I'll
be talking about the scene in Jurassic Park (1993) by Steven
Spielberg where the T-Rex is running rampant whilst the children are
bound in to the vehicle they're in. This film is exceptional and was
one of the first I thought of when given the task to do this
analysis. The film had a budget of $63 Million and has fantastic
visual effects for the time it was released.
The
acting and cinematography in the T-Rex scene of Jurassic Park by
Steven Speielberg is outstanding. Firstly, there is a shot that shows
the T-Rex towering over the vehicle that the children are in which
shows how dominant the T-Rex is and how weak the children are through
a use of levels. Then the T-Rex bursts through the roof of the
vehicle and there is a two-shot of the children and the T-Rex; the
children are shown to be screaming in sheer terror whilst the T-Rex
has intent to make the children his next meal through his failed
attempt at breaking the glass. The use of a two-shot (to me) is used
to show how colossal the T-Rex is compared to the young children.
It
then cuts to a close up of two men (Dr. Alan Grant and Dr. Ian
Malcolm) in a car who have a shocked expression because they know
that all they can do is stop and stare or risk their lives to save
the children. You know that they are deciding whether it is a good
idea to go out and save the children and if so they must also
formulate a plan. You can tell that the characters really do not know
what to do but they do know that they have no time to lose.
When
the T-Rex tips the vehicle, you can see that Dr. Grant has the
realisation that he needs to act fast or else these children are
gone. You can see Dr. Grant searching desperately for flairs in an
attempt to halt the T-Rex's attack. The vehicle the children are in
starts to fill with mud to emphasise the dangerous situation they are
in and to give the viewer a feeling of helplessness and doubt for the
children's lives. This is when Dr. Grant steps out of the vehicle and
holds up the flair to the T-Rex. Spielberg uses an Over the Shoulder
shot to show the difference in levels between Dr. Grant and the
T-Rex, the T-Rex is taller than Dr. Grant to symbolise the dominance
the T-Rex has over him. When the T-Rex roars at Dr. Grant it cuts to
a medium shot which shows the hesitance of Dr. Grant and the doubt
that he has that his plan will work. This is shown through non-verbal
communication like facial expression and body language.
It
then cuts to a close up of Dr. Malcolm who lights a flair that is out
of frame so that only the red light and smoke are visible. He lights
the flair because he can see that Dr. Grant's plan has failed. He
runs off and his followed by the T-Rex, the use of levels shown by
the medium shot is visible once again so that you can see how
dominant the T-Rex is compared to Dr. Malcolm.
The
T-Rex bursts into a toilet stall and Dr. Malcolm is seen falling to
the floor bloodied up which leaves the viewer wanting to know what
happened. What happened? Is he injured? Is he dead? The viewer
doesn't know. He is then buried under the rubble from the stall so
that the T-Rex forgets he's there.
It
then cuts to a long shot of a suited man sitting on a toilet with no
room around him to show how bare he is and how little protection
against the predatory T-Rex he has. Spielberg once again uses levels
when he cuts to a medium shot of the lawyer and the T-Rex and once
again shows how dominant the T-Rex is compared to the lawyer and any
other character in the scene for that matter. However this time, the
T-Rex actually shows its brute power by eating the pleading man and
throwing him about like a ragdoll. The fear on
the man's face before the T-Rex eats him is conspicuous.
We
then go back to Dr. Grant trying to save the children (which he can
now do thanks to the absence of the T-Rex), he is shown pulling the
girl out but then it cuts to a close up of the boy's face showing him
gritting his teeth and saying “I'm stuck”, it then cuts to a shot
that shows his feet trapped under the vehicle. The pain of the boy is
clear and makes the viewer empathise with him and makes them want him
to be pulled out from under the car. Dr. Grant then pulls the girl
from under the car and goes back in for the boy, however, the camera
remains on the girl showing that something important is going to
happen involving her, she starts to scream in terror but it isn't
shown what she is screaming at until the next shot. This makes the
viewer wonder what she's screaming at and if they're safe. Dr. Grant
conceals her mouth and tells her to not move.
It
cuts to a medium close up of the T-Rex's foot stepping on the mud.
Dr. Grant and the girl are in the background and not looking at the
foot which the viewer is looking at but instead they are looking up
high. This once again shows how great the T-Rex is in comparison to
the two which is now especially emphasised thanks to the fact that
they are now on their knees (a use of levels once again) and the use
of perspective to make the T-Rex's foot appear larger in the
foreground than Dr. Grant and the girl in the background.
The
next shot is the T-Rex towering over the two and examining them. It
breaths through its nose and knocks off Dr. Grant's hat which shows
how even its breath is powerful so imagining what it could do when it
attacks makes the audience get a real sense of the danger present in
the scene. This dominance is also shown when the T-Rex starts
rotating the vehicle with its nose which makes its power all the more
scary; we have seen what he can do to a person with ease so if it
really tries and has malicious intent then it could do some serious
damage like what it did to the suited man.
Dr.
Grant and the girl take cover behind the vehicle so the T-Rex doesn't
see them which develops Dr. Grant's character because the audience
now know that he is a quick thinker and they may now see him as a
likely survivor by the end of the film. The scene ends with a
low-angle shot from behind the vehicle but what is smart about this
shot is the lack of people in the shot so that instead of towering
over anybody else, it now seems that the T-Rex is towering over the
viewer which is a first for the scene.
This
scene does an excellent job of introducing the T-Rex and showcasing
its brute strength. Not only that but you can tell by how the actors
act that the T-Rex is not a force to be reckoned with. It does an
excellent job of showing that Jurassic Park is in immense danger with
dinosaurs waiting in cars and kitchens and now dinosaurs as big as
the T-Rex being more dangerous than any other dinosaur on the island
thanks to its sheer size and strength.
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