An unusually prolonged preproduction period paid off both artistically and commercially when Steven Spielberg's much-anticipated Jurassic Park opened this summer to a dinosaur-crazed public. The creation of its amazingly lifelike dinosaurs was an odyssey into moviemaking magic led by Dennis Muren, Stan Winston, Phil Tippett and Michael Lantieri. Effects techniques as old as the movies themselves were infused with new life and direction, while newer approaches were pushed to unexpected heights. The result - a quantum leap in aggregate technologies - would establish an altogether new set of standards for a venerable old genre.

Article by Jody Duncan