Behind the Roar: Creating Jurassic Park’s Dinosaurs
The Art of Crafting Dinosaur Sounds in Film
When Steven Spielberg’s "Jurassic Park" roared into theaters in 1993, audiences were captivated not only by the groundbreaking visual effects but also by the incredibly lifelike dinosaur sounds. Creating these sounds was a monumental task that fell to sound designer Gary Rydstrom, who faced the unique challenge of bringing extinct creatures to life through audio. With no actual dinosaur recordings to work from, Rydstrom had to get creative, using a combination of animal noises and innovative sound manipulation techniques to craft the iconic roars, growls, and calls that would define the film’s prehistoric inhabitants.
To achieve the distinctive sounds of each dinosaur species, Rydstrom and his team recorded a wide variety of animals in different settings. For the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex, they combined the sounds of elephants, alligators, and even a tiny Jack Russell terrier named Buster. The velociraptors’ chilling vocalizations were created using a mix of dolphin screams, walrus bellows, and the hisses of geese. The gentle, cooing sounds of the brachiosaurus were actually recordings of a donkey braying, slowed down and manipulated to create a more majestic tone. This process of layering and blending different animal sounds allowed the team to create a rich, textured audio landscape that felt both familiar and alien, perfectly capturing the essence of these long-extinct creatures.
The success of Jurassic Park’s dinosaur sounds can be attributed not only to the creativity of the sound design team but also to the technological advancements of the time. The film was one of the first to use digital audio workstations, which allowed for more precise editing and manipulation of sound recordings. This technology enabled Rydstrom to fine-tune every aspect of the dinosaur vocalizations, from the pitch and duration of individual calls to the way sounds interacted with the film’s environments. The result was a sonic experience that felt incredibly real, immersing audiences in the world of Jurassic Park and setting a new standard for sound design in cinema. The innovative techniques developed for the film continue to influence how creature sounds are created in movies today, cementing Jurassic Park’s place in both film and audio history.