Welcome to this ongoing soundtrack series where I analyze the musical score of the greatest
tv shows, movies and video games.
It is here where I discuss how a soundtrack compliments it’s corresponding title, along
with how it came to be.
In this episode, I’ll be going over the 1993 dinosaur simulator hit film “Jurassic
Park”.
Composed by John Williams.
Within the episode I’ll go over transitioning from 2 conflicting moods, the film’s tone,
and the importance of it’s leitmotifs.
If you are afraid of dinosaurs or thought that this was video to help you to cope with
that fear, I honestly have no idea how you got here, but you might not wanna stick around.
Before starting, if you haven’t already, you should subscribe.
This is a continuous soundtrack analysis series and I think you’ll find other scores that
I’ve gone over already.
Find that playlist in the card above.
I also release analysis videos on a weekly basis.
With all that said, let’s begin.
Williams set out to replicate the sense of astonishment and enchantment that come from
seeing a creature that has been dead for so long that you wouldn’t believe its existance.
There is mystery and overpowering enthusiasm, which John prevailed in within Jurassic Park
that wins the audience in the end.
When Williams first sought out to write the score for the film, he ultimately was unable
to conduct some final cues within the orchestra due to back injury, which he handed the conducting
job over to musical conductor and composer, Artie Kane.
Even without his usual presence conducting the whole project, John put just as much time
and effort into the music as he would any other session.
And needless to say, this score went beyond the average threshold of success.
To better complement the unworldly land of dinosaurs, Williams wanted to embed the sound
of dinosaur noise within the music.
John was inspired by Academy Award winning sound designer, Gary Rydstrom, who worked
on the sound design for the dinosaurs in the film.
He imitated this act by handling the orchestra in a more animated arrangement with unusual
breakaways from standard musical variations, which created a weathered and shrill effect.
What Williams eventually resulted with was a more exciting and happier tone than he anticipated,
which he was cheerful for in the end.
The music production for Jurassic Park worked parallel with Steven Spielberg’s production
on “Schindler’s List” in Poland, which meant Williams’ team wasn’t able to relay
all the details of their work.
This was the first time in Spielberg’s career where he wasn’t able to attend the recording
sessions for a movie he worked on.
John sent Steven demo tapes with broken-down piano versions of the motifs, which was enough
for the director to give great praise for Williams’ progression.
When it came to figuring out what instruments John insisted on using for the score, he kept
the traditional large orchestra with a variation of unique instruments that added a taste to
the extraordinary world created by Michael Crichton.
A variety of Percussion, two harps, baritone horns, strings (both violin and upright bass)
and a harmonizing choir.
These instruments were the body of the soundtrack’s sound.
The supplemented unique instruments include: a celesta keyboard, the woodwind section,
such as the Japanese bamboo flute named the Shakuhachi and the Piccolo oboe, as well as
a combination of synthesized tones.
Although the majority of the synthesized portion of the score is subtle, they are often supporting
the woodwind section in accordance for a prominent sound, but tracks, such as “Dennis Steals
the Embryos”, highlights the synths considerably.
The music of the film is focused on a 2 central moods that conflict with one another, happiness
and fear.
To match the 2 conflicting emotions, Williams draws together 3 main themes for the movie:
2 revolving around discovery and thrill, and 1 producing the peril change.
Let’s start off with “Theme from Jurassic Park”.
This first leitmotif is the most important and memorable of the lot, as it has been defined
as Williams’ greatest work.
It’s a passive theme that plays off a delicate and alluring tone that holds the powerful
awareness of encountering the dinosaurs in the park; it is first heard when the main
convoy of guests reach the Brachiosaurus.
The stringed section leads the sequence to express the eternal elegant nature of the
dinosaurs with gentle highs that match the divine presentation on screen.
The second major theme of the movie is the Park’s main overture, “Journey to the
Island”.
The musical piece is the prelude that takes a dignified fanfare guided by the trumpet
and horn section.
It’s first heard near the beginning of the first act, when the helicopter reaches Isla
Nublar with Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, that old philosopher, and this guy.
This particular scene also carries over into “Theme from Jurassic Park”, which is usually
included in variations of “Journey to the Island”, or vice versa.
At the points when the track is recycled and altered along with “Theme from Jurassic
Park”, it allows the park to hold onto the pair as a leitmotif for the park itself and
give sections of the park a different taste while keeping the overall theme.
The third and most complex theme highlighted in the movie is “The Raptor Attack”.
This theme differentiates from the previous two, as it is the menacing track out of the
three.
With a 4-note overlay that grabs the score’s orchestra and leads them in a jagged direction.
This serves as the symbol of danger with the carnivorous dinosaurs and their presence.
The mood within “The Raptor Attack” is cued through various scenes involving the
Tyrannosaurus Rex and Velociraptors, particularly the kitchen sequence.
This leitmotif is channeled into other tracks such as, “Incident at Isla Nublar”,
“High-Wire Stunts”
and “T-Rex Rescue & Finale”.
One of the most interesting pieces that hold this crisis theme is within the track titled,
“Hatching Baby Raptor”.
The scene presents the birth of a raptor, obviously, but the danger motif has a light
presence in this track, which symbolizes the immature nature of the velociraptor and it’s
future threatening characteristic.
Williams captured his inspiration for this theme from his experience with past suspenseful
scores, such as Jaws, where he experimented with the orchestral limits of tension.
In Jurassic Park, he wanted to give the impression that the moments of danger were to embody
a horror and anxiety aspect.
One of the greatest strengths of this score is how these themes link to one another.
There is power within the score that traverses between these feelings, which doesn’t always
succeed in movies, especially when the main theme engulfs the overall mood, even with
other emotions involved.
For instance, It can be difficult to show that same influence when a film moves onto
a new act.
The emotion within the soundtrack is telling the story in a separate manner and it’s
sounds like this that we will always remember.
Before I give my final thoughts on Jurassic Park’s score, don’t forget to subscribe
to keep up to date with the Score UnCovered series.
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Based on your interest for Jurassic Park, you can find my analysis on John Williams’
introduction to Harry Potter.
I’ll continue to work on other film’s scored by Williams in the future.
If you want to request a movie, tv show or video game for Score UnCovered, let me know
here on YouTube or on my Facebook and Twitter page.
The music of Jurassic Park is a part of musical score history.
The passion we see on screen is found within it’s soundtrack and that sort of connection
rarely happens.
That additive opening of the movie’s main theme gives the viewer that boost of energy
only found in a luminous project.
Williams has a way to develop the nerves of a film within his sound.
There are many times when you watch one of his films where you can’t help but build
the characters, setting and story with John’s participation.
This dinosaur flick hits us with an original taste of adventure and excitement.
The melodies and it’s mood is lasting.
When you find a score that has the strength and effectiveness like in Jurassic Park, it
will never fail us.
I want to thank you for watching this episode of “Score UnCovered”.
Ending the episode here, once more, thank you greatly.