Jun
17
Stan Wintson: Gone but Never Extinct
June 17, 2008
One of my favourite movies of all time is Stephen Spielberg’s, Jurassic Park. In the movie, Sam Neill’s character, the technologically challenged paleontologist, Dr Grant says, “I think we’re out of a job,” to which Jeff Goldblum’s character, a trendy mathematician quips, “Don’t you mean extinct?”
While Spielberg included this line in the movie as a reference to a remark Phil Tippett made after sitting with Spielberg to view early tests of CGI animation techniques that would eventually replace all of his go-motion animation, the same fate could have fallen on the full size animatronics built by the legendary Stan Winston, who passed away June 15th after a long struggle with multiple myeloma.
Stan was a lead member, and integral part of Jurassic Park’s design team. His team built the full-size animatronics that he described as being, “A perfect combination of art and technology.” It was actually Spielberg’s original intention to use these full-size dinosaurs throughout the movie, but it became clear early on that this just wouldn’t be feasible.
August 1992, the production of Jurassic Park began in Hawaii. Eager to see how their dinosaurs would perform, the first scene shot featured an interaction between one of Stan’s full-size models — a triceratops — and the characters played by Neill and Laura Dern. “It was important that we either got bloodied on our first day of shooting or succeeded,” Spielberg says, “Thankfully for Stan Winston and his team, it worked wonderfully.” Winston’s full size characters brought an element of believability and level of interaction that could not have been achieved through CGI alone.
I am one of those geeks that actually gets as much, and likely more, enjoyment out of watching the “the making of X” bonus features on DVDs as watching the feature itself. If you ever have the chance, it is a treat to see how the team brought the dinosaurs to life in Jurassic Park. Along with other members of the team, Stan Winston shares some great stories throughout. On the T Rex, he shares, “It was wonderful to see this 9000 pound wonder, 40 feet long, acting.” Indeed it was Stan.
Stan Winston was a pioneer, a legend in experience design. He shocked, fascinated and entertained. He has left an impressive body of work that will entertain people for years to come.
“Most recently, Stan Winston Studio devised the suits featured in Iron Man. The movie’s director, Jon Favreau, said Winston brought a “childlike enthusiasm” to his craft.
“He was the king of integrating practical effects with CGI, never losing his relevance in an ever-changing industry,” Favreau said in a statement. “I am proud to have worked with him and we were looking forward to future collaborations. I knew that he was struggling, but I had no idea that he would be gone so soon. Hollywood has lost a shining star.”
In the wake of Winston’s death following a seven-year battle against multiple myeloma cancer, Aliens producer Anne Hurd told Variety: “Stan Winston never looked at anything as a problem. It was always an opportunity. I never saw him defeatist, regardless of what may have happened. And he had an incredible childlike passion for films and for makeup effects and animatronics.”
Tags: Design Stuff, Experience Design Stuff, Technology Stuff
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