RE: Jurassic Park 4 - new dinosaur, no feathers

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@umd.edu>]

> From: owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu [mailto:owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu] On Behalf Of 
> David Krentz
> Sent: Tuesday, April 09, 2013 1:40 AM
> 
> On Apr 8, 2013, at 8:26 AM, Richard W. Travsky <rtravsky@uwyo.edu> wrote:
> 
> "Maybe non feathery skin is easier to render, especially when lots of 
> movement is involved, and thus cheaper to produce."
> 
> 
>   With their budget, their top-end FX house and advances in feather/fur 
> rendering that would be the lamest excuse.  I'm sure it
has to
> do with the pre-conceived notions about what Jurassic Park dinosaurs are 
> supposed to look like and the audiences expectations,
for
> better or for worse.

What David said.

The "it's too expensive to do feathers" mantra that production companies use to 
justify not doing modern dinosaurs is getting tired
and is inaccurate. Look at commercials, TV shows, etc.: CG birds and mammals 
are rendered ALL THE FRICKIN' TIME!!  This is NOT the
reason they are doing it. They are doing it because of the reason Hollywood 
does everything: ultimately, most people in Hollywood
are just involved in repackaging the same stuff over and over and over again, 
because change is scary. This is true for scripts,
actors, plotlines, settings, and--yes--special effects.

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Email: tholtz@umd.edu   Phone: 301-405-4084
Office: Centreville 1216                        
Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Dept. of Geology, University of Maryland
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/
Fax: 301-314-9661               

Faculty Director, Science & Global Change Program, College Park Scholars
http://www.geol.umd.edu/sgc
Fax: 301-314-9843

Mailing Address:        Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                        Department of Geology
                        Building 237, Room 1117
                        University of Maryland
                        College Park, MD 20742 USA