THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK
John Williams on a symphonic rampage
By Mikko Ojala
(original post & discussion)
In 1997 four years after the original box office monster Jurassic Park had stomped on to the big screen and brought the dinosaurs so vividly to life through the magic of special effects wizardry, Steven Spielberg released the much clamored sequel to his hit film. The Lost World: Jurassic Park was loosely based on the novel by Michael Chrichton whose own initial reluctance for writing a sequel (he had never done so before) was finally assuaged by Spielberg himself who requested it after the success of the first film. The second Jurassic Park novel was released in 1995 and after the period of adaptation of the book into a script (by David Koepp) the production of the new movie began in 1996. Koepp’s script retains only some major outlines of the novel, mainly the locale of Isla Nublar’s sister island Isla Sorna, forsakes nearly all the characters and uses some broad ideas of the action that took place in the book and replaces the ending (actually a suggestion from Spielberg during the late stages of the production. The original ending was more in line with the novel) with a dinosaur rampage through San Diego. Also some elements of the script are taken from the original novel Jurassic Park, especially the scenes with the Compsognathi from various points in that story. The only retuning character from the previous film is the nervous and edgy chaos theorist and a mathematician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) with a whole new supporting cast of Malcolm’s love interest paleontologist Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore), Malcolm’s teenage daughter Kelly (Vanessa Lee Chester), a big game hunter Roland Tembo (Pete Postlethwaite), John Hammond’s nephew Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard), a documentarian and environmental activist Nick Van Owen (Vince Vaughn) and Roland’s second-in-command Dieter Stark (Peter Stormare). In addition the film features a cameo apprearance of three main characters from the original film, Richard Attenborough reprising his role as John Hammond the capitalist entrepreneur now turned naturalist and Joseph Mazzello and Ariana Richards as his grandchildren Tim and Lex Murphy.
The film takes place several years after the horrifying events of Jurassic Park. Dr. Ian Malcolm, a survivor of the Isla Nublar incident is drawn much against his will back to the world of dinosaurs by John Hammond who invites him to lead a scientific expedition to another island full of dinosaurs. Hammond has kept the knowledge of Isla Nublar’s sister island Isla Sorna secret from the world and reveals that it was originally the site of the creation of the dinosaurs and that they were bred and raised there and then moved to the larger Isla Nublar and the park itself. These beasts are by some miracle still alive and well even though they were supposed to die without human provided nutrients. Malcolm refuses flatly to go but is forced to accept Hammond’s offer as he hears that the millionaire has hired his girl friend paleontologist Sarah Harding to document the dinosaurs in their natural habitat. She jumped at the chance and is already on the island. With no alternative Malcolm wants to mount a rescue operation immeadiately. Thus begins the journey to the island that conincides with the plans of the ruthless head of the InGen Bioengineering Peter Ludlow of salvaging dinosaurs from the island to reap profit from them, the operation going awry, dinosaurs on a rampage, a desperate escape from the island and finally a T-Rex on the loose in the streets of San Diego. The stuff of wildest dinosaur dreams for monster hungry movie crowds.
The Lost World proved to be another box office smash even though its world wide gross was considerably less than its predecessors’. It still held the record for the best opening weekend for 4 and half years until another Williams scored film, Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone (2001) dethroned it and the highest single day box office take for a couple of years until Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace claimed the honor (again scored by Mr. Williams).
Despite the huge box office success the film got mixed reviews that commented both positively and negatively on the plot, the characters and the action and the movie garnered a plethora of mainly special effects plaudits, award nominations and wins. It was even nominated for Razzies in three categories but lost in all of them.
Whatever merits or failings the film itself has, its score stands proudly as one of the most unique, daring and energetic of John Williams’ career. Here in his 14th collaboration with Steven Spielberg the composer has once again renewed himself and indeed created in chameleon style a new voice. The music is as much a departure as it is a return to the sound of Jurassic Park, the composer treading different ground in the sequel that contains only hints of the familiar themes and atmosphere that was so effective and made dinosaurs so magical only four years prior.
New sound for the sequel
Steven Spielberg’s initial impulse was to create something different for this film, as he well knew that it would certainly not so much about the wonder of the dinosaurs anymore and more about darker sense of adventure, and so he asked from Williams a different style of score than its predecessor had been. He wanted it to be tropical, percussive and driving, addressing as much the action as it did the location. Williams when interviewed for the The Lost World :Jurassic Park DVD documentary commented on the starting point for the new score: Steven’s idea was that this was all taking place on an island in some Carribean area and that the music might have, might be driven by some drums if you like. Or some sort of ethnic or jungle kind of texture or flavour that might drive the music and might give it a kind of unique flavour. And so much of what in the action sequences I did, to begin with atleast, was driven by this drum thing, which I enjoyed and we had some wonderful percussionists come onto the stage and it contributed in a nice flavour, I think, to the film.[1]
Themes for a Lost World
With the new locale, characters and situations it seems like Williams started writing almost from scratch and in this respect the score resembles his gripping and thrilling sequel score for Jaws 2, where he created a whole new extension for the franchise’s world to complement the famous Jaws theme with all new musical motifs and ideas. Similarly here the familiar and famous main themes from Jurassic Park return, the Island Fanfare that previously addressed the heroic and adventurous side of the action in Jurassic Park, most notably underscoring the magnificent helicopter approach to Isla Nublar, is used in mostly subtle references, rising only a few times to heroic proportions and the actual hymn-like Theme from Jurassic Park (titledDinosaurs in the score) appearing only in the last scene to signal a happy ending to Ian Malcolm’s adventure. Returning would also be the haunting and ominous 4-note Carnivore motif, that in the first film heralded the appearance of the most dangerous dinosaurs, makes fleeting appearances in the sequel as the dreaded Velociraptors are mentioned for the first time.
The Lost World
The new primary musical idea of the Lost World is the theme that carries the same name. This heroic, energetic and questing melody is usually carried by the horns, trombones and strings, augmented by a varied battery of rolling percussion, creating at once the sense of travel, exotic location and adventure with a hint of danger to it. The theme begins with a minor key scale ascension that almost builds up through the scale and gives a feeling of progress and movement towards a goal. Williams composed a concert version for the end credits (this piece can be heard as the opening of the original soundtrack album). Pounding drums announce the theme, playing a forceful rhythm that carries through the whole piece and becomes a sort of musical motif in itself. The swaying melody, almost a Spanish or South American flavoured waltz or sarabande surges forward with dazzling brass and percussion interjections, woodwind runs and subtle synth accompaniment, becoming more and more agitated, hinting danger and sudden dire events in its bridge melody but finally overcoming the obstacles and returning to the main theme, bursting victoriously to a rapturous and rhythmic finale augmented by the whole percussion section, tambourine adding an almost festive colour to the proceedings.
Here Williams has created a perfect theme for a jungle adventure that in its contours captures both the excitement of exploration and awe and the danger of such places as an island full of dinosaurs and contains the right amount of exoticism. Noteworthy is that despite being the main theme of the score, this musical idea is used sparingly in the context of the film where its grander readings are reserved for exploration and most adventurous moments and slower somber variations for more meaningful scenes.
The Island’s Voice
The other central musical motif in the score is a lot subtler but ever pervasive, basically a replacement for the original 4-note Carnivore motif from the first film. This new 4-note motif, which from now on is called The Island’s Voice in this analysis, is at least initially more mysterious and ominous than the cruelly rising and direct Carnivore motif from the previous film yet remains a close cousin to it. Williams uses these 4 notes to maximum effect in his music, injecting the score with this signal throughout the film, often cleverly interpolating it to nearly any situation, a grim reminder of the dangers inherent in the encounters between dinosaurs and men. This music often appears to warn us of the carnivorous dinosaurs, Velociraptors and the T-Rexes and to create a sense of foreboding that is so clearly and well captured in these 4 simple notes falling and rising. This material is often woven into the frenetic and percussive action sequences with such skill that it is hard to notice this musical backbone of the entire score from its environment. And as the story progresses so does the insistence and weight of this musical signal, assuming ponderous and exclamatory form in the final scenes of the Tyrannosaur loose in San Diego.
The Percussion and jungle sounds
As mentioned above in Williams’ own quote, the percussion plays a large part in the orchestrations of this score and lends a very specific texture and feel to the music. This collection of instruments includes e.g. congas, bongos, “jungle drums”, taiko drums, gourds, guiro, log drums and tabla alongside the more traditional orchestral percussion and timpani providing a pulse and rhythm that drives the events constantly forward. The brooding, tropical atmosphere is further enhanced by other instruments, such as shakuhachi and “animal sounds” played by a synthesizer.[2]
Williams has several different percussion instruments or sections playing layered rhythms over and under the orchestral textures and motifs and offering them even some solo moments where the pure percussion rhythm independently churns underneath the action before the next burst of thematic ideas from the orchestra.
Aleatoric Procompsognathi and other terrors
Another common stylistic element in this score is aleatoric writing. To create a sense of chaos and terror, Williams provides a series of pitches to a group of instruments and instructs them to play them quickly ad lib for a given number of measures. Although this technique has been used in many scores by Williams and other composers, The Lost World employs this effect with unusual frequency.[3]
In fact this chirping, whirling, wild and agitated aleatoric writing becomes in itself a musical signature for the small carnivorous Compsognathi dinosaurs and is heard whenever they appear.
The aleatoric writing is also attached to the most frenzied of the action music and underscores the dinosaur attacks throughout the movie but it is especially noticeable in the Raptor sequence towards the end of the film. This bed of sizzling effects adds another layer of raw terror to the proceedings, lending animalistic furore to the score.
As a whole the sequel score is much darker than its predecessor as the film does not offer us so much moments of awe and marvel as mounting anticipation of the coming terrifying encounters with the dinosaurs. There is less a sense of mystery than there is of foreboding and Williams’ music enhances this feel considerably from the start. At appropriate moments the music will also sound heroic, positive and luminous often quoting the old themes with almost a sense of nostalgia but as a whole Williams roots the score in darker textures and motifs with lots of low woodwind, string and brass writing, earthy tones, complex rhythms and driving beats. The rhythm seems to define this music so much that many pieces seem to revolve solely around them, forgoing themes for pure percussive effect and each track seems to have a nearly unique percussion rhythm and feel to it, with each instrument echoing the percussion at varying points. Williams offers a small personal analysis on the differences of the two Jurassic Park scores in the DVD interview: I have not made an experiment of comparing the two scores but I think we’d find that Lost World is probably more frightening, maybe more dissonant, maybe a little bit more… with little harder edge to it and maybe scarier than Jurassic Park would be, of necessity because of the different styles and look and texture of each film. [4]
The new score is as Williams puts it more aggressive and harsher, the action music more propulsive than thematic or balletic like in many previous Spielberg/Williams collaborations perhaps taking its cue from its predecessor Jurassic Park where Williams already constructed his action set pieces around small musical cells like the aforementioned Carnivore motif and built independent yet stylistically connected action sequences for that film. This new sound fits the movie to perfection complementing and enhancing its atmosphere and world considerably. It could be said that The Lost World is to an extent a watershed between the old Williams sound of the early 90’s and the modern Williams of the 2000’s. It contains elements from both worlds and perhaps is reflection of change in the film making as well, the movies demanding more and more rhythmic propulsion and pulse over operatic and balletic thematic development that the composer is so known for, especially in Spielberg films. And surely Williams as an artist is ever self-improving and these shifts in his style could be seen as development of his compositional voice and thinking throughout this period.
The Lost World pillaged in post production
It is a well-known fact that film music is nearly always presented in some way edited form in the film as the medium often requires adjustments to the one hundreth of a second, fast changes for new edits of scenes or the whole film, the music facilitating special effects work etc. and The Lost World is no different. Steven Spielberg usually serves Williams’ music with enormous respect and has even in a couple of instances done the opposite of the norm and edited his film to music (the finale of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial is the classical example) but in The Lost World music went through a bit more rigorous editing process. It might have been the last minute special effects work as the movie did have longer scenes with CGI dinosaurs and ILM did a lot of late post production work on the material or the last minute change of the film’s ending but whatever the reason was, the score was tinkered with quite heavily in places. Tracking took place most likely because so late in the post production there was no time for Williams to write replacement material nor prepare additional pick-up scoring sessions before the release of the film and his other film commitments that year (Seven Years in Tibet and Spielberg’s second film Amistad) would not allow it. Most notable case of tracking, made evident by its frequent use, is the inserting of the concert/end credits version of the Lost World theme into many scenes where Williams had either written different music or that were not scored at all. The comparison of these replacements with the original musical ideas would indicate that Williams’ original vision of the music is a good dose darker than what the film makers wanted in the end as the most prominent placements of the tracked main theme suggests a need to add positive, heroic or triumphant feel to the sequences and keep the main theme in the music throughout the score, whereas Williams most often refrains from using it.
Editing and tracking of the music in the film itself present a slightly fragmentary picture of the score as a whole, especially when the finished product is compared to the sheet music. It is not the worse case of film music being edited to pieces (like e.g. Alien) in the post production but this is the first so prominent a case in a Spielberg/Williams collaboration even though done here with certain amount of respect to his original ideas. With the help of the invaluable source of the sheet music it has been possible to reconstruct with good accuracy the music as Williams originally conceived it.
The original soundtrack album released at the time the film came out offered a generous 70 minutes of music from the film, presenting some of the major hightlights from the score and Williams as is his habit, edited together and truncated some musical sequences for a listening experience. The complete score runs almost 2 hours so more than 40 minutes of music remain in the film itself, unreleased.
Track-by-track analysis
All tracks are named by their original Williams given cue sheet titles. This is followed in parentheses by the track title on the Original Soundtrack album if the music is on it and time stamps of where in the track the music can be found.
1. The Island’s Voice (1m1) 3:32 (OST track 2 The Island Prologue, 0:00-3:32)
Rumbling contra clarinets, tam tams and ominously murmuring low strings open the score as we see a tropical coastline, hear the crashing of the waves and a title card announces the location: Isla Sorna 87 Miles Southwest of Isla Nublar. As the main titles appear Williams introduces the 4-noteIsland’s Voice motif on eerie synthesizers (the sound named in the written score as Animal Call) which is repeated twice over a bed of low woodwinds and subtle percussion (0:15-0:32). A solitary flute and brass voices slowly rise, supported by growing orchestral swells and percussion, piano adding sudden icy notes to the building atmosphere. With this musical portent the film introduces us to a luxurious yacht anchored off the coast of the island with the ship’s bustling crew and a rich British Bowman family coming into view. The music is eerie, uncomfortable, full of muted colours from brass, sizzling cold synthesizer sounds, yawning strings, cascades from the harp, a complete opposite of what we are seeing, a well-to-do family on a cruise having a picnic on the shore on a sunny day, but Williams’ music is most expressively presaging that something is not right.
It is suppertime on the beach and the Bowman family’s little girl Cathy goes off to explore the beach with a sandwich in hand. At 2:04 a curious small melodic snippet on clarinet with synthesizer doubling is introduced as the girl arrives at the tropical forest edge and sees a little green lizard in the underbrush. She approaches it and wonders aloud what it is, even feeding some of her sandwich to the more than eager animal. At this point the music becomes increasingly uncomfortable, with all the different orchestral sections (especially the woodwinds and stopped horns) producing nervous and uneasy sounds until at 2:37 a climbing flute figures announce the arrival of a whole pack of these small green creatures from the jungle, the orchestra mimicing their movement and sounds and creating a threatning but curious feel as the Compsognathi surround the now frightened girl, jumping for the sandwich.
Williams presents here furious aleatoric writing for the Compsognathi that chirps and whirls, pace quickening, percussion pounding more and more agitated, sharp brass, rhythmic jabs from strings, shrill woodwind runs all careening into a rage. As the ship’s crew and the parents hear the little girl’s screams and rush to see what is wrong the Island’s Voice motif sounds again in trombones towards the frenzied finale (at 3:09-3:15) buried underneath the chaos, the final percussion supported woodwind scream underscoring the horrified scream of the mother rushing to the scene. The sudden end of the cue leads to the next scene where we see a tired Ian Malcolm yawning in a New York subway, the image mirroring the screaming mother.
Spielberg quite cleverly allowed Williams to score the action letting the music tell us what has happened, the raging orchestra perfectly depicting a furious carnage happening off-screen and the sudden building panic in the scene.
***
Ian Malcolm, a chaos theorist and a mathematician, one of the survivors of the Jurassic Park incident, is on his way to meet John Hammond, the owner of the disastrous dinosaur theme park, who has invited him to his palatial residence for some mysterious reason. He is ushered into the house to the refined sound of Ludvig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, op. 13 ‘Pathetique (Performed here by Jeno Jando) playing softly in the background and he meets in the hall Hammond’s grand children Lex and Tim with whom he shares a warm moment. But before Malcolm has a chance to see John Hammond he runs into his nephew and current CEO of InGen corporation Peter Ludlow with whom he obviously is at odds. They exchange icy insults, Malcolm finding out that Ludlow has wrested the control of InGen from his uncle and has plans of his own for it. We cut to Hammond’s bedroom to hear the old tycoon…
2. Revealing the Plans (2m2) 2:13 (OST track 8 Hammond’s Plan 0:00-2:13)
With Mozart’s Piano Sonata in A Minor, K.310 playing gently somewhere in the background John Hammond tells the tale of the second island and proposes that Ian Malcolm would lead a four member scientific team to document the dinosaurs living there. Malcolm flatly refuses, remembering all too well the incidents on Isla Nublar four years ago and vows that he will stop the rest of the team from going. The cue starts as Hammond reveals that Sarah Harding is on the team, a smoky alto flute solo opening the piece with an air of mystery and apprehension, melody subtly suggesting the Island fanfare and the main theme from Jurassic Park in its contours drifting ominously over low strings. Harp ghosted by a subtle but sharp synthesizer effect (marked “zither” in the manuscript), flute and the string section lend a tentative and enigmatic air to Hammond’s revelation that Sarah is already on the island as Malcolm tries to call her. He is now both furious and worried. Music is waiting, almost holding its breath, Hammond tries to convince Malcolm of the safety of the expedition and Sarah’s situation on the island when a small melodic snippet on oboe with harp and horn support finally seems to finish a quick deliberation and as Ian Malcolm announces that he is going and this will be a rescue mission the score opens into a heroic full orchestra statement of the Island Fanfare, the orchestration recalling the cue Jurassic Park Gate from the original film. As we see Malcolm leaving Hammond smiles satisfied having just gathered up his team.
***
Malcolm meets up with the other members of his team, a video documentarian Nick Van Owen (Vince Vaughn) and a field equipment expert Eddie Carr (Richard Schiff) at Carr’s busy workshop full of all kinds of travel and survival gear the latest technology can provide. Not only does he meet the technician and the photographer but also his enstranged teenage daughter Kelly who he had invited to meet at the workshop and who he should be looking after since her mother went off to Paris on short notice. Malcolm is trying to send her off to stay with a friend called Karen for the weekend as he is obviously busy but Kelly refuses. They argue (another Spielberg trope, poor parent/child relationships), the poor father being outmatched by the daughter and as Malcolm turns his attention elsewhere for a moment in preparation of the coming trip Kelly goes wandering about in the workshop.
3. To the Island (3m1) 3:37 (OST track 3 Malcolm’s Journey 0:00-3:37)
The music starts as Kelly walks through the busy workshop and steps into a large trailer van full of blinking lights and high tech equipment. Strings, celeste, harp and woodwinds, most notably airy flutes and a distant call of a solo horn create a curious, luminous and magical feel as she explores the vehicle. Expectant build-up begins, bubbling woodwinds, synthesizer and upward stirring strings joining rest of the orchestral forces and a percussive “jungle drum” rhythm in triple meter, a first hint of the Lost World theme, emerges as the camera shows a close-up of the map of the sea and coast of Costa Rica and the islands marked Las Cinco Muertes, The Five Deaths.
We cut to a barge at sea, the vessel ploughing through the blue waves, the deck full of vehicles. Lower strings and woodwinds repeat a rhythmic pattern, borrowing the triple meter from the percussion that continue to pound their motif underneath the orchestra, the high strings presenting here for the first time in a nearly formal fashion the Lost World theme, the brass joining them in a robust declaration, harp decorating the upper ranges with dazzling slightly rhythmic glissandos. Music implies the sense of movement and travelling with its constant rhythm, the swaying theme itself here suggesting perhaps a sea voyage, brass intoning the main theme with assured spirit of adventure. As we see a wider shot of the mountaineous island that is their destination Williams provides a deeper and a hint more ominous rendition of the theme and continues to develop the material further, adding new instruments, woodwinds passing phrases of the theme around the orchestra accentuated by synthsizers. Ian Malcolm has been discussing with Eddie Carr but now turns to listen to Nick Van Owen who translates the reluctant barge captain’s horror stories about the islands. The Lost World theme continues underneath the dialogue and finally builds into a triumphant crescendo ushered by timpani and colored by tambourine and cymbal crash when we see the trailer and two cars bursting into view on their way through the jungles of Isla Sorna.
Malcolm follows the coordinates provided by Sarah’s satellite phone and tracks her signal in the jungle. He nears a riverbed and to his horror sees her broken and ripped backpack on the ground. Music changes pace accordingly to underscore this tension, the brass and strings sawing furiously, presenting an urgent variation on the Lost World theme, the ever present percussion propelling the men forward. And then the music suddenly comes to a dead stop as Malcolm searches Sarah’s backpack and discovers that her satellite phone is still inside. The trio shouts Sarah’s name trying to locate her but they soon find something else.
4. The Stegosaurus (3m2) 2:12 (OST track 11 The Stegosaurus 0:00-2:12)
The men watch in silent awe as gargantuan beasts emerge from the jungle to the rustling of leaves and branches and rumble of the earth under their feet. These creatures are Stegosauri whose massive size and gentle presence and awe they evoke are all reflected in Williams’ luminous score, orchestrationally and stylistically reminiscent of his music for the Brachiosauri and Triceratops in the first film. Slow low string harmonies swell accompanied by bubbling contraclarinets and flutes and a warm horn line, soon joined by the violins and violas and harp, creating an atmosphere of awe and wonder, the melody blooming into a gentle crescendo. Horns present an inquisitive searching melody with the celli and basses plucking a gentle pizzicato underneath to enhance the feel of these gentle giants as more Stegosauri appear from the forest. A clear solo flute and high strings offer a excited and curious melody as Nick Van Owen climbs closer to photograph the animals, the music rising to a sweet string swell as the frame reveals Sarah Harding in the same activity just few feet away.
Same awed atmosphere continues as woodwinds, high strings, horns and synthesizers present snatches of the previously heard melodic idea when Sarah notices both Malcolm and Eddie in the background and offers excited report of her findings only to be cut short by Ian holding her torn backpack, the warm music turning slightly ominous as alto flutes and double basses flutter to express Malcolm’s concern.
5. Finding the Baby (3m3) 3:08 (OST track 11 The Stegosaurus 2:13-end)
Without a pause Sarah is off to follow the Stegosaurus family, Malcolm and the two other men trailing after her. She continues to explain her findings, Ian protesting and complaining continually. The paleontologist leaves the men behind and creeps closer to get a better shot with her camera, crawling slowly through the underbrush. Tense strings open the piece, sawing away a little urgent motif as Sarah is approaching the Stegosauri, music remaining rhythmic and suspenceful for a brief moment until the dreamy awe-filled musical atmosphere of the previous cue returns when Sarah discovers a baby Stegosaurus behind the bushes. This short opening passage (0:00-0:26) was cut from the film, most likely because it enhanced the tension and suspence of the moment too much and undermined the surprise coming shortly after.
The score turns curious and probing as excited Sarah and the animal observe each other with mutual wonder. Same playful and gentle mood that filledMy Friend the Brachiosaurus track in Jurassic Park is very much apparent here even though this piece is less openly melodic. Flute, woodwinds, orchestral chimes and harp all create a luminous innocent quality to the scene but an unsettling undercurrent takes hold as brass plays threathning bursts underneath and a cold high string line offers gradually growing unease as if to tell us that something is about to happen.
And suddenly it does. When Sarah starts taking pictures of the baby her camera runs out of film and begins to rewind loudly. The dinosaur baby is alarmed by this new sound and lets out a fearful cry. The orchestra begins an almost march-like repeating rhythmic phrase that is joined by the percussion, the strings, brass and flutes becoming more and more insistent in their reading of the motif as the Stegosauri attack, protecting their baby, tense brass and shrill woodwind runs underscoring the tension and panic as Sarah, who is caught in the middle of the angry lumbering beasts, dives into a hollow log for safety to get away from the deadly spiked tails of the dinosaurs. As one of them rams its tail through the log, nearly impaling her, Williams underscores the impact with a cry from the horn section (at 2:22), low pounding piano notes and percussion (log drums, tablas and timbales) commenting the aftermath, orchestra and percussion slowly winding down as the beasts wander off, strings still playing the rhythmic action motif and fading into silence as the danger recedes into the jungle.
6. Fire at the Camp (4m1) 1:05 (unreleased)
The group is returning to the camp and Nick boasts of the footage he caught of the dinosaurs, dreaming of a Pulitzer prize, Sarah and Malcolm arguing about the dangers of coming to Isla Sorna. Williams provides a bit of travel music with percussion and lower strings and horns offering somewhat eerie jungle atmosphere for their discussion. Suddenly rhythmic celli and deep horns announce that something is wrong as Eddie spots smoke in their camp. Music continues urgent with the orchestra rumbling to signal danger when all rush to the trailer only to see Kelly, Malcolm’s daughter, coming out with a smoking frying pan, the girl proclaiming innocent intention of making dinner, the high strings releasing the tension and winding to a stunned finish in the low strings, underscoring Malcolm’s reaction.
What follows is an argument between Ian, Sarah and Kelly but their familial discussion is soon interrupted by the appearance of
7. Corporate Choppers (4m2) 2:24 (unreleased)
InGen choppers rumble into view carrying heavy machinery, log drums, jungle drums, marracas and tremoloing strings and horns announcing their arrival. Music is marked primitif in the score, the nervous high strings, alto flutes and low horns and trombones creating an ominous feel amidst the constant jungle percussion pulse. A queazy clarinet solo further enhances the sense of something being wrong, the brass finally building to a statement of the Island’s Voice motif at 1 minute mark, repeating it several times as we cut to Peter Ludlow and his associate, big game hunter and leader of the expedition, Roland Tembo in their jeep. Music is here practically announcing who the bad guys of this story are, tying the Island’s Voice theme as much to the dinosaur hunters as to the most ferocious of the beasts living on the island. As Roland countermands Ludlow’s ill-advised orders to his crew and gives a severe lecture on who is running the show, percussion continues its beat, woodwinds and brass veering into uncomfortable clusters and nervous rhythmic strings and synthetic voices announcing eerily the Island’s Voice again as the InGen team prepares to start
8. The Round Up (5m1) 3:30 (OST track 4 The Hunt, unused in the film)
This is the first actual action set piece of the score. Pounding low piano and percussion, sizzling tambourine notably adding its unique colour into the mix, repeat a rhythm that reveals itself to be the one associated with the Lost World theme, brass galloping to the fore, enhancing momentum and sense of panic and ferocity of the chaotic scene where the dinosaur flee from the pursuing humans. Williams uses fragments of the Lost World themeto underscore this wild chase, changing the heroic and questing nature of the composition to that of a terror and oppression, the insistent motivic fragments repeating continually in the brass, becoming almost tortured, percussion making heavy bursts, the music building steadily in orchestral power, like some monster rolling forward with unstoppable momentum. Cymbal crashes, flurries of panicked woodwinds, hooting horns, merciless timpani and the ever present snippets of the Lost World theme rhythm propel the cue along and finally to a slowly fading finish on percussion and low piano as the hunters have captured their prey, the music stopping as Dieter’s jeep closes in on the InGen team trying to capture the Parasaurolophus.
Sadly this brilliant aggressive and propulsive music (performance direction to the players marked bestial in the score) was not used in the film due to the fact that the scene was extended and restructured and thus would have created major problems in trying to conform the composition to the new picture. Still the original cue captures so vividly the ferocity and sheer terror of the wild chase on-screen that is it hard to believe that it was just discarded. It also cleverly hints that the only monsters in the scene are human, not the dinosaurs, pursuing them relentlessly with high tech equipment and rounding them up like cattle to be carted away off to an amusement park. Perhaps film makers felt that the composition was too powerful for the scene or that it might have dominated it or that it was too difficult to treat properly by editing and decided to use some tracked music in its stead. The changes made to the film were in the final stages of the post production and thus denied the composer a chance to rescore the scene properly. Williams was reportedly dismayed to hear that the music was discarded and the pride he took for this particular cue is easy to understand. It is the only sequence where he used the Lost World theme as a part of the action music in an active way, passing fragments of the material through the orchestra.
9. Big Feet (5m2) 1:28 (unreleased)
This cue begins as Malcolm’s team is surveying the end of the disheartening round-up, rising strings and horns performing a 2 chord motif (performance marked tortured in the score), chimes in particular adding a fateful feel to the scene. We then shift to Roland Tembo and his companion Ajay at the jungle’s edge, bent over a huge T-Rex footprint. The Island’s Voice motif appears first subtly in basses under a sheen of eerie synthesizer effects when Roland’s and Ajay’s faces are reflected from the puddle formed into the gigantic footprint. When the accompanying dinosaur expert Dr. Burke confirms to him that it is indeed a T-Rex print we hear the Island’s Voice repeated with stronger orchestral backing, horn soloing darkly in the background. English horn over low piano rumble and cold queasy strings and subtle comments from marimba are introduced as Tembo readies his gun, Ludlow arriving to congratulate him and then wondering where he is going. As Tembo walks off “to collect his fee” Ludlow follows a few steps behind but lands his foot into the puddle earning a sudden downward surge from the strings as the camera tilts to show the footprint again.
10. Spilling Petrol (5m3/6m1) 3:45 (unreleased)
This piece begins a two part musical sequence. The cue title refers to an unused part of this particular scene where Sarah and Nick sneak into the InGen camp to release the dinosaurs from their cages while the “hunters” are occupied by Ludlow’s presentation to the InGen board of directors. In the original cut there was a short segment where the duo sabotaged the vehicles by emptying the petrol from the gas tanks, hence the cue name. The percussion present a rhythmic base (marked driving jungle groove) for the suspence and jungle feel as Ludlow is giving his speech, the two “gatherers” creep around in the camp, sinister synth sounds accompanying them, celli and basses and high strings all maintaining tension.
Around 1 minute mark ghostly shakuhachi with synth doubling lets out a haunting sigh, violins and brass following a foreboding melodic line, music building around the percussion section, synthetic animal sound wailing in the background. Orchestral suspence comes suddenly to fore when Sarah and Nick open the heavy bolted doors of the dinosaur cages, high end orchestral sounds, harp, strings and synths commenting this turn in the events.
The drums return to focus, the camera showing us Ludlow’s tent where he continues his sales pitch to the board of directors, recounting Jurassic Park’s folly and the existence of park facilities in San Diego and his plan of recouping their losses with the captured dinosaurs. At the mention of the Jurassic Park amphitheater in San Diego the percussion give way to a nostalgic, nearly wistful, ghostly reading of the Island Fanfare passed through the woodwinds and horn section, the music without warning bursting into the Triceratops…
11. Horning In (5m3/6m1 Part II) 1:26 (unreleased)
The beginning of this cue actually consists of music repurposed from a later scene (see track 14 Truck Stop), Williams reorchestrating it for the dinosaur rampage in the InGen camp. The first 37 seconds come with some minor alterations from that cue, the composer adding some hooting horns and string effects to this material to underscore the Triceratops crashing into Ludlow’s tent and other dinosaurs escaping from their cages, wreaking bloody havoc around the camp, panicking the crew and scattering their equipment all around.
Rhythmic strings continue from 0:38 onwards backed by sharp snapping percussion beat as Nick finds and rescues the Tyrannosaur baby, used as bait by Roland Tembo to capture an adult T-Rex. This is followed by an almost militaristic reading of the previous string idea when Roland has returned to camp, surveying the damage, reprimanding his second-in-command Dieter Stark, deep brass and cold strings underscoring Dieter’s sullen look. The percussion suddenly subsides and the music shifts to an apprehensive orchestral passage as Sarah sees Nick bringing the injured T-Rex baby to their jeep.
In the van Malcolm and Kelly try in vain to contact their ferry when Sarah and Nick burst in with the baby T-Rex, Malcolm horrified and nervous, Sarah going straight for an operating table to find the damage done to the dinosaur by Tembo. Kelly panics and wants to go somewhere safe. Malcolm leads her to Eddie and…
12. Up in a Basket (6m2/7m1 Part I) 3:07 (unreleased)
Deep drums and alla marcia rhythmic horns begin a taut militaristic passage as we see Eddie asking Malcolm what is happening and the mathematician takes Kelly to the high-hide, a metallic cage that can be hoisted up to the trees with a winch to give an observation platform and safe vantage point for the team. There is a sense of anticipation and preparation in the music, Sarah and Nick trying help the T-Rex baby. Ghostly fluttering flutes, apprehensive strings and brass underscore the high-hide reaching above the tree tops, Kelly fretting about the dinosaurs and Malcolm is trying to comfort her. As he says they are now in a completely different situation than when he was in the Jurassic Park a loud roar of a Tyrannosaur echoes through the jungle. The following passage of music, that should have started here, was cut from the finished film. Under the T-Rex roar we hear a constant synthesized sizzling sound and the orchestra begins an urgent churning motif, music raising the tension when Malcolm calls the trailer, trying to reach Sarah and Nick to warn them. Nick is about to answer the ringing phone but the paleontologist calls him for immeadiate assistance, the ensemble repeating the motif ever insistent. Malcolm decides to descend and get to the trailer to warn the two, Kelly begging him not to go, music changing pace to another rhythmic motif with a low piano groove, percussion and strings forming the basis as Malcolm says he is coming back, dropping out of sight down a rope. Interjections to the nervous orchestral rhythm from lowest brass become more noticeable, underscoring Eddie and Kelly witnessing the T-Rex approaching through the jungle, made visible only by the trees swaying back and forth, Williams’ repeated brass motif here suggesting an almost subliminal connection to Jaws, a beast lumbering almost unseen towards our heroes, personified just by the music.
This cue plays from 0:00-0:59 in the film as composed but the rest is dialed out, letting the sound effects and silence carry the tension of the scene.
The music as written would have immediately continued with
13. Up in a Basket II (6m2/7m1 Part II) 2:30 (unreleased)
Ian Malcolm bursts through the jungle to Williams’ urgent percussion rhythms and heads for the trailer. Nick and Sarah are finishing their operation on the dinosaur baby when Malcolm opens the door, bewildered and anxious, the sharp percussion reminiscent of the cue Horning In, brass making constant nervous blasts, becoming heavier as the T-Rexes, the parents of the young one, appear. As the beasts peer through the windows on both sides, composer introduces cold shimmering orchestral and synthetic writing , the percussion sounds slowly giving away to a high ghostly melody somewhere between the Island’s Voice and the old Carnivore motif from Jurassic Park as the T-Rexes view their whimpering offspring inside the trailer, underscoring an eerie moment of parental concern from these gigantic carnivores.
The initial rhythm creeps back into the music when the trio lifts the baby and presents it to the parents through the trailer door, the percussion groove fading into silence as the the apparent threat is over and the beasts decide to return to the jungle.
Again this whole cue was cut from the film, perhaps thought too aggressive and prominent for the scene, adding too much tension and energy where the silence and the eerie noises of rain and dinosaurs was all that was needed.
But the safety is only momentary as suddenly the dinosaurs are back and the team has only a few seconds to prepare themselves. With determined rage T-Rexes push the trailer off the cliff face, half of it dangling over the edge, our heroes in the falling half holding on for dear life as everything topples down, the van turned into a corridor to death.
14. Pain of Glass (7m2/8m1) 3:58 (unreleased)
With a sharp blast from timpani and trombones Sarah falls to the bottom of the trailer’s up-ended section, landing on a window pane (hence the pun in the cue title). The celli and basses weave an urgent motif as she is momentarily knocked out but as she comes to the pane begins to crack, small cobweb of fractures spreading under her weight. The music here has a hint of familiarity, the string idea slightly reminiscent of the Dies Irae suggestingdanger motif from Jurassic Park (found in cues like The Falling Car (OST CD the latter half of Incident on Isla Nublar) and Highwire Stunts). Malcolm tries to lower himself to rescue her. He reaches for Sarah’s hand, but the satellite phone left hanging from a tablelamp by the fall slides off and topples down, the suspence building, high strings and brass keening in panic, Sarah reaching for Malcolm’s hand with all her desperation. The glass shatters to the sounds of tortured brass and strings but the paleontologist makes a grab for life, Ian catching her with the lucky backpack.
Meanwhile Eddie arrives to the site of the half destroyed trailer and frantically searches for survivors as tropical storm starts to spew torrents of rain on the island. The trapped trio hollers to him for help, Williams providing suspenceful jungle rhythm from the percussion and brass, low piano pouding its own suspence groove with angular string accompaniment adding its weight to the mechanic’s toil and determination. Eddie hurries to safe the team, trying to tow the trailer back up with his jeep cable. Steady rhythm from percussion and strings continue to underscore his efforts.
15. Truck Stop (8m2) 5:03 (OST track 7 Rescuing Sarah [0:00-2:12] (2:12) / Unreleased (1:04) / 7 [2:12-end] (1:48)
Eddie’s actions come in the nick of time for the trailer is starting to slide on the muddy cliff in the pouring rain, pulled towards the cliff edge by the weight of the fallen section. The music bursts to life as Eddie notices how the trailer is slowly beginning to move towards the edge and he runs to his car and tries to use it to pull the van back, percussion of all kinds among them bongos, congas, logs, bass drum and gourd beating wild rhythms (performance marked brutally), timpani and all the rest of the orchestra joining in a chaotic and driving barrage, propelling as much Eddie’s efforts as they comment his team’s dire predicament. Woodwind trills and runs, panicked and tortured brass exclamations hinting at the Island’s Voice motif, strings sharp and furious and above all percussion assault the poor protagonists, filling the air with dire expectation, underscoring the efforts of the trio in the van to escape the death trap, holding on to a rope, making desperately their way up and out of the slowly falling car. Williams keys everything into the rhythm in this orchestral tour-de-force of percussive invention, relentless and primal. Eddie’s valiant rescue efforts and momentary success receive near victorious brass fanfares as he fights to keep the trailer on safe ground, his determination seeming to win them the much needed time to escape.
But the score announces more trouble for the team with shrill woodwind runs, queasy muted horns and troubled strings. Only to make matters worse, calamity piling atop of another, the two T-Rexes like harbingers of doom return, stomping out of the dark rainy jungle, orchestral chimes and fateful swirling string figures underscoring their foot falls at 2:52, ringing a death knell to poor Eddie as the dinosaurs attack his jeep with fury, percussion beating an ever present groove under the orchestra. Brass piles on top of the string motif as the monsters tear the car to pieces and Eddie in half, the orchestra and percussion reaching violently racuous heights, sounding like the full ensemble is nearly toppling on itself. The trailer finally falls to its destruction but the team makes a miraculous escape, underscored by fateful deep descending chords from the trombones, orchestra winding slowly down with percussion, brass and woodwinds flailing as in the death throes of the vehicle while the Tyrannosauri return to the jungle and the trio hangs on the rope against the cliff face.
When they finally climb up, receiving unexpected helping hand from Roland Tembo waiting at the top of the cliff, the percussion quiets down and a horn led tragically heroic fanfare sounds out, nearly quoting the Island Fanfare but taking a different turn, the music blossoming to a tragic and noble melody of operatic proportions joined by the entire orchesta, wearily celebrating their survival but also mourning the loss of Eddie Carr.
16. Reading the Map (8m3) 3:09 (unreleased)
Percussion returns with rhythmic low strings to signify preparations as the two teams, hunters and gatherers, decide to join forces despite their differences of opinion in order to trek across Isla Sorna. Roland, Ludlow and the rest inspect a map of the island and discuss their route to the old InGen facilities and communication center where they want to radio for help, mentioning to Malcolm that the buildings are at the center of Isla Sorna, where unfortunately the carnivores and more specifically Velociraptors live. As these cunning and deadly dinosaurs are mentioned Williams reprises the 4-note Carnivore motif on ghostly shakuhachi flute (doubled on synthesizers) much in the same style as he did in the Opening Titles of Jurassic Park, the theme calling out several times over the dominating rhythms of the percussion section. High string, horn and woodwind colours creep into the texture of the rhythm, adding deep sonorities to the pace of the music and lending it grim determination.
The first 0:00-1:42 were not used in the film and the music begins when we first hear Ludlow mentioning the Raptors and hear the first rendition of theCarnivore motif.
17. The Trek (8m4-9m1) 5:24 (OST track 5 The Trek 0:00-end)
And so the group is on its way in the rain through the jungle towards their destination. Deep resonant exotic drums play a steady rhythm for this jungle trek, the horns rising ominously in series of dark melodic phrases, a trek motif, strings making nervous jittery interjections, lower woodwinds bubbling subtly underneath and growing into a percussion accompanied horn statement of the Island Fanfare while Ian Malcolm talks to Ludlow and mentions John Hammond and his doomed dream of Jurassic Park. The rising trek melody from the beginning of the track is repeated more grandly in the brass, woodwinds squirming underneath as we see the long line of people walking through the jungle scenery, cloud capped mountains looming ominously in the background and Roland giving a dark nervous glance as they hear the distant roar of a Tyrannosaur. When the group arrives to a red wood forest the travelling music gives away to a collection of dark orchestral and percussive sounds that underscore Roland Tembo spotting blood on Sarah’s coat and asking is she hurt, the eerie music enhancing the dangerous situation and environs these people are in. Dieter Stark hears the nature’s call and wanders of to satisfy its demands, hollering to one of the men, Carter, to keep at a shouting distance in case he gets lost. Carter, with a walkman on blaring Mexican music (Tres Dias” by Tomas Mendez), is completely oblivious to this which is announced with foreboding by queasy strings.
After stopping for a suitable spot, followed by the unnerving snapping of the orchestra and percussion, Dieter is interrupted by rustling in the underbrush and he grabs his gun, ready for anything, backing away, searching for the assailant. As he sweeps the bushes with his gun he is startled by a single Compsognathus sticking its head out of the undergrowth accented by a shakuhachi wail at 3:48. Dieter is annoyed and tries to tazer the little lizard as he has done once before but it escapes in a sizzle of a rubbed tam-tam and bubbling of woodwinds and strings.
But now the mercenary is truly and hopelessly lost and Carter (who still enjoys the fine performance of the Mariachi Los Camperos De Nati Cano) can’t hear his screams from the jungle. Strings pull nervous twittering sounds, shakuhachi howls again and pizzicato violins and the sizzling of suspended cymbals all cry out his panic as he wanders through the woods frantic, woodwinds, choice brass and low strings joining an insistent rhythm as he trips on a tree root and falls down a steep slop. Suspended cymbal swell and synthesized metallic zither notes underscore him hitting the bottom with a thump.
This cue was cut in its entirety from the film, the Lost World theme tracked from track 3 To the Island in its stead, replacing the rising trek motif for the travelling sequences, the film makers favouring silence and the adventurous feel in the music over Williams’ darker and more tense take on their journey across the island. The eerie underscore of the red wood forest was also removed and Dieter’s predicament left unscored, very likely because Williams’ music added too much tension and foreboding to the preceding dialogue scene between Roland, Nick and Sarah and could have dampened the horror of the Compsognathi in the following scene.
18. The Compys! (9m2) 1:34 (OST track 1 Island Prologue 3:27-end)
This music should have continued without a pause from the previous cue. Dieter has no time to gather his wits after the fall when he is attacked by a swirling pack of Compsognathi, biting and clawing and climbing all over him. Piccolos chirp furiously, sul ponticello strings bowing queasily, horns hoot and growl full of menace (performance for the whole ensemble is marked sinistro in the score) and is soon joined by the rest of the orchestra, the percussion beating mercilessly, many sections playing aleatorically, achieving an organized chaos that describes the little dinosaurs perfectly as they set upon the mercenary with blood thirsty glee. The music is very similar to that heard in the first cue of the score, the little dinosaurs characterized by the same orchestral effects but even more frenzied this time around. Dieter repels the attack of the swarm and drives them away, swaying wearily along the river bed, the sinister strings, synthesized breath effects and woodwinds promising him no rest while at the temporary camp Roland calls everybody to continue their march.
19. The Compys Dine (9m3/10mA) 2:54 (OST track 10 The Compys Dine 0:00-2:47)
Carter rises from his place to leave and the camera lowers and catches Dieter’s backpack on the ground forgotten, celli and double basses and a subtle timpani rumble commenting this with quiet and tense notes. Tabla drum and maraca take us back to the river bed where the mercenary is fleeing, still shouting for help. Horns and muted trombones rise in threathning fashion, the woodwinds slowly taking us to the aleatoric style of the previous cue, all orchestral sections joining in a cacophonic carnage as Compys attack in force, appearing all around, Williams scoring their action and the sheer terror they evoke with equal precision, the musical texture and performance style becoming a theme of its own. Dieter stumbles over a large fallen tree and out of sight but the dinosaurs follow in a merciless swarm, music rising to a fever pitch with raging clarinets and piccolos, timpani accenting their menace, the brass announcing the end of the man at 1:10 as we see the water turning blood red, fluttering flutes and unsympathetic strings sighing as if for his last breath.
Roland Tembo questions Carter about Dieter Stark and atmospheric percussion and rhythmic tugging of double basses underscore his decision to go find his second-in-command. Flutter tongued shakuhachi carries the danger inherent in the decision and the troop gets moving again, leaderless, to the sound of low growling brass and woodwinds repeating a subtle quote of the trek motif from cue The Trek. A cascade from the harp and percussion take us to the night camp where the dark mood is further enhanced by the cold string lines and drum rumbles as the camera moves past the sleeping men.
20. Rialto Ripples (10m1) 5:46 (OST track 12 Ludlow’s Demise 0:00-1:35)
As Roland returns from his search double basses play a menacing figure, bass drum beating ghostly rumble in the background, the hunter noting that Dieter is dead. Flutes, rubbed aluminum rod, triangle and vibraphone strike a cold clear sound when Tembo lights his flashlight and Malcolm and Ajay read the map with him and make plans. Strings continue dark and mysterious, woodwinds and brass joining them, deep bass drum rumble giving the listener a small hint of what is to come as we see Kelly and Sarah sleeping in a tent, Malcolm walking towards them. Sarah is suddenly awake and feels a low rumble, alarmed by it. The percussion starts pouding a menacing march as trombones and horns growl, woodwinds joining in a repeating figure, the tension rising continually. Outside Malcolm sees the ripples in a muddy pool, realizing the coming threat (Williams’ cue title refers to this and nods humorously at an old rag time standard by George Gershwin called Rialto Ripples) The paleontologist notices the bloody coat left hanging out to dry in the tent, realizing that the smell of the baby dinosaur must be attracting the T-Rexes but before she can do anything about it, a huge shadow is cast over the tent. Strings add their cold color to the mass of sound, sizzling cymbal sound is heard over the bed of churning orchestral effects. Brass becomes more pronounced, the blasts oppressive and demanding and the T-Rex pushes its head inside the tent, searching, sniffing. Kelly wakes up, and Sarah who is in a state of terror herself tries to keep the girl silent and unmoving. The presence of the dinosaur hammers at them in the music, the coiled, violent bursts of the orchestra threathning to crush them.
But suddenly the tension is released as Carter wakes up and sees the beast, screams and fires at it with his gun. Strings whip to frenzied action as the whole camp wakes up in panic, the T-Rex turning to face the sudden attackers, the lowest brass ascending ominously in the fashion of monster music of old. From 3:34 until 4:06 the music contains a direct repurposed passage from the cue Truck Stop underscoring here the panicked flight of the people and Tembo’s failed attempt to shoot the T-Rex as Nick Van Owen had emptied the shells from his rifle while Roland wasn’t looking.
The original music written for the scene returns when panicked hurtling brass phrases and woodwind runs underscore the wild flight of the team through the jungle with the T-Rex on their tail, characterized by the low brass sounds. The percussion returns in agitated jungle rhythm as Roland Tembo is trying to capture the other T-Rex with a tranquilizer gun, brass again rising to a monster music style deep exclamation, the rhythms becoming faster as we cut to the T-Rex chase, strings surging to keep up until the music comes to a dead halt when the fleeing protagonists jump through a waterfall for safety.
21. Steiner in the Grass (10m2) 2:26 (OST track 8 Hammond’s Plan 2:05-end)
The survivors of the T-Rex attack continue towards the InGen facilities and cross a meadow of high grass, the line filing through high stalks, forming dark furrow as they go, Ajay in vain trying to stop them. The title of the cue is a wink to the grandfather of film music Max Steiner, whose score for 1933 film King Kong contained exotic music for the jungle travel and locale of Skull Island, Williams is tipping the hat to the old master in styling his piece in somewhat the same vein. Steady exotic rhythm on percussion and low piano open the cue and slowly rising ominous brass lines continue in the style of the previous trek motif but spinning a unique melodic variations for the scene. Suddenly cold tones from tense brass, strings and woodwind stings creep into the texture of the music as we see new dark furrows forming in the grass all around the group. Velociraptors approach and stealthily start picking off people one by one, soon creating another panicked flight. The brass continue to develop the trek material, ever ominous as Raptors go about their bloody business and the main characters, behind the main group appear just at the other end of the meadow.
Nick finds Ajay’s bag, the rhythmic basses and marimba beating almost a countdown and as Malcolm hears the horribly familiar snarling in the darkness and the cries of the dying men, he breaks into a hurried flight, the orchestra following suit and with a swirl at 1:55 mark, releasing the tension, picking up speed, all sections urging them on with furious flurries as the main protagonists race towards the forest edge and safety, only to tumble down a slippery slope, a downward string and woodwind surge and percussion hit signifying the end of their fall. The music continues without a pause with
22. After the Fall (10m3-11m1) 3:03 (OST track 6 Finding Camp Jurassic)
Under a brooding contrabassoon pedal tone, deep trombone sonorities and celli’s and basses’ threathning murmurs the heroes find themselves in what seems like a dinosaur graveyard with huge rib cages surrouding their path. Nick says he is going to find the communications center and radio for help, not staying to wait for Malcolm who has hurt his leg, piano and harp playing probing notes as the photographer runs through the broken gates of the facilities towards the main building, strings rising mysteriously. As he goes through the main entrance a percussion rhythm starts over nervous strings and bubbling woodwinds. At 1:11 when Nick first jumps at seeing a T-Rex’s snout in a poster and then looks at a faded advertisement banner of Jurassic Park on the wall we hear an equally faded and ghostly setting of the Island Fanfare, a reminder of lost dreams and faded glory.
As he continues to explore the vine and jungle infested main building gloomy and mysterious orchestral and percussive elements take over, heightening the suspence of the exploration until a subtle variation of the Island Fanfare on brass supported by woodwinds at 2:30 announces his success of turning on the power and finding the radio, the percussion slowly fading into silence as he makes contact with the main land.
23. The Raptors Appear (11m2) 3:42 (OST track 9 The Raptors Appear)
Malcolm, Sarah and Kelly have finally caught up with Nick, walking past dinosaur bones and geothermal pipes. A ghostly wail of the Island’s Voice motif sounds repeatedly on synthesizer accompanied by almost breath like shakuhachi synth effects, tabla drum sounding in the distance. The group reaches the gate and the courtyard of the InGen center, strings and subtle percussion keeping up the suspence, when out of nowhere a Velociraptor appears and attacks Sarah, eliciting a rising scream from the horn section and a new action rhythm from the percussion. Luckily the Raptor decides to maul Sarah’s backpack and so she escapes alive. Malcolm heroically attracts the attention of the beast as Kelly and Sarah run for safety into an old shed but two more Raptors appear and try to dig their way in, all the while the women try to dig their way out from the the other side of the building while Malcolm fights for his life in the courtyard. Much as in the cue Truck Stop, the percussion rhythm established at the beginning dominates while brass makes snarling and hooting interjections and drives the music forward by presenting snatches of their own action motif and the Island’s Voice, the synthesized animal noise rising to haunt the protagonists along with aleatoric woodwind screams as three raptors try to kill our heroes. The Island’s Voice sounds out in deadly synthesized voices around 1:25 and 2:25, receiving a more ponderous reading with brass accompaniment at 2:42 as the situation grows more dire and finally all the orchestral forces grow more chaotic by the second and the music comes to a staccato halt with brass and percussion hits when the women get the boards loose in the back wall and try to escape that way.
24. High Bar and Ceiling Tiles (11m3-12m1) 4:08 (unreleased)
But another Raptor is waiting outside and with a sharp timpani sting and the percussion rhythm returning the action writing of the previous cue continues fresh and furious. As Sarah and Kelly have no choice they go up, climbing towards the roof for safety. Malcolm who has been trapped in a car, runs inside driven by nervous blasts of brass, only to find himself face to face with the Raptor that has nearly gotten in. He decides to climb as well, the brass and percussion following his movements while cruel rhythmic brass exclamations trail the Raptor jumping after him. In the nick of time Kelly saves his father with a well targeted gymnastic move, sending the verocious dinosaur through a window and to its demise below, impaled on a palisade, underscored by cymbal crashes and deep fateful staccato bursts from brass.
But the victory is only temporary, the Raptor brass sounds returning as Sarah heads for the roof while Malcolm and Kelly escape through the door. Nervous aleatoric woodwinds again creep into the score alongside Sarah’s panic. The vicious beast is after her and she has to make a leap to a roof of another building with the creature in pursuit. Her jump falls short, leaving her hanging from the slate roof edge. The dinosaur jumps ahead of her so now one Raptor waits Sarah on the roof and another on the ground below. She hangs by the roof tiles and gets a quick idea and begins to pull the slates down. Slowly but surely the shingles give away and take the other Raptor with them. Here the raging woodwinds and rapidfire brass now accentuated by cymbal hits create a feel of deadly unpredictability, the musical chaos climbing to a small crescendo at 2:31 resembling the ending of the previous cue. But as Sarah loses her hold of the tiles and falls a new action rhythm takes hold and the two Raptors, now is midst of a scrambling fight are scored by keening brass tones and a subtle quote of the Island’s Voice at 2:36. The paleontologist tries to stay out the way of the hissing, biting creatures and suddenly falls through a trap door and out of a window to land safely near Malcolm and Kelly. Brass and percussion continues in staggered bursts, repeating the action motif of the previous two cues, the Island’s Voice souding several times in the brass as the heroes make their escape, the music coming to a slow fading close as they get to the helicopter with Nick waiting for them.
In the film the Lost World theme concert version was tracked in as Sarah falls through the floor and continues when the trio heads for the main building’s helicopter pad, the triumphant feel more suitable for their rescue. Williams original music was much darker and harsher, letting the savage mood and tension continue up until the last minute.
25. Heading North (12m2) 2:11 (OST track 3 Malcolm’s Journey 3:33-end)
Weary string lines rise as the helicopter is taking our heroes off the island, offering a melancholy respite from the ordeal they have just experienced, harp and brass offering their own somber tones to the quiet moment of aftershock for the protagonists. Deeper brass creeps into the music assisted by a timpani roll when we are shown Ludlow and Tembo with another InGen team capturing the sedated T-Rex male, the CEO congratulating the hunter for his prize. Tembo, who has lost his friend Ajay, is grim, remarking that he is glad to get away, having spent enough time in the company of death, timpani rumble, husky flutes and low strings underscoring his lines. For a transition shot of the helicopter appearing in the night skyline of San Diego Williams offers a heroic yet dark reading of the Lost World theme, even in triumph tempered by the horrors experienced on Isla Sorna.
26. Ludlow’s Speech (12m3) 2:55 (unreleased)
This cue begins the last third of the film. Ludlow is desperate to re-coup his losses and is transporting the T-Rex to San Diego on a boat, having already spirited the infant dinosaur to the JP facilities in the city via helicopter. He has gathered media to the docks to greet the arrival of the cargo ship due to land in the early hours of the morning and is holding a press meeting. Ian Malcolm and Sarah are there to witness this folly. As the harbor master interrups Ludlow’s speech and calls him to inspect something in the offices the inexorably rising lines of the Island’s Voice motif supported by the percussion section and orchestra give us a forewarning that something is certainly amiss as the motif is taken over and repeated by several sections of the orchestra in turn. The ship arrives but they can’t make contact with it, the vessel appraoching the docks with alarming speed with no sign of slowing down. As the blinking dot on the radar grows closer and closer the woodwinds and brass present their own nervous figure over cold string lines and percussion for the nearing ship. A tense countdown motif begins in the orchestra, angular and persistent, gathering up speed with the vessel, a ghostly synthesized wail of the Island’s Voice and full ensemble reaching terrifying intesity as the ship appears from the darkness and plowing into the pier, wreaking chaos and destruction, the score coming to a halt just after the impact.
In the film the music stops short at 1:59 as people are watching the night sea and hearing the ship approaching, the rest of the scene carried just by sound effects.
27. WOMPI’s Wrench 2:20 (OST track 10 The Compys Dine 2:47-end)
This cue went completely unused in the film which favours again silence over music. The music would have started immediately in the aftermath of the ship’s crash, as the survivors survey the devastation. Muted horns and slow ominously tremoloing strings set the mood of building horror to the scene, the Island’s Voice motif performed cruelly by the woodwinds and then passed between different instruments, announcing death. Ludlow, Sarah and Malcolm with the harbour and InGen officials climb to inspect the ship only to find carnage onboard, with bodies littering the decks, victims of unseen assailants. The Island’s Voice is heard again in ghostly synthesizer voices, Ludlow nauceously backing out from the bridge of the ship after seeing the captain’s severed hand holding the wheel. Sarah and Malcolm see the big cargo hatch of the ship clanking as if the mechanism had stuck and notice a dead man holding the remote. With tabla playing softly in the background, the brass section starts a slow menacing staccato growl that grows in intesity, the Island’s Voice making another exclamation in the midst of mounting dread. Strings shudder, the brass continue their deep ponderous blasts now paced out slower for threathning effect as Ludlow wants the cargo hold opened and while Malcolm tries to stop him, one of the police is quicker and obliges. Malcolm calls everybody off the boat. The button is pushed setting…
28. Monster On the Loose (12m5) 2:31 (unreleased)
The ponderous deep brass chords of the previous cue return as T-Rex emerges from the cargo hold, crying havoc, the rhythmic gait of the music underscoring its heavy steps as it disembarks the ship and heads for land. Strings spiral into a tight knot, a percussion and timpani rumble alongside the grave brass heralding a dire reading of the Island Fanfare as Malcolm announces to the trembling CEO of InGen that now Ludlow is like John Hammond, his dream in pieces and on the loose in the city of San Diego, the theme a bittersweet reminder of noble pipe dream gone awry for the second time.
The T-Rex crashes past the harbour buildings to the heavy plodding of the orchestral forces, high strings presenting their own fateful rhythmic motif over the cymbal crashes and double bass and timpani, Tyrannosaur footfalls, the phrase ending with pounding timpani notes as we see the creature against the siluette of the city growling its fury.
The percussion section offers some suspence accompanied by writing for strings and synthesizers, Malcolm and Sarah inquiring from the InGen technician what was used to tranquilize the beast and demanding from Ludlow where the T-Rex baby was taken, Sarah planning to use the infant to lure the monster back to the ship. Again the Island’s Voice on ghostly synth voices and strings makes an eerie appearance, Ludlow sitting despondent and still in shock, telling them the baby is at the JP waterfront facility, muted sharp horns and clarinets underscoring the duo’s decision to go and get it.
In the film a portion of this composition was replaced by music tracked from the following cue (A Neighborhood Visitor) when we see the T-Rex against the city lights.
29. A Neighborhood Visitor (13m1) 3:29 (OST track 13 Visitor In San Diego 0:00-3:24)
In the middle of the night the T-Rex wanders around a San Diego suburb, seeing a pool in the backyard of a house and stopping for a drink. Deep taiko drums, bass trombones, contra clarinets, bassoons, celli and double basses shudder under the steps of the monster, catching its movements, horns growling a throaty and pinched variation of the Island’s Voice motif.
The camera moves inside the house and into the bedroom of a small boy. The fish tank beside his bed vibrates to unseen footfalls, the tremors captured by the harp, metallic rub rod,skittery sul ponticello strings, woodwinds and percussion and synthesizers, the Island’s Voice subtly quoted by bass clarinets as the boy wakes up. He sees the T-Rex and backs away, goes to his parents’ room and drags the sleepy and complaining pair to his room babbling all the time about a dinosaur in their backyard, the expectant nervous orchestral effects coalescing, clarinet and flute presenting twice a jumpy variation on the Island’s Voice in a bed of bubbling woodwinds and percussion. At 1:35 very quietly at first a familiar rhythm of Tyrannosaur footfalls takes hold of the score, growing slowly in menace under rising string reading of the Island’s Voice, finally reaching a dramatic peak as the parents see the hulking beast through the window with a dog coop hanging by the chain from its jaws, ferocious horns repeating the 4-noteTyrannosaur footfalls rhythm and adding a 5th note here imitating the T-Rex’s roar.
At 2:09 the Tyrannosaur footfalls and its accompanying rhythmic string motif continue as we cut to Malcolm and Sarah speeding towards the InGen facilities, the cymbal crashes coninciding with the moment before the car crashes through a guard post safety beam. The heroic and urgent Island Fanfare sounds over the string motif as the two arrive at the facilities, the quick search for the baby dinosaur underscored by flute and synthesized zither before the rhythmic string motif returns as they take it and with this determined musical ally the pair speeds away in search of the adult T-Rex.
30. Streets Of San Diego(13m2) 4:14 (OST track 13 Visitor In San Diego 3:24-end)
Meanwhile in the streets panic is rising. Quick cut to a screaming woman’s face opens the cue as rapid fire trumpets and screaming piccolo runs launch her car away from the T-Rex only to crash into the side of another vehicle. Sharp snapping of piccolo snare drum, percussion, resounding cymbal hits and brass describe the on-screen mayhem with racuous fury, low thumping piano and the strings joining the fray. People flee in panic. TheIsland’s Voice makes a doom laden announcement in brass peppered by the cymbal crashes at around 0:50. The raging orchestral forces push the action forward, Malcolm and Sarah spotting the monster, Sarah waking the baby and its voice luring the adult T-Rex after them and the beast giving furious chase all captured with brilliant aggressive and blazing music for orchestra, brass and percussion highlighted throughout the cue. Again the rhythm seems to be the key here, the ever driving momentum hurtling the action forward with rapid speed.
At 2:32 a new action rhythm begins, underpinned by deep blasts from trombones and tuba, the trumpets wild and fervent, horns howling the Island’s Voice, the music underscoring Malcolm and Sarah dashing through the streets and into the harbor, abandoning the car and cutting through the warehouses on foot with the T-Rex in hot pursuit, reaching the ship and dropping off the Tyrannosaur baby and with the final flourish of the Island’s Voice from the orchestra jumping into the water, leaving baffled Ludlow to take measure of the situation.
31. Ludlow’s End (13m3-14m1) 2:52 (OST track 12 Ludlow’s Demise 1:35-end)
A similar string motif that is heard under Tyrannosaur footfalls (and in snippets in the previous cue) returns in much accelerated pace with full orchestra backing as Ludlow looks down into the cargo hold with a helicopter and a sniper emerging from the background ready to kill the adult dinosaur. In a shimmer of harp the motif dies down and atmospheric sul ponticello strings and the uneasy percussion underscore Ludlow descending to find the baby T-Rex, synthesized animal howl further enhancing the nervous moment for the CEO.
As the adult T-Rex emerges behind the cargo hold doors and comes down to find the baby the string action motif returns with vengeance punctuated by agitated woodwinds, fateful brass rising to an exclamation point of Ludlow’s demise, orchestral hits scoring the baby T-Rex descending on the wounded man and finishing him off. Outside Sarah and Malcolm are determined to safe the dinosaurs, Sarah loading a tranquilizer gun, the string action motif, rapid fire brass and cymbals raising the tension while in the helicopter the sniper is ready to take the T-Rex down per Ludlow’s orders. A tortured string and brass line over percussion pulse rises to a climax, a heavy orchestral thump announcing Sarah’s tranquilizer dart finding its mark.
In the film only the first 15 seconds of the cue are used but the suspenceful underscore is dropped and the T-Rex capturing Ludlow and feeding it to his infant and Sarah tranquilizing the creature were tracked with the Lost World theme concert version (and End Credits intro). Williams originally scored the scene much as a continuation of the previous action cues, the string motif heavy and unrelenting, enhancing the ferocity and merciless way the dinosaurs dispatch Ludlow. The film makers’ intention was obviously to highlight justice being done, the bad guy of the movie getting his rightful reward for his actions, with the dinosaurs representing the nemesis and the music celebrating the happy ending for the creatures. This could be seen as a continuation of a tradition started in Jurassic Park of showing the T-Rex in a triumphant hero light. In Jurassic Park, the T-Rex’s appearance was rescored with tracked music (The Island Fanfare) to make it heroic in the same way. But in some way the original cue fitted the action much better even though it deprived the scene of a victorious sense of closure, which Williams reserved for the next cue.
32. The Saving Dart (14m2) 3:00 (OST track 14 Finale and Jurassic Park Theme 0:00-2:23, 38 seconds remain unreleased)
Fluttering woodwinds, synthesized celeste/piano and tremoloing strings announce the Tyrannosaur falling unconscious and into the safety of the cargo hold. Led by the horn section the orchestra rises to a noble but tragic exclamation of victory and the end for the adventure as Malcolm, weary and breathless surveys the scene in front of him, offering Sarah a grateful and relieved look.
We cut to a hotel room and see the trio on a couch watching a CNN news report, Sarah and Malcolm sleeping, Kelly alone watching the transportation of the dinosaurs back to the island. With harp accompaniment flutes, horns and strings present a luminous major mode variation on the Lost World theme, warm and comforting, the news showing the ships at sea. When John Hammond offers his own view on the matter piano enters alone, playing the Dinosaurs theme (or the Main theme) from Jurassic Park offering its gentle blessing to the endeavor and to Hammond’s dream continuing in another form. The film cuts to Isla Sorna and shows the dinosaurs living in their natural habitat, a wistful but slightly sad coda using subtly the Island’s Voice motif trailing into silence as a Pteranodon lands on a branch of a tree, letting out a victorious cry.
In the film the short 38 second ending of the cue was replaced by the Island Fanfare tracked from the concert suite material recorded for the film, ending the movie on a more positive and triumphant note.
33. End Credit Intro (unnumbered) 0:18
For the End Credits Williams wrote a revised opening for the new theme of the film featuring a bit deeper brass and percussion than the original version. This is edited to go to
34. The Lost World (End Credits) 3:33 (OST track 1 The Lost World)
The concert version of the main theme. As with many Williams’ concert suites this seems to almost tell the story of the film. Here the thematic material receives its most adventurous, celebratory and lengthiest development closing the score in the most satisfying way.
35. Jurassic Park Theme 5:30 (unnumbered) (OST track 14 Finale and Jurassic Park Theme 2:23-end)
To accommodate the length of the end credits Williams re-recorded his concert arrangement of the Jurassic Park themes, which he created after the release of the first film and recorded for one of his Boston Pops compilation albums, Williams on Williams. In the suite he first presents the Dinosaurs theme/Theme from Jurassic Park, which starts much as it does on the original soundtrack album, on solo horn, but the performance is markedly faster and there is no choral accompaniment. The composition fuses together thematic development from the Welcome to Jurassic Park and the cueDinosaurs and goes fluidly to the Island Fanfare that has also gotten embellishments in the orchestration, making it a bit more powerful performance percussion-wise than on the Jurassic Park OST and ending with the music from the T-Rex Rescue and Finale.
In the film the Island Fanfare portion of this suite opens the end credits which then go to the Lost World theme. The Theme from Jurassic Park section of the suite goes completely unused and can be heard only on the soundtrack album.
[1]The Lost World DVD documentary: The Making of the Lost World. © 1997 Universal Studios & Amblin Entertainment Inc. © 2001. All Rights Reserved.
[2]Wikipedia article: The Lost World Jurassic Park (film score) written by Datameister.
[3]Wikipedia article: The Lost World Jurassic Park (film score) written by Datameister.
[4]The Lost World DVD documentary: The Making of the Lost World. © 1997 Universal Studios & Amblin Entertainment Inc. © 2001. All Rights Reserved.
-Mikko Ojala- ©
Special thanks to Datameister, Jason LeBlanc and Goodmusician for complete cue lists, musical analysis, mock-ups and all the rest.