How Jurassic Park Revealed The Biggest Problem With CGI & Acting

Steven Spielberg’s 1993 film Jurassic Park was groundbreaking for its use of CGI and animatronics, but those filmmaking methods caused problems with acting. CGI is an incredible tool, yet it has its issues, particularly with this film since the actors had to act alongside something they’ve never encountered in real life. Although the film had minimal computer-generated dinosaurs, JurassicPark revealed the biggest problem with CGI and acting.

Aside from the small usage of CGI, the original Jurassic Park’s dinosaurs were mainly animatronics, created by Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) division and Stan Winston’s practical effects team. Almost thirty years later, both the special effects and animatronics hold up incredibly well, with many fans even stating that the special effects look more realistic than the Jurassic World films. The first image of a dinosaur in Jurassic Park was extremely realistic: the Triceratop, part of Winston’s animatronics. This wasn’t the only use of animatronics; most closeups of the dinosaurs or when the actors were touching them were used with animatronics, making both the terrified and emotional reaction of the actors completely genuine.

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Netflix’s series The Movies That Made Us delves into the making of Jurassic Park and shows how the actors struggled to act without anything real in front of them, seeing how difficult it was to react to something that wasn’t there. Luckily, the actors were able to connect to the very realistic puppet dinosaurs since the original Jurassic Park has little CGI. Stan Winston would go to extreme lengths to make them as real as possible, including digging a hole so the puppeteers could bring the dinosaurs to life, making them blink, breathe, and even cry. Because these dinosaurs looked and felt so real, it was easier to act alongside them. Jurassic Park proved that even though CGI might seem more “realistic” to the audience, the modern overuse of CGI can remove the magic and realism from the actors themselves.

Although the reactions along animatronics were utterly authentic, when it came to the minimal use of computer-generated dinosaurs, acting against them wasn’t as easy. Spielberg did everything he could to bring the terror to life: screeching like a dinosaur and directing the actors to his best ability, but it was the animatronics that both amazed and terrified the actors. The Jurassic Park fan favorite, T. Rex, was mainly created with robotic technology instead of CGI. When the dinosaur attacked the car that Lex and Tim were in, their screams were far from fake.

CGI is impressive and shows how far science and filmmaking have come, but it doesn’t have to be used in the entirety of films. When interviewed (via Amblinroad.com), one of the original Jurassic Park puppeteers, Matt Winston, stated, “We love CGI. We think it has broken the barriers regarding what you can do on film. But, we do believe it works best when it’s mixed with practical effects.” CGI is commonly used for multiple reasons: It is cost-efficient and easier to use, but it doesn’t need to be the end all be all when it comes to film effects.

CGI is a fantastic tool to use in films. It has done incredible things, from bringing deceased people to life to even creating a baby (Renesmee) in Twilight. It shows how much technology has improved and what is to come. With this being said, acting is just as important, if not more important. If the actors struggle to act with something that isn’t there, it can play out on screen and look unrealistic. Having a balance between special and practical effects, both the actors and the film itself will appear more authentic. Although not being quite the first to use CGI, Jurassic Park brought the world of special effects to mainstream media but didn’t lose sight of the magic of cinema.

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