Episode 3: Jurassic Park

Art of the Score

For our third episode, we look at another great Williams-Spielberg collaboration with the 1993 score to Jurassic Park. This landmark film redefined special effects and Hollywood itself, but what did it do for film music? Join us as we take a look at the main themes for the score and the hidden gems – and go from gospel, to jazz, to hymns along the way. Episode Notes: - 2:30 Notes on Jurassic Park as a Spielberg film and its place in film history - 7:10 Theme From Jurassic Park - 10:00 The main theme as a hymn - 15:00 The structure of the main theme - 17:20 The end credits version of the theme - 21:00 The ‘Journey to the Island’ theme - 23:30 Comparison with ‘Summon the Heroes’ - 26:00 The ‘sheen’ to the thematic orchestration - 29:56 The ‘panic’ theme - 31:45 Comparison with Dies Irae - 41:10 Comparison with later John Williams ‘suspense’ music - 43:45 Petticoat Lane - 47:00 Comparison with other John Williams celeste writing - 49:00 Triceratops music - 53:32 Dennis’s music and comparison with JFK - 55:40 Williams’ jazz influences - 57:15 The development of the action music - 1:00:25 The raptor motif - 1:01:00 The animation jazz and comparison with Gershwin - 1:03:30 Williams’ use of synth - 1:08:50 ‘Incident at Isla Nublar’ - 1:12:00 Comparison with 1990s synth action music We’d love to hear from our listeners – get in touch via Twitter, and if you like The Art of the Score, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and comment.