10 Epic Movie Moments You Won't Believe Used No CGI

4. Jurassic Park - The Raptors

Jurassic Park Raptor
Universal

The effects on show in 1993€™s Jurassic Park were what made George Lucas decide that technology was now good enough for him to begin work on the Star Wars prequels (you€™ll be forgiven if, like me, you wish his car broke down on the way to the cinema) but it wasn€™t only the CGI that impressed him.

The bulk of the effects used in the film€™s most memorable scenes were created by Stan Winston Studio, who invented an array of awesome props including cable-controlled puppets and man-sized raptor suits. The man chosen to don the suit was SWS supervisor John Rosengrant, who, whilst being no stranger to being disguised as a vicious predator, had never performed in a major film role.

€œI had always wanted to perform in suits. I think to do it well you have to be a bit of an actor, although the characters we play usually have a singular mission, which is to kill something. But I do think it requires some very good physical acting to do this work, especially at the level Stan Winston demands. Stan pays a lot of attention to the detail, to making a character move dynamically and accurately.€
Rosengrant spent weeks training with a ski instructor prior to the shoot, having decided that a raptor squatted like a skier when it moved. It was an inspired decision that made some of Jurassic Park€™s best scenes truly terrifying, with Rosengrant€™s raptor stalking the Hammond grandchildren in the restaurant kitchen the pick of the bunch.
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Phil still hasn't got round to writing a profile yet, as he has an unhealthy amount of box sets on the go.