Complete Cue List: The Lost World: Jurassic Park

[Faleel 5,346]

I think some of my favourite moments in the score are when Williams nods to other pieces.

First and foremost "Steiner in the Grass" is an OBVIOUS homage to "The Island" from the Original King Kong which, if you look at the story of TLW, its almost based on it and Williams being Spielbergs "Max," it only makes sense to give a nod to that.

Secondly, I love when nick is in "Camp Jurassic" and as the camera reveals the mural for the park as it was intended to be, you hear a direct lift from the score to JP in "Entrance of the Park." Which, for all those interested in a little side story, I emailed that guy who painted it (and the mural in the Visitor Center in JP) and here's a piece of that conversation:

"I'm afraid Hollywood doesn't need dinosaur artists to inform their design teams any longer--everyone's familiar with the material now. The following Jurassic Park movies didn't result in any work for me--apart from a poster on the wall in Jurassic Park II that I sold Amblin for $15.00. I met the producer of the third Jurassic Park movie a few years ago who mentioned how everyone had used my books as resources for their designs. I suggested he hire me next time--and that I liked doing books because it allowed me to direct. Doubt I made a good impression.

Best,

Doug Henderson"

Another great moment for me in is, of course, the arrival at the Jurassic Park: San Diego facility. Great moment. (It's only a model. Shh!)

JP2 and III fulfilled one of my wishes for the JP scores, a heroic theme, and that came in the form of the majestic Island theme statments in "Visitor in San-diego" and "Ambush and Finale"

[Incanus 5,714]

Thank you for the interesting tidbits Goodmusician, especially the homage to Steiner which was obvious from the track title but I could not pinpoint what in King Kong it was paying homage to.

I am currently doing an analysis on the score (layman analysis, not full of musical theory or anything like that) and this is another small thing to add to the track-by-track analysis. I promise to mention all the good people who contributed these wonderful insights to this thread and JP discussion in general.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

I love that 'Steiner in the Grass' sequence. Great example of fusion between music and film. The slick Latin drum groove and those open fourths in the horns and bones.

Does anyone else see a similarity between the suspense theme heard in the second half of The Falling Car and High Wire Stunts, and that terrorist motif from BLACK SUNDAY? They both feature chromatically rolling thirds doubled at octaves, giving a sort of Gothic effect. Maybe it's just another Williamsism?

Also - not sure if anyone else has picked this up, but we're missing a page (4 bars) on The Trek - 113-16.

[GoodMusician 56]

Does anyone else see a similarity between the suspense theme heard in the second half of The Falling Car and High Wire Stunts, and that terrorist motif from BLACK SUNDAY? They both feature chromatically rolling thirds doubled at octaves, giving a sort of Gothic effect. Maybe it's just another Williamsism?

If I'm following you, it's similar but backwards? Nice catch...

Also of note is how "Revealing the Plans" is like a diminished version of both the Island Theme and the Jurassic Park theme from JP which are melded together until it goes major and you hear the fanfare at the end.

If I had more time, I would help you with your TLW breakdown. I've nearly finished mine for JP, even started a video series about it on YouTube. I had been contemplating doing one for TLW but until today, I hadn't had the chance to fully redo my TLW edit and finish studying the score but there are a lot of little things like that.

Also - not sure if anyone else has picked this up, but we're missing a page (4 bars) on The Trek - 113-16.

There's also a page missing in "The Round Up" if I recall. Threw me for a loop a few times. lol

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

Thank you for the interesting tidbits Goodmusician, especially the homage to Steiner which was obvious from the track title but I could not pinpoint what in King Kong it was paying homage to.

I am currently doing an analysis on the score (layman analysis, not full of musical theory or anything like that) and this is another small thing to add to the track-by-track analysis. I promise to mention all the good people who contributed these wonderful insights to this thread and JP discussion in general.

I think malcom's journey also has a a King Kong homage, though i may be worng.

Definately if you listen to king kong (after TLW) at one point you find, hey this sounds like TLW. It was very obvious for me.

I think giacchino payed hommage too in UP, when the protagonists are led to the zeppelin cave by the dogs. I think he king kong, but with a TLW feel to it.

[Incanus 5,714]

Bump!

A small advertisement: The Complete Score Analysis available in the Reviews section.

Thanks to everybody who have contributed to this and other JP discussion in this and other threads.

Datameister, Jason, Goodmusician and all the rest!

P.S. Feedback on the analysis would be appreciated so I can make corrections. Especially to the musical theory side, as I have been perhaps too bold to add some of it into the analysis even though I have very limited knowledge of it.

[GoodMusician 56]

Love it! Makes me want to watch the movie again hehe

some notes:

1) The original Koepp script for TLW was almost identical to the novel except that it had to take into account Hammond being alive and a few other small details. It had Ian developing a group like in the novel and going to reconstruct his reputation. Hints of similar themes are used in the final script/film but his main motivation changes completely.

The other major difference was Spielberg asked Koepp to write the script first rather than, like In Jurassic Park, having other hands (including Michael Crichton himself) have a go. Koepp had been the final writer of the script for JP (working from both Crichton's and another writers drafts) where as in The Lost World, Koepp never so much as phoned Crichton about it. They were developed separately. The evolution of the script to what we saw on the screen, however, I would argue, was mostly Speilberg who made a lot of interesting decisions during the production of the film.

Despite having a massive budget, Spielberg didn't utilize a lot of it. Originally, New Zealand had been spotted for location filming but due to the expense was dropped and exchanged for locations in Northern California which, although they look great, came at a price--they were filming a "tropical island" in winter and many night scenes reveal puffs of "breath." The price of building a backlot "Workers Village" also must have changed his decision on building on the backlot, shrinking the town from being a massive pterosaur ending, to simply a walk though, exchanging the ending for the San Diego Sequence, an Homage to "King Kong" and maintaining the set for years to be utilized for other productions such as "Sliders" and a few others. The Main building of course still stands and was reused in JP3.

2) The Main Theme from The Lost World to me always felt like an adventure but one of the reasons I felt was because of its minor key scale ascension that almost built up the scale as one walking towards something. Not very technical I'm afraid but it gives the impression.

3) It may be worth mentioning that many references to the original JP themes were cut and the Theme from The Lost World was tracked into a few scenes to add to the sense of adventure. One such scene that you mention but didn't have the music used as intended was the finale to the film. The Triumphant Island Theme is utilized but was not written for that scene.

4) You do later mention the tracking, but one thing I would say is that for the most part, editing was done with respect to the score.

For example, since "The Round Up" scene was extended and restructured which would have created major problems trying to edit the cue Williams wrote for it. In its' stead, they used edits from many other tracks (I imagine due to William's unavailability). Also, the usage of the Lost World theme in the finale (Ludlow's Death) is in a way, a continuation of a tradition started in Jurassic Park of showing the T-Rex in a triumphant hero sort of light. In Jurassic Park, the Rex's appearance was rescored with tracked music to make it heroic in the same way.

5) I would also mention that a lot of the 'motifs' are more percussive than melodic. For instance, each track seems to have a nearly unique percussion to it, with each instrument echoing the percussion at varying points.

That's all I can think of now heh

Great read!