinosaurs in this film were all animated, 3D models. But the backdrops in each of the scene were all real world photographs as computer generated landscapes were very hard to make, also a photograph for a back drop would always look a lot more realistic than a computer generated background. Disney had spent around $100 million on producing the technology and software to produce photo realistic 3D graphics.
The film was originally meant to be a stop motion based film, this idea was proposed by Paul Verhoeven and Phil Tippett in 1988. For the time when this film was made and produced the graphics used in the film were to an amazingly high standard, and it was one of the first 3D generated movies which looked photo-realistic.
Toy Story (1995)
The dinosaur which has been made in the film Toy Story was not meant to be to a photo-realistic standard as it meant to be a toy. But for a toy ‘Rex’ is very detailed and looks like a real toy, he has very small bumps on his skin and they have even included the small gaps between the parts of the toy where it would turn.
The way they have made the toy look like a real plastic toy was by making the correct amount of shine on the plastic surface of ‘Rex’. Because of all the small details such as the way they have made the small bumps on his skin slightly extrude and not just smooth bumps. These are some of the main qualities of the dinosaur which has been used in the film Toy Story.
The film was produced in 1995 which for this time was an amazing achievement, and was actually the first full length feature film that has ever been made in full 3D. Pixar was the animation company which made the film. Whilst they were making the film they came across many financial issues and may have been forced to stop production of the film. But they teamed up with Disney to make the end film, Disney helped them with the financial side to the production and they helped them to make the film good and helped them to make a film that would appeal to people of all ages. When Pixar finished the film and had something which they were happy with, they took it to Disney to get their opinion on the film, unfortunately Disney did not like the film and suggested that Pixar redo the entire film and change the whole plot to the film, this was hard for Pixar but did pay off in the end.
The intentions of the film was to be the first full length 3D film, which it was. Also they wanted to make the film appeal to people of all ages not just a children’s film.
Jurassic Park (1993)
The dinosaurs which are in the film Jurassic Park, were made to an amazingly high standard compared to some other thing from this time. The dinosaurs were put into the film using 3D animation. The dinosaurs look incredibly realistic and move in a life-like way, also the textures which have been used on the dinosaurs looks incredibly realistic compared to some other 3D generated dinosaurs of this time.
This film was made in 1993 and directed by Steven Spielberg. This film is around 21 years old and for the time when this film was made and the 3D graphics which have been used it was made to an amazing quality and looked almost photo realistic. The dinosaurs which are used in the film are made using Maya and StudioTools, they have made a rigged model of the dinosaur in each film and then animated it so that it looked realistic.
The Lost World (1925)
The Lost World is a silent fantasy adventure film that was based on a book written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the popular “Sherlock Holmes” books which were written in 1912.
The actual graphics which have been used in the film were intended to be photo realistic but as the film was produced 89 years ago and there was no computers to make 3D generated dinosaurs obviously, they were not as good as something which could be done today. The film is made up of parts which have been filmed using actors and stop motion animation. Each of the sections which have dinosaurs in use models of dinosaurs which are moved very slightly and a photograph is taken, then moved forwards slightly and another photograph is taken. These images are then put in a film so that they all play at high-speed, each of the images is a frame in the film. This technique is called stop motion, it does make the film look very jittery, and the models may not move how they would in real life but it is made to a very high standard for the equipment and technology they had when the film was released 89 years ago.
Land of the Lost (2009)
The dinosaur that is used in Land of the Lost has been made to a photo realistic standard, as you can see in the picture above. The textures that have been used for the dinosaur are extremely detailed, and show all of the small bumps in the skin and the reflections on the smooth sections of his skin. The way the model moves looks very realistic as the skin will fold and move as the dinosaur moves. The small spikes down the spine of the dinosaur are all attached in place and will move and turn depending on what position the dinosaur is in.
In the picture here on the left you can see that they have animated the dinosaur in such a way that it gives the dinosaur its own personality and facial expressions. The scene shown on the right shows the ways that the dinosaur can move in. They have made the dinosaur make small dust clouds as it is walking or sliding on the floor; this makes the whole thing seem a lot more realistic, and adds to the realism of the dinosaur.
The dinosaur has been used in the film, Land of the Lost (2009), in the film the dinosaur spends the whole time chasing around the adventurers, and always seems to be angry. Because of this they nickname the dinosaur “Grumpy”, throughout the film they make the dinosaur have its own personality. To enhance this they use the facial expression of the dinosaur to show how he is feeling, and helps the viewer to understand what the dinosaur is thinking. The model of the dinosaur is very detailed and looks extremely realistic, this works well because it is being used in a film, but could be more of an issue if the model were to be used in a game.
The intention of the dinosaur is to play as a rival to the explorers in the film. The dinosaur was made purposely for the full feature-length film and was not used again in anything else. The dinosaur has been made to a very high standard so that it will look photo realistic, would be able to move in a life-like way and it would be able to make small facial movements to change the expression of the dinosaur. The fact that the dinosaur looks like a real life dinosaur makes the entire film much more entertaining for the viewer.
King Kong (1933)
King Kong, a gigantic ape capable of lifting twice his own weight, but one of the last of his kind, worshipped on the isolated Skull Island by the natives, comes into contact with an exploring film crew and takes an interest to the single woman who he kidnaps and protects from the beasts of the tropical forest until taken down and shipped to New York for display as the Eight Wonder Of the World, where he breaks free and in turn faces a gruesome death upon the Empire State Building. The film was an instant success, and in 1991 the Library of Congress deemed it “culturally, historically and aesthetically significant”, and was also chosen for preservation by the National Film Registry. The film came to be because of a man named Merian C. Cooper, who both directed and produced the film. Before the film was finally created, Cooper had many initial ideas for jungle themed films including both dramas and documentaries, most of which featuring an explorer or scientist getting stuck on an island. An almost identical premise to what came to be in King Kong. Also at the time, demand for zoo animals were on the rise with films such as Beasts in The Jungle and Ape Man being great success, especially with limited primates in zoos at the time, films including these animals would for sure bring in the cash.
From what we see with dinosaurs today, such as the newly updated King Kong from 2005, or Jurassic Park, the level of design and quality in both the models and in the animation has significantly improved. Back in 1933 there were no computer packages to create feature films with, only real models to move frame by frame for each shot. And with the models themselves suffering from lack of tools at their disposal, they also suffer too at today’s standards. Where as for the time, this was revolutionary and was seen as incredible when it premiered in New York on March 2 1933.
For today’s standards, the animation was incredibly poor. Frames jump from on to another and it can become eye straining when watching. Although the creators (and special effects master Willis O’Brien) wanted to make the film a realistic experience, with the lack of colour it was made harder to do so, but keeping that aside the film can still be seen as photo realistic. Especially with a lot of attention to detail on the models and environments. After being promised the ability to make his own films thanks to RKO, he began the development of several movies about similar characters, such as a game hunter in the film “The Most Dangerous Game”. During this he hired the special effects artist who then went on to create the animation for the first King Kong movie. It was the work on a movie named “Creation” where he saw the potential in the animation, and told the production of the film to be shelved. Instead, he would replace the already exciting Komodo Dragons for the production of Kong.
The Valley of Gwangi (1969)
The Valley of Gwangi was a silent movie which was released in 1969. Throughout the entire film there is no vocal speech as they did not have the technology to do this at the time. To get around this issue they had an orchestral piece of music playing in the background which fitted the scene in the film.
Each of the scenes in the film which have dinosaurs in are made using stop motion animation, stop motion animation is made by moving a small model of the dinosaurs very slightly and taking a photograph between each movement, the photos are then played back at high-speed to make dinosaurs look as if they are moving. Obviously as the film is very old they did not have computer to make the dinosaurs using 3D graphics, but for the time they have used some very good animation techniques. The intentions of the film was to be an adventure film where the adventurers would battle dinosaurs in some scenes, obviously it was very hard for them to get the film of the actors to overlap with the animation of the dinosaur models moving around.
For the time when this film was made it was amazing and would have been a great film with ‘realistic’ looking dinosaurs. Obviously now that we have computer which can be used to animate things like a dinosaur in a film we can make dinosaurs fully animated in film which are to a photo realistic standard.
Damien Burns 