Inside Jurassic Park’s Most Iconic Special Effect

Steven Spielberg’s 1993 film “Jurassic Park” was a landmark cinematic achievement due in large part to its groundbreaking special effects. But it wasn’t the appearance of the raptors, the brontosaurus or the T. Rex that caused Spielberg and his crew to the lose sleep. Rather, it was how to stage the iconic shot of two glasses of water rippling at the steps of the oncoming T. Rex. Meet special effect coordinator Michael Lantieri and take a look at his inspiration for that surprisingly tricky scene.
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[@veronicatoothpaste8576]

Shows how much thought steven puts in his movies and how amazing the team is he has that puts as much effort to make his ideas

[@Bouzsi]

“I want the effect to show what music was doing.” “Ok, no problem. Give me three weeks and a huge budget, and at the end of those three weeks I’ll try using music.” “Done.”

[@tribalfx808]

It’s an honor for me to say that I have and still work for Michael Lantieri

[@KTBWorld]

It must be a wonderful experience!

[@brycewalburn3926]

Yeah, my first thought was, "Just use a speaker". You'd think that would be Plan A for a special effects designer.

[@johngarcia2891]

I really believed that the T-Rex made those ripples

[@mattiguess8094]

Slow clap please

[@sharkdrago8452]

Hhmmmm

[@JohnJohn-uc7dh]

We have all been lied to.

[@rexyjp1237]

By stomping

[@TacoStacks]

Great movie!

[@notalemon2899]

Verified with only 7 likes?

[@Clay3613]

Finally after 23 years, someone finally shows how it was done!

[@Patrick-cy2zh]

Couldn't you just pound the dash board next to to cup but out of the cameras view to get the same effect?

[@montrealfilmguy]

I'm thinking the same idea.

[@profmichele1]

Pat rick

[@bobbysuger]

wouldnt work coz then the rippling would be random, but here they say spielberg wanted to go from the centre to the outer part of the cup every single time.

[@Patrick-cy2zh]

Hulla Baloo wonder why he wanted that

[@Patrick-cy2zh]

Michele Fernando da Silva yes?

[@Blaze22F]

Hmm. Who would've thunk it

[@borckers8637]

You know what. That was a good one.

[@djrphotography]

who would've "plucked" it

[@Dankman9]

omg so amazing... who would of thought...

[@mranonymous1547]

the smarter the video the dumber the comments. this fucking ppl at this era they are like super genius behind they're laptop/mobile they can say whatever they without even thinking for a sec man I wish I was born 200 years back.

[@NELOPES7]

Md. Rifat. quiet . Its not ur job to care how others are . Be happy they don't understand you if you believe youre a higher being

[@Will80085]

200 years back huh? Enjoy the wonders of 19th century medicine and general ignorance of the world around you.

[@enprnea5442]

William Bowden lol, it’s worser than today

[@FAKEtrailers2]

this comment is gold

[@mobspeak]

Thanks for recognizing the real genius behind Jurassic Park.

[@dimekoza]

Why not just use a speaker under the cup?!

[@MalaysianTropikfusion]

dimekoza My thoughts exactly. I'm amazed it took that long to figure out a solution.

[@lilpooh9708]

dimekoza did they have small speakers back then? (I'm asking a question not being a smartass)

[@MalaysianTropikfusion]

Imsadcuzilikemyowncomment Nah. Have you ever seen pictures of boom boxes? Tech in the 90s were all generally bigger.

[@ESSBrew]

ummm, they had speakers in car doors,,,, so yeah. plus who cares if it was giant? WOuld still work

[@JoJosadventure146]

Editing the sound would take money

[@nrzhfr]

This is one of those things that made Jurassic Park one of the greats. Even the smallest bits had to be perfected. They took their time in making it, and it paid off. Tbf if this movie is released this year, it will still look amazing.

[@theodoreandrews4961]

1:36 I didn't know guitars made piano sounds.

[@paleoph6168]

He's got a special guitar model.

[@patrickphelan2839]

Should have been a Greatful Dead fan, would have got that 2 weeks sooner by listening to the song "Ripple".

[@b_uppy]

The water ripples were pretty epic.

[@Pebphiz]

Back when people actually cared about the movies they made instead of just using CGI for everything.

[@bobbysuger]

because cgi wasnt good enough back then. it was done out of neccessity, not because they "actually cared about movies"

[@mrwheatthins2413]

CGI has been great with water for years. Have you seen Titanic? Also, CGI was used multiple times in Jurassic Park to make realistic dinosaurs. Don't tell me it's not possible to make water ripples.

[@keitatsutsumi]

MrWheatThins the most complicated thing to digitally recreate is actually liquid, just because you can't represent the surface with geometry very well. So, yes you could've but it wouldn't have looked pretty.

[@ZetHololo]

you are aware that you have commented on the movie movie that litterally made that CGI breakthrough, aren't you?

[@PanzerMan332]

+Keita Tsutsumi Actually, the one thing computers can do pretty well is simulate water. Computers are great for recreating inanimate objects like water, or a building falling apart, but they fall a bit flat when trying to simulate living beings.

[@BlackMammoth25]

Spared no expense, except on their ONE IT guy.

[@JamesGWall]

Love it

[@1amissingno]

sound worked in Speilberg's car, maybe after weeks of trying other methods, sound could work for the cup of water?!

[@youngkim5909]

A first year engineering student could have solved that in a day :p

[@nitramluap]

Yeah, exactly... resonant frequencies, etc. Could have just as easily done it with a speaker attached to the underside dashboard. Just need to work our what frequency is the best. Would take a few minutes.

[@youngkim5909]

*science brofist* Exactly what i was thinking. Speaker producing a low frequency high amplitude sound just like the resonance experiments where we had a pipe with one open end. That cup is just a slight outwards expanding pipe. Maybe make sure the node for the sound wave is the surface of the water right at the center of the cup? If the sound waves are converging there or just below the surface the pressure from the sound waves would theoretically push the water upwards, as it came down due to gravity it would cause the outwards ripple effect. Thats my theory :p

[@14112ido]

to be fair though, their solution was beautiful in its simplicity :p

[@alexanderstefanou2320]

Alex Kim ι

[@linusklassen7380]

"i got a call from a steven spielberg."

[@narata1541]

I don't understand why they didn't just have the T-Rex stomp by the car and away from the camera? Or train her to roar loudly on the car to have it vibrate. Of course they will mute the sound. These ideas are much simpler than guitar strings.

[@maxwellparsons6729]

I know that u had to use music

[@atombomb232610]

It took so long because nobody thought of using a subwoofer at the right frequency.

[@RamLaska]

I was thinking it would have been a powerful speaker beneath the cup. Love the simple practical effects :D

[@evilpandakillabzonattkoccu4879]

interestingly enough, I had heard that story before and couldn't find it being retold. thanks!

[@jugglinglife3724]

Love this story!!

[@yeetyeeterson5123]

Hmm Earth Wind and Fire, was he listening to September?

[@KinoInfa]

I have over million views about this trick on my channel and hundreds of "experts" in comments. Main concert: "why not to hit the table with fist to get circles on the water"?

[@jameshero5755]

Result > Complex Analysis and Research > Arrival to a simple solution > Modification to a complex structure > Result Ripple on water > weeks of experimentation > glass of water on a vibrating surface (common sense) > strings, wires, modification on cup > Ripple on water simpler method = Ripple on water > attach a vibrator under the dashboard > ripple on water

[@mreyeball3085]

So much work just for water to ripple perfectly

[@smokyfoil2703]

Man I want to make a 1992 jeep wrangler into a Jurassic Park peace

[@HaKim-gs2zb]

why does almost everyone say to use speakers wont it release sounds

[@pixel6173]

Luqmanul Hakim yeah but they could edit that out.

[@hootypatootie]

Why couldn't they just tap the bottom of the car hard enough to cause the ripples...

[@theteacher4444]

hootypatootie Maybe because it would make a sound?

[@enprnea5442]

Kodey - most likely.

[@mckinleyproductions]

Yeah, if they did it whoud work cause they can cut the sound out

[@theteacher4444]

Kids For Fun Jr. they could, but, it would also cause damage to the prop, and it would likely knock the cup over

[@nicky_tdbp5353]

Something is coming.... Something big... *Remember* ?

[@thelegend49]

Ripple? **HAMON!**

[@DMMacaw]

It took lots of thought but when u stop thinking and relax you will soon find what you been looking for

[@sunnycideup4725]

COOL!

[@keke101cod]

cinematic art... water ripples

[@slimcritter5297]

that dude must of lost hair from that stress 😂😂

[@MurderBong]

COULD HAVE JUST USED A CAR SUBWOOFER OF THE TIME WITH A SINGLE LOW FREQ HIT ..... IT TOOK YOU THAT LONG TO FIND THAT TRICK , IMAGINE IF THE ACTORS NATURALLY REACTED TO THE THUMP SOUND

[@zachvision9533]

I wonder what happened to the cup

[@norrad9978]

Wait what?😂 couldn’t you just thunk it, the funny part is that they tried really hard on a simple 3-5 second screen time

[@joeycheung29]

0:02

[@mxsdrago]

THIS IS MY FINAL RIPPLE! TAKE IT FROM ME!

[@erikschiller7210]

Nedry wasn’t head of security.

[@marknorville9827]

An oscar just for playing with a g string.

[@tacoman1214]

*music plays*

[@alexcallaway7496]

And here i thought it was some dude smacking the dash off camera

[@darthrevan3798]

couldn’t they just blow on the water like you don’t even need to go through planning and stuff just blow on it people saying speakers and that but all they could have done was just whistle or breathe on it and it ripples

[@alem29]

Interesting.

[@penguinexpress12]

I actually knew this

[@ravenholm3775]

Maybe use green liquid and hide it with the green screen

[@votpavel]

could sware i heard the story years ago and they achieved it by sertain base from speakers

[@parkerbelnas4131]

dyk that that spiting dino doesn't spit anything they figured it out a year ago

[@lysergichedgehog7769]

they could of add a drop of water the center of the cup, edited out

[@godkillerj7652]

I see him in king park ny

[@icewalowcome5472]

ITS NOT NEWMAN ITS NEDRY

[@sal7067]

How could any profesional fx artist could have seen that as a challenge? :S

[@DigitalicaEG]

An engineer would've solved this "problem" in 1 minute. Amazing how little people know about resonance.

[@rodriguez8572]

I would love to drive that jeep

[@specc_s1452]

Texting and driving!

[@WorgenGrrl]

Add another strike against CGI.

[@joywolf83]

lol or just play music on radio. if u have good base, it vibrates....not that hard

[@chairresurri]

r e e e e e e e e e e e e Said the dinosaur

[@JM-tf4nk]

I feel I could come up with an easier solution honestly lol

[@crittercosner2877]

Childhood ruined...

[@ilhamonytube]

I thought they could just create a fake earthquake with a drill or machine like in ocean's thirteen movie.

[@thewingedporpoise]

Yes because movies are totally accurate

[@gameraddict8910]

2k like

[@khurshidmarwat9399]

Such a jerk that speilberg!

[@darshangowda9347]

And you wasted two fucking guitar strings for that!!! Do you have any idea how costly they have gotten these days??

[@WhipMemes]

Darshan Gowda _"Wasted?"_ They could buy thousands of them with the money they earned in the film!

[@armandoepifani5394]

WhipRBLX - ROBLOX & Stuff. More like millions

[@KA-iq2ko]

bro that was 1993. its 2018.

[@zennyfieldster4220]

Darshan Gowda they may have used regular string or fishing line instead.

[@rydemk4168]

Just drop the stone and edit i out

[@alexlee2581]

Creamy CreamBoy they wouldn't have been able to edit it well enough to pass filming