Rehearsing the Brachiosaurus Animatronic Puppet for Jurassic Park
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- Designing the Brachiosaurus Jaw for a Docile, Cow-like Appearance
- Coordinating the Brachiosaurus Puppeteers
- Making Jurassic Park’s Biggest Non-hydraulic Puppet
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By Andy Schoneberg (Lead JP Brachiosaurus Artist, SWS)
You're looking at a video of the Brachiosaurus rehearsals in the shop at Stan's [Stan Winston Studio] before the Brach was packed up and taken to stage 28 at Universal [Studios]. You can see the mouth movement. It's a seven-and-a-half-foot tall puppet that included the head, of course, and part of the neck.
(Lead JP Brachiosaurus artist Andy Schoneberg sculpts the Brachiosaurus small-scale model.)
(SWS Dinosaur artist Mark "Crash" McCreery's rendering of JP's Brachiosaurus.)
Designing the Brachiosaurus Jaw for a Docile, Cow-like Appearance
The jaw is a 4-axis jaw so it has up and down movement and side to side. The reasoning behind that was Stan wanted the Brach to appear to be as docile as possible, so one of the things that a 4-axis jaw gives you is that sort of orbital movement of the lower jaw grinding side to side which is reminiscent of a cow chewing its cud. And we thought, "Well, that certainly can't be bad." So we grabbed some vines from out in front of the building and we put them in the Brach's mouth.
(The 4-axis Brachiosaurus jaw allowed for an orbital chewing motion reminiscent of a cow.)
(The finished teeth of the Brachiosaurus.)
Coordinating the Brachiosaurus Puppeteers
At this point, the tongue is moving also, and the lips are moving a little too much, but that's something you learn as you go. So it's a matter of a number of people coordinating. And I think there were six of us altogether puppeteering on the Brach. There was someone on the eyes, someone on the tongue, I was on the jaw movement. There's someone on the lips. And the big move was the neck movement.
(The completed Brachiosaurus puppet at Stan Winston Studio.)
There was head movement, but there was also neck movement where the whole thing could pitch forward and back.
(The completed Brachiosaurus puppet at Stan Winston Studio.)
(The Brachiosaurus and Stan Winston on set.)
Making Jurassic Park’s Biggest Non-hydraulic Puppet
It was the largest puppet we built that had absolutely no hydraulics in it. So it was weighty and a big challenge to get to move. I got quite a workout on the jaw, making a big circular motion with this giant controller, getting everything moving and grinding properly.
For more, WATCH Jurassic Party Part 1: Jurassic Park Dinosaur Crew Reunion here:
Courses with the Creators of Jurassic Park
- Remote Makeup Application Part 1: Prosthetic & Kit Preparation with Andy Schoneberg
- Mastering Effects Disasters - Explode A Head with Andy Schoneberg
- Garage Monsters - How To Make Creature FX On A Budget with Shannon Shea
- The Business Of Making Monsters - Part 1 with Shannon Shea
- Hybrid Characters: Blending Practical & Digital FX with John Rosengrant
- Hybrid Character Design: Practical To Digital with Christopher Swift
- Special Effects Sequence Design with Shane Mahan
- Oversized Eyes Part 2: Molding & Casting with Rob Hinderstein
- Oversized Eyes Part 3: Paint Layering & Finishing with Rob Hinderstein
- Animatronics Design Basics with Richard Landon
- Cable Mechanism Basics - Tentacles with Richard Landon
- Animation For Animatronics Part 1: Intro To Pololu, Maya & AnimServo with Craig Caton-Largent
- How To Build An Animatronic Head Part 1 - Creating Mechanical Underskull with Craig Caton-Largent
TO CREATE YOUR OWN DINOSAUR, CHECK OUT THESE COURSES:
- How To Sculpt A Dinosaur Part 1 - Armature Building & Sculpting Primary Forms
- How To Sculpt A Dinosaur Part 2 - Secondary Forms & Finishing Techniques
- How To Make A Dinosaur - Part One: Design, Foam Carving & Fabrication
- How To Make A Dinosaur – Part Two: Carving Teeth, Adding Detail & Texture
- How To Make A Dinosaur - Part Three: Painting & Finishing