When Animatronics Ruled the Earth

Jurassic Park was a special effects spectacular. Steven Spielberg called all the effects wizards in showbiz to work on Jurassic Park, including Denis Muren, the leader of ILM (Industrial Light and Magic), and Stan Winston, effects master who worked with Tim Burton and James Cameron.

Together, these geniuses combined state-of-the-art animatronic technology and enhanced the dino puppets with CGI technology. They even built raptor suits and squeezed men inside them, like they had been swallowed whole by a giant Velociraptor puppet.

Even though the movie is called Jurassic Park, dinosaurs only take up fourteen minutes of the two-hour film. So what else were they doing? Well, there's the classic T. rex roar for one thing, a sound effect composed of tiger, elephant, and alligator noises.

All of these towering beasts are impressive, but perhaps the effect people remember most is a simple cup of water. The surface of the water ripples as the stomps of the T. rex get closer and closer. You see the water rippling before you see the dinosaur, which only adds to the suspense.

This effect was actually one of the hardest to produce. Effects supervisor Michael Lanteri discovered that the water would ripple in perfect concentric circles if a certain note was played on a guitar string below the cup. So if you're making your own movie, you don't need millions of dollars in your special effects budget—you just need a musical instrument and some H2O. Although the special effects budget certain wouldn't hurt.

(Source)