It will shock some of you to learn that most of the dinosaurs that you saw in Jurassic World were actually fake. Surprising as that is to learn, the visual effects team in control of creating these beasts did such a sterling job that it was hard to see where their work began and the real footage ended. To help us do just that, Industrial Light & Magic, who worked on the visual effects of Jurassic World, released a handy video showing exactly what their visual effects team worked on.
But what does this video teach us? Well, in order to get the movements of some of the dinosaurs just right, actors and specialists were used to replicate their actions. This meant that a few lucky individuals can now put on their CVs that they played "Baby Triceratops" in Jurassic World.
It didn’t stop there though, because other members of the ILM team also got to pretend to be Velociraptors. And while playing a solo raptor would undoubtedly be enjoyable, if a little embarrassing and maybe weird, doing so alongside three of your pals is probably as much fun as someone can have while keeping their pants on.
But ILM's work wasn’t all grown actors frolicking around pretending to be dinosaurs. There was also a huge amount of keyboard jostling necessary in order to build up Jurassic World’s vast amount of shrubs, greenery, dinosaurs, and wreckage, which required layer upon layer of digital artistry.
In fact, you’re probably better off taking a look at the full video from the good folks over at Industrial Light & And Magic to really appreciate the sheer amount of time and work that they put into Jurassic World, it's incredibly impressive. You can check it out for yourself by clicking below.
It’s safe to say that Universal was happy with Industrial Light & Magic’s efforts on Jurassic World, because the visual effects were a huge part of why the blockbuster’s action and adventure was so enchanting. ILM has also been rewarded with numerous Visual Effects award nominations at the Critics’ Choice, Screen Actors Guild, Annie, Visual Effects Society, and Satellite Awards. They’ll be back to try and top their previous work when Jurassic Park 5/Jurassic World 2 is released on June 22, 2018.
