The lighting techniques used in Jurassic Park 3 are predominantly realist. This makes the lighting as close to reality as possible. This is done to emphasise normality. The source light is from above to illustrate the sun- rays.
Jurassic Park 3 is entirely different to Jurassic Park for example, the non-diegetic sound starts right at the beginning when “Jurassic Park” comes on the screen there is a scratch for the three. The theme tune plays all the way through the opening scene but when the two are par ascending and enter the mist it goes quieter, almost silent. Also, at the beginning of the scene there is a ripple effect and the audience hears footsteps, which creates tension.
In the scene there isn’t much ambient sound but the roar of the boat engine along with the wind and the waves is the only sound.
With the sound effects there are the splashes and when the boat hits the rock it creates tension. This is a lot different to Jurassic Park as there is a plane above, which creates mystery and not tension.
The dialogue is people, the two who are par ascending, are happy and excited but the engine roar makes the pair shout and as it starts to get more tense there is less speech and more facial expressions as there is more tension.
Steven Spielberg uses his camera shots and angles to emphasise the difference in strength between man and dinosaur. For example, at the beginning of the scene there is a low angled shot. This emphasises the size of the animal. This means that the whole cage dominates the screen. This gives the audience a feel as though the animal is in charge. When the cage is being manoeuvred it shows how much bustle and activity is going on. It shows how big the animal is and how small the people are. There is a high angle shot which also makes the men smaller. When the camera is inside the cage seeing the panicked man it is a mid-shot but is made to look like a close up. At the start of the film it gives the audience an impression of conflict between man and animal.
By contrast, the camera angles in Jurassic Park 3 are used to create an entirely different atmosphere to Jurassic Park. This scene creates tension, as there is a close up vision of the man looking through his binoculars. This slowly zooms out to become a mid-shot so that we can see the expression on his face. As the two others try to escape there is an extreme close up. This creates panic and emphasis the danger. There are overhead shots to put the two into perspective, which makes the boat seem smaller than it actually is.
Comparisons between the two films in terms of camera angles can be made, for example, in Jurassic Park there are a lot more close ups and mid-shots etc. In Jurassic Park the camera is used to create atmosphere whereas in Jurassic Park 3 the camera is used to tell narrative. In Jurassic Park 3 the focus is on aerial shots and in Jurassic Park the focus is more on mid-shots.
In conclusion, the two films create very different atmospheres in their opening sequence. Jurassic Park uses sound to create fear and tension along with the dark and the shadows. The camera angles are predominantly close ups which gives the audience a scary and eerie feel. In Jurassic Park 3 the sound is realist, which goes with the camera angles and the subject’s perspective. The lighting is a realistic natural source, which gives the audience a happy, tense, and exciting feel.
Dan Barsley
