SCORE: The Lost World Jurassic Park (John Williams) - A Complete Score Analysis

[Incanus 5,816]

Now here is a long post! I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. And if there are any correction suggestions fire away, especially on the nuts and bolts of music theory of which I profess very little knowledge.

And many thanks to all the people from this messageboard without whose excellent discussion and insights this analysis would not have been possible. You know who you are.

 

UPDATE December 2016: The analysis now includes information and revisions based on the Lala-Land Records The John Williams Jurassic Park Collection which features the complete The Lost World: Jurassic Park score.

 

 

The Lost World: Jurassic Park

John Williams on a symphonic rampage

 

 

A Complete Score Analysis

by Mikko Ojala

 

 

In 1997 four years after the original box office monster Jurassic Park had stomped onto 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 but replaces the ending with a dinosaur rampage through San Diego. This was actually a suggestion from Spielberg during the late stages of the production and the original ending prepared and storyboarded before the last minute change was much more in line with the novel with an exciting chase involving Velociraptors and Pteranodons.

 

Interestingly some elements of the script migrated right out from the original Jurassic Park novel, in particular the scenes with the small Compsognathi dinosaurs from various points in that story. The only retuning character from the previous film and novel 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 greedy corporate businessman 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 predecessor's. 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 (Williams was nominated for an Academy Award for Amistad that year but lost to James Horner's enormously successful and popular Titanic).

Whatever the merits or failings of the film itself, 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 very different for this film, as he well knew that it would certainly not so much about the wonder of the dinosaurs anymore since the audience knew what to expect  and more about darker sense of adventure, and so he asked from Williams a different stylistic approach for the score than for its predecessor. He wanted it to be exotic and 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 at least, 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 his 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 in this film the familiar and famous main themes from Jurassic Park return but are complemented by prominent all-new thematic material.

 

Returning Themes

• 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 mostly in subtle references, rising only a few times to heroic proportions in the new score. This theme is also heavily referenced for a sense of nostalgia, the subdued variations giving it an air of worn and by-gone glory and often commenting on the broken dream of the Jurassic Park.
• The actual hymn-like Theme from Jurassic Park (titled Dinosaurs in the original score) appears only in the last scene of the film to signal a happy ending to Ian Malcolm’s adventure.
• The haunting and ominous 4-note Carnivore motif, that in the first film heralded the appearance of the most dangerous dinosaurs, T-Rex and the Velociraptors in particular, makes fleeting appearances in the sequel e.g. when the dreaded raptors are mentioned for the first time.

The Lost World
The new primary musical idea of the Lost World is the theme of 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, the exotic jungle location of the story and adventure with a hint of danger to it. It 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 further elaborated on this theme in his traditional concert version which he wrote 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 turn of events in its bridge melody but finally overcoming the obstacles it returns to the main theme, bursting victoriously to a rapturous and rhythmic finale augmented by the whole percussion section with 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 an island full of dinosaurs and contains the right amount of exoticism to illustrate locale of the story. Noteworthy is that despite being the main new theme of the score, this musical idea is used sparingly in the context of the film, where its grander readings are reserved for exploration sequences on Isla Sorna and most adventurous moments early in the movie. The theme actually seems to neatly bookend the whole Isla Sorna experience as it is first heard on the voyage there and then again when the protagonists are leaving the island after their adventure.

 

The Island’s Voice
The other central musical theme in the score is subtler but ever pervasive, in essence a replacement for the original 4-note Carnivore motif from the first film. This new rising 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 ascending 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 the listener 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 ascending notes that seem to be telling us that in Jurassic Park the dinosaurs were dangerous but confined to the park but this time on Isla Sorna they are the ones in complete dominance and roaming free. 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 highly dramatic, ponderous and exclamatory form in the final scenes of the Tyrannosaurus loose in San Diego. It could be said that over the course of the film this motif becomes the musical glue that binds much of the score together.

The Percussion and Jungle Sounds
As mentioned above in Williams’ 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 of timpani and bass drum providing a pulse and rhythm that drives the events constantly forward. The brooding, tropical jungle atmosphere is further enhanced by other instruments, such as shakuhachi and "animal sounds" effects 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 Musical 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.

This style of 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 music.

 

***

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 affords Williams’ music with enormous respect and has even in some instances done the opposite of the norm and edited his film to music (the finale of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial is the classic 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 Spielberg's absence from the recording sessions since he was in the final stages of shooting his next film Amistad but whatever the reason was, the score was tinkered with quite heavily in places in the post production.

 

Tracking, editing and placing music written for a specific scene into a different one, 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 (Jean-Jacques Annaud's 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 reason for this is that Steven Spielberg after hearing the main theme fell in love with it and wanted to make wider use of it in the film although the original concept had been that the theme only underscores the arrival and departure from Isla Sorna and the end credits. The comparison of these replacements with the original musical ideas would indicate that Williams’ original vision of the music is a good deal darker than what Spielberg 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 uses it sparingly as was the original plan. As there was no time to revise the music after the director's input late in the post production, tracking was the method chosen to accommodate the director's wishes.

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 music as it was originally conceived. It is not the worse case of a film score being edited to pieces (like e.g. Horner's Aliens) 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.

 

***

 

The score was recorded at Sony Pictures Scoring Stage in Los Angeles in two chunks in the spring of 1997 (March 18-21 and April 18th, 20-22 1997) with Spielberg away finishing the principal photography of his next film Amistad, much as he had been away in Poland filming Schindler's List when Williams was recording the score for Jurassic Park. The music was orchestrated by Williams' frequent collaborators Conrad Pope and John Neufeld and it was performed by the Hollywood studio musicians.

The original soundtrack album released at the time the film came out offered 68 minutes of music from the film, presenting many of the major hightlights from the score and Williams as is his habit, edited together and truncated some musical sequences for listening experience purposes. The complete score runs for almost 2 hours, so well over 40 minutes of music have remained unreleased and also in part unused until LaLa-Land Records' The John Williams Jurassic Park Collection which came out on 29th of November 2016 and included the complete score presentations of both Jurassic Park and the Lost World.

 

TRACK-BY-TRACK ANALYSIS
All tracks are named by their original Williams given cue titles. This is followed in parentheses by the disc and track number on the John Williams Jurassic Park Collection and the original soundtrack album if the music can be found on it and the time stamps of where in the track the music can be found. After this comes the the orchestrator information for each cue and the length of the sheet music (in bars).

1. The Island’s Voice (1m1) 3:38 (LLL set D 3 Track 2, OST track 2 The Island Prologue, 0:00-3:32)

Orchestrator: John Neufeld

Length (sheet music): 68 bars

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-note Island’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 hinting that something is not right.

It is suppertime on the beach and the family’s little girl Cathy (Camilla Belle) 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 slightly dangerous 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 howl 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 tired Ian Malcolm yawning in a New York subway, the image mirroring the screaming mother right down to the screeching of the stopping subway train.

Spielberg quite cleverly allowed Williams to score the action and letting the music tell us what has happened, the raging orchestra perfectly depicting a furious carnage happening off-screen and the sudden building panic at the end of the scene.

***

Ian Malcolm, a chaos theorist and a mathematician, one of the survivors of the original 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 their grandfather he runs into Hammond's nephew and the current CEO of InGen corporation, Peter Ludlow, with whom he obviously is at odds. The two exchange icy insults, Malcolm finding out that Ludlow has wrested the control of InGen from his uncle due to the recent incident with the little girl and that he has plans of his own for it. We cut to Hammond’s bedroom to hear the old venture capitalist tycoon...

2. Revealing the Plans (2m2) 2:18 (LLL set D 3 Track 3, OST track 8 Hammond’s Plan 0:00-2:13)

Orchestrator: John Neufeld

Length (sheet music): 37 bars

With Mozart’s Piano Sonata in A Minor, K.310 playing softly somewhere in the background John Hammond reveals to Malcolm the tale of the second island, Isla Sorna, and proposes that Ian should 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, the melody seeming to subtly suggest perhaps the Island fanfare or 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.

 

Here Williams adds a hint of additional foreboding to the moment by cleverly reintroducing very subtly at 1:11-1:15 the Carnivore motif from the first film on the high strings almost as a reawakened horror from Malcom's memories. He is now both furious and worried. Music is waiting, almost holding its breath as 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 here distinctly recalling the cue Jurassic Park Gate from the original film. And just as Malcolm is leaving Hammond smiles satisfied having just gathered up his team.

***

Ian 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 only can provide. Not only does he meet the technician and the photographer but also his 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 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) 3:40 (LLL set D 3 Track 4, OST track 3 Malcolm’s Journey 0:00-3:37)

Orchestrator: Conrad Pope

Length (sheet music): 123 bars

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 almost spellbinding 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. This rendition forms a thematic bookend for the whole Isla Sorna adventure which Williams and Spielberg chose only to open and close with the theme (the closing statement following in 12m2 Heading North).

 

When the audience sees a wider shot of the mountainous island that is their destination Williams provides a deeper and a hint more ominous rendition of the Lost World theme and continues to develop the material further, adding new instruments, woodwinds passing phrases of the theme around the orchestra accentuated by synthesizers. Ian Malcolm has been discussing with Eddie Carr, their field equipment expert, 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 the film cuts to 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) 2:13 (LLL set D 3 Track 5 0:00-2:14, OST track 11 The Stegosaurus 0:00-2:12)

Orchestrator: Conrad Pope

Length (sheet music): 44 bars

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) 3:13 (LLL set D 3 Track 5 2:15-end, OST track 11 The Stegosaurus 2:13-end)

Orchestrator: John Neufeld

Length (sheet music): 91 bars

Without a pause Sarah is off to follow the family of Stegosauri, 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 suspenseful 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 suspense 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 filled My Friend the Brachiosaurus in Jurassic Park is very much apparent here even though this piece is less openly melodic. It is here that Williams presents a subtle and probing atmospheric motivic idea for the Baby Dinosaurs (2:40-4:00) on strings with flute, woodwinds, orchestral chimes and harp all creating a luminous innocent quality around it, the motif repeating in dreamy wandering variations throughout but an unsettling undercurrent takes hold as brass plays threatening bursts underneath and a cold high string line offers gradually growing unease as if to tell us that something is about to happen.

And quickly 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) 0:54 (LLL set D 3 Track 6 0:00-0:54)

Orchestrator: Conrad Pope

Length (sheet music): 25 bars

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 on the other hand are heatedly arguing about the dangers of coming to Isla Sorna. Williams provides a bit of travel music with percussion and jaunty lower strings and horns offering somewhat exotic and eerie jungle atmosphere for their discussion. All of a sudden 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 her innocent intention of making dinner, the high strings releasing the tension and winding to a stunned finish in the low register, 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 (LLL set D 3 Track 6, 0:55-end. Unused in the film 0:40-0:58)

Orchestrator: Conrad Pope

Length (sheet music): 76 bars

InGen transport choppers rumble into view carrying heavy machinery while log drums, jungle drums, marracas and tremoloing strings and horns announce 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 queasy clarinet solo further enhances the sense of something being wrong and the brass finally building to a statement of the Island’s Voice motif at 1 minute mark, repeating 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 with very little subtlety 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 (LLL set D 3 Track 7, OST track 4 The Hunt, unused in the film)

Orchestrator: Conrad Pope

Length (sheet music): 144 bars

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 variations of the triplet ideas inherent in the Lost World theme to 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.

In the Making
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 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, who pursue them relentlessly with high tech equipment and round them up like cattle to be carted away off to an amusement park.

 

Perhaps Spielberg 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, most notably ending with the heroic Lost World theme, which seems tonally an odd choice for a sequence which is in essence a chase and a panicked stampede. Williams' original idea also strongly emphasizes the brutality of the sequence whereas the tracking would seem to indicate a need for a slightly more adventurous tone. The changes made to the film were in the final stages of the post production and thus denied the composer a chance to re-score 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.

9. Big Feet (5m2) 1:40 (LLL set D 3 Track 8; Unused in the film 0:42-1:02)

Orchestrator: Conrad Pope

Length (sheet music): 21 bars

This cue begins as Malcolm’s team is surveying the end of the disheartening round-up, powerful timpani roll, 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 and woodwinds presenting a high register bird-call style answering motif to enhance the forest atmosphere. 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 ending the piece in a low bass drum thump full of meaning.

10. Spilling Petrol (5m3/6m1) 3:45 (LLL set D 3 Track 9)

Orchestrator: John Neufeld & Conrad Pope

Length (sheet music): 85 bars

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 via satellite uplink. 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 section first presents a rhythmic base (marked driving jungle groove) for suspense and night time jungle atmosphere while synthetic animal sound adds a primal feel to the proceedings as Ludlow is giving his speech and the two “gatherers” creep around in the camp, sinister synth sounds accompanying them, celli, 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, the synthetic animal sound wailing in the background. The orchestral writing comes suddenly to fore when Sarah and Nick open the heavy bolted doors of the dinosaur cages (2:20->), high end orchestral sounds, harp, strings and synths commenting this turn in the events, the music resembling the textures of the Baby Dinosaurs motif as we see a caged baby Stegosaurus among the captured animals.

The drums return to focus again when the camera shows us Ludlow’s tent where he continues his sales pitch to the InGen board of directors, recounting the original Jurassic Park’s folly and the existence of park facilities in San Diego and his plan of recouping the company's losses with the captured dinosaurs transported to the main land. 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 which passes through the woodwind and horn sections in remembrance of Hammond's dream. Then the music without warning bursts into a Triceratops...

11. Horning In (5m3/6m1 Part II) 1:26 (LLL set D 3 Track 9 3:46-end)

Orchestrator: John Neufeld & Conrad Pope

Length (sheet music): 45 bars

Alarmed ascending hooting horn cries and energetic rhytmically charged strings underscore the Triceratops suddenly crashing into Ludlow’s tent and other dinosaurs escaping from their cages, wreaking bloody havoc around the camp, tearing through the panicking InGen crew and scattering their equipment all around. With merciless percussion and crushing staccato exclamations from the brass section an exploding jeep flies through the air and almost hits Roland and Ajay in their hideout tree where they are stalking the T-Rex, the pair just barely surviving the flaming projectile.

Rhythmic strings continue to drive the action from 0:38 onwards backed by sharp snapping percussion beat as Nick finds and rescues the Tyrannosaurus baby (to another briefest hint of the ghostly Baby Dinosaurs music) that is tied to the ground and 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 returns to the camp, surveying the damage, reprimanding his second-in-command Dieter Stark, deep brass and cold strings underscoring Dieter’s sullen look which promises retribution to whoever did this. 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 Making

The beginning of this cue seems to consist of music re-purposed from a later scene (see cue Truck Stop) with Williams re-orchestrating it for the dinosaur rampage in the InGen camp. This music becomes semi-thematic in the score as roughly the same energetic rhythmically insistent staccato brass and percussion section of the piece is later reprised in another cue (Rialto Ripples) as well.

***

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) 3:27 (LLL set D 3 Track 10)

Orchestrator: Conrad Pope

Length (sheet music): 66 bars

Deep drums and alla marcia rhythmic horns begin a taut militaristic and almost funereal procession as we see Eddie Carr asking Malcolm what is happening and the mathematician taking 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 in vain 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 Tyrannosaurus echoes through the jungle.

 

The following passage of music, that should have started around 1 minute mark, was cut from the finished film. Under the T-Rex roar we hear a constant uncomfortable synthesized sizzling sound and the orchestra begins an urgent churning motif full of foreboding, the music raising the tension when Malcolm attempts in vain to call 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 and 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 deep brass motif for trombones underpinned by bass drum here suggesting an almost subliminal connection to Jaws, a beast lumbering almost unseen towards our heroes, personified just by the music. These heavy brass blasts drive Ian Malcolm onward through the rainy jungle and just as he reaches the trailer door and bursts inside to warn Sarah and Nick of the coming threat the orchestra reaches an ominous shuddering crescendo.

In the Making
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) 2:21 (LLL set D 3 Track 11)

Orchestrator: John Neufeld

Length (sheet music): 75 bars

Nick, Sarah and Malcolm do not have much time to prepare before the sharp snapping percussion reminiscent of the cue Horning In and brass section making constant nervous blasts inform them and the audience that something is coming, namely the parents of the infant T-Rex they have in their care. As the beasts peer through the windows on both sides, composer introduces first the animal howl-like synthesizer voice echoing menacingly which then flows into cold shimmering orchestral and synthetic writing, the percussion sounds slowly giving away to a high register ghostly melody in the strings that resembles the benevolent musical idea Baby dinosaurs originally used for the Stegosaurus baby from the earlier scene as the T-Rexes view their whimpering offspring inside the trailer, the little motif underscoring an eerie moment of parental concern from these gigantic carnivores (0:42-1:51).

The initial rhythm creeps slowly back into the music when the trio lifts the baby and carefully presents it to the parents through the trailer door, the percussion groove and subliminal shimmer synthesizer effects coming to an abrupt silence as Eddie Carr informs via the phone from the high hide that the apparent threat is over and the beasts have decided to return to the jungle with their infant.

In the Making
The whole cue was cut from the film, perhaps thought too energetic, aggressive and prominent for the scene, adding too much tension and drive where the silence and the eerie noises of rain and dinosaurs was all that was needed to convey the menace of these massive beasts.

 

***

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) 4:05 (LLL set D 3 Track 12)

Orchestrator: John Neufeld

Length (sheet music): 67 bars

With a sharp blast from timpani and trombones Sarah falls to the bottom of the trailer’s up-ended section landing on a rear window pane (hence the pun in the cue title). The celli and basses weave an urgent chaotic 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-like danger motif from Jurassic Park (found in the cues like The Falling Car (OST CD the latter half of Incident on Isla Nublar) and Highwire Stunts) as Malcolm tries to lower himself to rescue her, the music enhancing the urgency and danger of the scene considerably. He reaches for Sarah’s hand, but the satellite phone left hanging from a tablelamp by the fall slides off and topples down, the suspense peaking fast, high strings racing and brass keening in panic, Sarah reaching for Malcolm’s hand with all her desperation. The glass shatters to the sounds of tortured aleatoric brass and furiously sawing string section but the paleontologist makes a grab for life, Ian catching her with the lucky backpack. Here an extended queasy string glissando facilitates a scene transition to Eddie Carr.

Outside Eddie Carr 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 suspenseful jungle beat from the percussion and the brass, piano pouding its own jazzy suspense grooves with rhythmically tugging string accompaniment that add their weight to the field equipment expert's toil and determination as he hurries to safe the team, trying to tow the trailer back up with his jeep cable as a steady rhythm from the percussion section and strings continues to underscore his efforts.

15. Truck Stop (8m2) 5:10 (LLL set D 3 Track 13, OST track 7 Rescuing Sarah [0:00-2:12] (2:12) / Unreleased (1:04) / 7 [2:12-end] (1:48)

Orchestrator: John Neufeld

Length (sheet music): 156 bars

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 vehicle is slowly beginning to move towards the edge and he runs to his jeep 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) to emphasize the tension and fight against time. The timpani and the rest of the orchestra then join in this seemingly chaotic and driving barrage, which propels as much Eddie’s efforts as they comment the team’s dire predicament.

 

Woodwind trills and runs, panicked and tortured brass exclamations hinting at the Island’s Voice motif, sharp and furious string figures and above all the 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 rhythmic drive 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 kinetic string writing. 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, fateful exclamations from the whole brass section and swirling pained and panicked string figures underscoring their footfalls at 2:52, ringing a death knell for poor Eddie as the dinosaurs attack his jeep with fury, the percussion instruments beating an ever present barrage under the orchestra. The furious brass piles on top of the strings in staccato jabs accompanied by wild riffs from the drums and sharp cymbal accents 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 the heroes 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 strained but 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) 3:11 (LLL set D 3 Track 14)

Orchestrator: John Neufeld

Length (sheet music): 90 bars

Percussion returns with the 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. Williams adds another rhythmic element into the mix, a subtle interpolation of a deep bass synthesizer (marked "Fender Bass" in the score) playing its own jazzy figures underneath the basses and celli to beef up the atmosphere. Roland, Ludlow and Malcolm's group inspect a map of the island and discuss their route to the old InGen facilities and communications center where they want to radio for help, mentioning to Malcolm that the buildings are at the center of island, 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 strings, 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.

In the Making
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 the Carnivore motif.

17. The Trek (8m4-9m1) 5:25 (LLL set D 3 Track 15, OST track 5 The Trek)

Orchestrator: John Neufeld

Length (sheet music): 138 bars

And so the group is on its way in the rain through the jungle towards their destination. Deep resonant exotic drums play a steady softly pounding figure for the 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 with 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 Tyrannosaurus.

 

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 off 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 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.

In the Making
This cue was dialled almost in its entirety out of the film, the Lost World theme tracked from 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 and grimly determined take on their journey across the island. The eerie underscore of the red wood forest was also removed and Dieter’s predicament left mostly unscored (although the music from 3:20-3:59 for compy's appearance from the underbrush is heard in the film), very likely because Williams’ music added too much tension and foreboding to the preceding dialogue between Roland, Nick and Sarah and could have dampened the horror of the Compsognathi in the following scene.

18. The Compys! (9m2) 1:34 (LLL set D 3 Track 16 0:00-1:34, OST track 1 Island Prologue 3:27-end)

Orchestrator: Conrad Pope

Length (sheet music): 67 bars

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 bow 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 pounding mercilessly, many sections of the ensemble playing aleatorically, achieving an organized chaos that describes the little dinosaurs perfectly as they swarm 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 respite while at the temporary camp Roland calls everybody to continue their march.

19. The Compys Dine (9m3/10mA) 2:54 (LLL set D 3 Track 16 1:35-end, OST track 10 The Compys Dine 0:00-2:47)

Orchestrator: Conrad Pope

Length (sheet music): 76 bars

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 menacingly, the woodwinds slowly return 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 both their action and the sheer terror they evoke with equal precision, the musical texture and performance style becoming a theme of its own for these little carnivores. 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 and 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.

Later 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 ominous brass and woodwinds repeating a subtle quote of the Trek motif from cue The Trek. A light cascade of notes from the harp and percussion transition 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) 5:53 (LLL set D 4 Track 1, OST track 12 Ludlow's Demise 0:00-1:35)

Orchestrator: John Neufeld

Length (sheet music): 183 bars

As Roland returns from his search double basses start a subtle menacing figure, bass drum beating a ghostly rumble in the background, the big game hunter noting flatly 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 for their next move. Strings continue dark and mysterioso, the woodwinds and brass joining them, a few slow deep bass drum cadences 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. Then Sarah is suddenly awake and feels a low rumble, alarmed by it.

 

At 1:02 the percussion section starts pounding a steady, simple and menacing march rhythm as trombones and horns flutter and growl full of dark danger, woodwinds joining soon in a repeated figure, the suspense climbing continually, timpani spiking the tension along with the continuous sizzling sounds of a suspended cymbal. 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).

 

Inside the tent the paleontologist notices the bloody coat left hanging out to dry inside, realizing that the smell of blood 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. The violins and violas add their cold colours to the mass of sound, suspended cymbal hissing over the bed of repeating churning orchestral effects and timpani attacking violently as the beast approaches. Here the brass becomes more pronounced, the blasts oppressive and demanding underpinned by the rolling overpowering percussion as 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 still. The presence of the dinosaur hammers at them in Williams' music, the coiled, violent bursts of the orchestra threatening to crush them. The strings, first the high and then low register, spin uncomfortable cyclical figures backed up by synthesizers, further ratcheting up the suspense to unbearable levels.

But suddenly the bottled up tension is released at 3:24 as Carter wakes up and sees the beast, screams and fires at it with his gun. Strings whip into frenzied action as they flail in rhythmic anger and 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 as we get a wide shot of the dinosaur. To add to the constant sense of energy Williams keeps the pounding march from the opening half of the cue constantly going underneath the action, creating a relentless steady drive to the scene. From 3:35 until 4:06 the music again reprises a furious staccato brass and percussion 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.

Panicked, forward hurtling rapid fire brass phrases (with virtuoso playing from the session musicians) and sharply chirping 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. As the scene shifts rapidly the percussion strike up an agitated jungle rhythm underpinned by aggressive brass blast again when Roland Tembo tries to capture the other T-Rex with a tranquilizer gun, rattling clanging metallic percussive sounds further instilling momentum and tension and the low brass again rising to a monster music style deep exclamation as Tembo hits his quarry. The rhythms from the furious sawing strings, pealing synthetic chime effects and percussion become increasingly frantic as we cut to the T-Rex chase, the score surging to keep up until the ingeniously driving and wildly chaotic orchestral and percussive melange comes to a dead halt when the fleeing protagonists jump through a waterfall for safety.

 

In the Making

In the film this piece underwent editorial tinkering and as a result it was re-edited, layered with material taken probably from the unused portion of the Up in a Basket I and mixed very differently resulting in the opening part prior to 3:24 to sound wildly different in the film compared to Williams' original intentions. 

21. Steiner in the Grass (10m2) 2:28 (LLL set D 4 Track 2, OST track 8 Hammond's Plan 2:05-end)

Orchestrator: Conrad Pope

Length (sheet music): 60 bars

The survivors of the T-Rex attack (Carter and Dr. Burke didn't make it) continue towards the InGen facilities and cross a meadow of high grass, the line of people filing through high stalks, forming dark furrow as they go while Ajay is 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 was almost certainly a partial inspiration for this score and contained exotic music for the jungle travel and locale of the Skull Island, Williams is tipping the hat to the old master in styling his piece in somewhat the same vein. Another new jungle rhythm on the percussion and jazzy low piano open the cue and slowly rising ominous brass and string lines continue in the style of the previous Trek motif but spinning unique melodic variations for the scene.

 

Soon colder tones from the 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 protagonists behind the main group appear just at the edge of the meadow.

Nick finds Ajay’s bag in the dark, 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 orchestral sections urging them on with furious flurries as the heroes race towards the forest edge and safety, only to tumble down a slippery slope, a downward string and woodwind surge and a percussion hit signifying the end of their fall. The music continues without a pause with

22. After the Fall (10m3-11m1) 3:05 (LLL set D 4 Track 3, OST track 6 Finding Camp Jurassic)

Orchestrator: Conrad Pope

Length (sheet music): 58 bars

Under a brooding contrabassoon drone, deep trombone sonorities and celli’s and basses’ menacing murmurs the heroes find themselves in what seems like a dinosaur graveyard with huge rib cages surrounding 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 in the fall, piano and harp playing probing notes as the photographer runs through the broken gates of the facility towards the main building with strings rising full of mystery. As he enters through the main entrance of the Camp Jurassic center 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, Williams again tying the old theme firmly to the earlier park rather than Isla Sorna's situation.

As Nick continues to explore the vines and jungle infested main building,  part shadowy part enigmatic orchestral and percussive elements take over, heightening the suspense of the exploration until another 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) 3:44 (LLL set D 4 Track 4, OST track 9 The Raptors Appear)

Orchestrator: John Neufeld

Length (sheet music): 104 bars

Malcolm, Sarah and Kelly have finally caught up with Nick, walking past dinosaur bones and huge 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 echoing alone in the distance. The group reaches the gate and the courtyard of the InGen center with strings and subtle percussion keeping up the suspense, 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 instead and so she escapes with her life. 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 immediately go after them 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 and 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 calls 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 until all the orchestral forces, notably including wild aleatoric woodwind section, grow more chaotic by the second and finally 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) 4:12 (LLL set D 4 Track 5)

Orchestrator: John Neufeld

Length (sheet music): 136 bars

But another Raptor is waiting outside and a sharp timpani stinger and the percussion rhythm return as the action writing in the style of the previous cue continues fresh and furious. Sarah and Kelly have no choice but to go up climbing toward the roof for safety. Malcolm who has been trapped in a car, succeeds in evading the Raptor and runs inside driven by nervous blasts of brass, only to find himself face to face with another of the vicious carnivores that has nearly gotten in. He decides to climb as well and the orchestra and percussion follow his movements while cruel rhythmic brass exclamations trail the Raptor jumping after him. In the nick of time Kelly saves her father with a well targeted gymnastic move, sending the dinosaur through a window and to its demise below, impaled on a palisade, underscored by cymbal crashes and deep fateful staccato bursts from the brass section starting at 1:19.

But the victory is only temporary and after a short pause the Raptor brass sounds return with vengeance as Sarah heads for the roof while Malcolm and Kelly escape through the shed door. Nervous aleatoric woodwinds again creep into the score alongside Sarah’s panic as the vicious beast is after her and she has to make a leap to the roof of another building with the creature in hot pursuit. Her jump falls short, leaving her hanging from the slate roof edge with the score ratcheting up the tension and drive with the ever present percussion drive and sharp trumpet figures. 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 precariously balanced Raptor with them. Here the raging woodwinds, quick sharp brass bursts and string figures now accentuated by cymbal hits create a feel of deadly unpredictability, the musical chaos climbing to a small crescendo at 2:31 resembling the finale of the previous cue.

 

But as Sarah loses her hold of the tiles and falls, the score shifts to new action rhythm and the two Raptors, now is midst of a scrambling fight with one another battling for the quarry, 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 howling several times in the brass becoming each time more dramatic and ponderous as the heroes try to make their escape. And almost as if exhausted along with the characters the score comes to a sudden slow fading coda in the strings and weary horns as they get to the helicopter pad of the visitor center with Nick waiting for them and InGen helicopter approaching.

In the Making
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 almost up until the last minute.

25. Heading North (12m2) 2:14 (LLL set D 4 Track 6, OST track 3 Malcolm’s Journey 3:33-end)

Orchestrator: Conrad Pope

Length (sheet music): 46 bars

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 grand yet dark reading of the Lost World theme complete with tambourine flourishes, but even in triumph  it is tempered by the horrors experienced on Isla Sorna. And thus the new main theme of the score musically bookends the whole experience on the island. But the story isn't over yet.

26. Ludlow’s Speech (12m3) 3:15 (LLL set D 4 Track 7)

Orchestrator: John Neufeld

Length (sheet music): 91 bars

This cue begins the last act 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 Tyrannosaur to the InGen facilities in the city via helicopter. He has gathered media at 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 conference. Ian Malcolm and Sarah are there to witness this folly. The music continues very much in the jungle mood as the percussionists set up another rhythmic groove underneath the orchestra that now has both a conspiratorial and expectant feel to it, especially thanks to the dotted nervous woodwind lines that crisscross the composition. As the harbor master interrups Ludlow’s speech and calls him to inspect something in the offices, the inexorably rising orchestral and synthesizer lines of the Island’s Voice motif supported by the percussion section give us a forewarning that something is certainly amiss as the motif is taken over and repeated in turn by several sections of the ensemble.

 

The ship arrives but they can’t make contact with it, the vessel approaching the docks with an alarming speed with no signs of slowing down and when the blinking dot on the radar grows closer and closer the brass and woodwinds present their own nervous dotted figures over ominous high string lines and percussion for the nearing ship. A tense countdown motif begins in the orchestra, rhythmically taut and persistent, gathering up speed with the vessel, a ghostly synthesized wail of the Island’s Voice and full ensemble reaching terrifying intesity and a lengthy thunderous crescendo the score comes to a halt just after the ship appears from the darkness and plows into the pier wreaking chaos and destruction.

In the Making
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 mounting tension of the scene is carried just by sound effects.

27. WOMPI’s Wrench/Wreck? (12m4) 2:22 (LLL set D 4 Track 8, OST track 10 The Compys Dine 2:47-end)

Orchestrator: John Neufeld

Length (sheet music): 36 bars

Muted horns and slow ominously tremoloing strings set the mood of building horror for the scene, the Island’s Voice motif performed cruelly by the woodwinds and then passed between different instruments, obviously 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 both notice 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 series of growling bursts that grow 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 increasingly foreboding 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.

 

In the Making
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.

28. Monster On the Loose (12m5) 2:38 (LLL set D 4 Track 9)

Orchestrator: John Neufeld

Length (sheet music): 50 bars

And thus the button is pushed setting the Rex on the loose! The ponderous monstrously deep brass blasts from the previous cue return with even more commanding weight as the 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 and 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 a monster set free in the city of San Diego, the theme here another bittersweet reminder of the 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, double bass and timpani, Tyrannosaurus Footfalls, the phrase ending with pounding timpani notes as we see the creature against the silhouette of the city growling its fury.

The percussion section offers some suspense 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. The Island’s Voice on ghostly synth voices and strings makes an eerie another appearance, Ludlow sitting despondent and still in shock, telling them the baby is at the InGen waterfront facility, muted sharp horns and clarinets underscoring the duo’s decision to go and get it as they speed off in Malcolm's car.

In the Making
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) 3:26 (LLL set D 4 Track 10 0:00-3:26, OST track 13 Visitor In San Diego 0:00-3:24; Unused in the film 0:00-22)

Orchestrator: John Neufeld

Length (sheet music): 72 bars

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, contrabass 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 Tyrannosaurus 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-note Tyrannosaurus Footfalls rhythm and adding a 5th note here imitating the T-Rex’s roar.

At 2:09 the Tyrannosaurus Footfalls and its accompanying rhythmic string motif continue as we cut to Malcolm and Sarah speeding towards the InGen facilities, the cymbal crashes coinciding with the moment before the car crashes through a guardpost safety beam. The heroic and urgent Island Fanfare calls out over the string motif as the two arrive at the Jurassic Park facilities and the discovery of the caged baby T-Rex is treated to a brief ethereal passage for flute and synthesized zither, perhaps a textural nod to the earlier music for the infant dinosaurs heard in the film. As our heroes take the infant and get into the car, the forceful string motif from earlier returns and with this determined musical ally the pair prepares to go searching for the adult Tyrannosaurus.

 

In the Making

The heavy percussive opening (0:00-0:22) was ultimately not used in the film and T-Rex steps into the backyard in silence, the sound effects again carrying the suspense without musical help.

30. Streets Of San Diego (13m2) 4:14 (LLL set D 4 Track 10 3:27-end, OST track 13 Visitor In San Diego 3:24-end; Unused in the film 0:00-0:41)

Orchestrator: Conrad Pope

Length (sheet music): 105 bars

Meanwhile on the streets the panic is rising. A quick cut to a screaming woman’s face opens the cue as rapid fire trumpets and yelping 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 raucous fury, low thumping piano and the strings joining the fray. People flee in panic. The Island’s Voice makes a doom laden announcement in the brass further enhanced 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 unstoppable speed.

 

At 2:32 a new action rhythm appears, 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 Tyrannosaurus baby and with the final flourish of the Island’s Voice from the orchestra the pair jumps over the ship's railing into the water, leaving baffled Ludlow to take measure of the situation.

 

In the Making

The opening 42 seconds music were not used in the film for the initial shots of the Tyrannosaur attack starting from the transition to the screaming woman backing away from the dinosaur up until the shot where the mauled bus crashes into the video rental store. Interestingly a brief snippet of High Bar and Ceiling Tiles (deep Island's Voice exclamation) makes an appearance for the shot of fleeing Japanese businessmen before the actual cue returns as the script writer David Koepp makes his cameo as the unfortunate pedestrian who gets eaten by the Tyrannosaurus.

31. Ludlow’s End (13m3-14m1) 2:52 (LLL set D 4 Track 11, OST track 12 Ludlow's Demise 1:35-end)

Orchestrator: John Neufeld & Conrad Pope

Length (sheet music): 74 bars

A string motif similar to the one heard under Tyrannosaurus Footfalls (and in snippets in the previous cue) returns in much accelerated guise with full orchestra backing as Ludlow looks down into the cargo hold with a helicopter and a sniper emergimg 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 nervous percussion passages underscore Ludlow descending to the cargohold to find the baby T-Rex, synthesized animal howl further enhancing the edgy moment for the InGen CEO.

But soon the adult T-Rex emerges behind the cargohold doors and comes down to find its infant and the previous string action ostinato 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, breathlessly fast brass figures and cymbals raising the tension while in the helicopter the sniper is ready to take the T-Rex down per Ludlow’s orders. Finally the piece reaches its dramatic conclusion with the tortured string and brass lines over percussion pulse rising to a climax, a heavy orchestral thump announcing Sarah’s tranquilizer dart finding its mark.

In the Making
In the film only the first 15 seconds of the cue are used but the suspenseful underscore is dropped and the T-Rex capturing and crippling Ludlow and feeding the man 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 these animals. This could be seen as a continuation of a tradition started in Jurassic Park of showing the T-Rex in a heroic light as it's appearance was re-scored with tracked music (The Island Fanfare) also in the first film to give the finale an optimistic feel. 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) 3:01 (LLL set D 4 Track 12, Film Edit LLL D 4 Track 15,  OST track 14 Finale and Jurassic Park Theme 0:00-2:23)

Orchestrator: Conrad Pope

Length (sheet music): 57 bars

Fluttering woodwinds, synthesized celesta/piano and tremoloing strings announce the Tyrannosaurus 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 with a CNN news report showing on the television, 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 slow and fragmented major mode variation on the Lost World theme, here warm and comforting, the news showing the cargo ship at sea escorted by the military back to Isla Sorna. When John Hammond offers his own view on the matter in the TV interview, 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 then cuts to Isla Sorna and shows the dinosaurs living in their natural habitat while a wistful and slightly pensive coda using subtle interpolation of the Island's Voice motif on synthetic chorus with gentle harp arpeggio accompaniment trails into silence as a Pteranodon lands on a branch of a nearby tree, letting out a victorious cry. Life has indeed found a way.

In the Making
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. This editorial version was also included on the LLL set (Disc 4 track 15) while on the original soundtrack album the suite from Jurassic Park followed immediately after the piano rendition of the Dinosaurs theme. Williams original more subdued and pensive ending can be heard on the LLL set for the first time. 

33. End Credit Intro (unnumbered) 0:14

Orchestrator: ?

Length (sheet music): 11 bars

For the End Credits Williams wrote a revised opening for the new theme of the film featuring a bit deeper brass, horns and trombones in particular, and percussion than the original version. This is edited to flow to

34. The Lost World (End Credits) 3:34 (LLL set D 3 Track 1, D 4 Track 14 (with End Credit Intro), OST track 1 The Lost World)

Orchestrator: John Neufeld & Conrad Pope

Length (sheet music): 134 bars

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 triumphantly thrilling and satisfying way.

35. Jurassic Park Theme 5:30 (unnumbered) (LLL set D 4 Track 13, 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 his two main themes from Jurassic Park, which he created after the release of the first film and recorded for one of his Boston Pops compilation albums, Williams on Williams: The Classic Spielberg Scores. 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 cue Dinosaurs from Jurassic Park 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 closing with the triumphant music from the end of T-Rex Rescue and Finale.

 

In the Making
In the film the Island Fanfare portion of this suite opens the end credits which is then edited to continue with the Lost World theme concert arrangement which in turn is editorially combined with theme's variations from the cue To the Island . The Theme from Jurassic Park section of the suite goes completely unused in the film and the end credits and can only be heard on the album releases of the score.

-Mikko Ojala- ©

Special thanks to Datameister, Jason LeBlanc and Goodmusician for complete cue lists, musical analysis, mock-ups and all the rest.

Notes
[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.

[crocodile 8,539]

Wow! So cool. Thanks for sharing! Can't wait to delve deeper into it.

Karol

[SF1_freeze 136]

Great and interesting post (although i only had time to read about half of it yet). I rediscovered The Lost World about half a year ago and it constantly climbs up my JW favorite ladder since then

In my opinion it's an absolute unique entry in JW filmography. There is no other comparable score and this shows the genius of JW. He can deliver the best out of each genre of orchestral music. It's one of his top two energetic/kinetic scores only beaten by TOD in that respect.

And it certainly is his only true percussion dominated score. By the way does anyone know a better percussion dominated filmscore or is this the all time number one in that style of scoring?

[Richard P 4,211]

Holy crap, now that's an analysis!

I'll have to give it some proper attention this evening

[Jay 39,582]

Mikko:

Excellent work, sir! I enjoyed reading it very much

And every new cue list, fan edit, and analysis makes me yearn for a complete release even more!

[BloodBoal 7,541]

[GoodMusician 56]

I guess I should have posted this here :

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!

[Incanus 5,816]

Thank you guys for all your kind words!

And thank you for the notes Goodmusician! I fully confess I did not go very deeply into the film production itself in my analysis but instead focused on the score as it was originally written. But I will try to incorporate the new info into the text soon as it is interesting to know how film making process affects the music.

EDIT: Some of your notes are now incorporated into the analysis. The unused and tracked music you noted is to a large extent mentioned in my original version of the analysis. I left the script and production info out of it for now. I may add it when I have time.

I also tweaked the text a bit and added a few points I noticed were missing.

[JohnnyD 1,327]

This is an excellent analysis!

Minor error however: The Trek - This cue was NOT cut from the film in its entirety.

Part of the cue was actually used in the film: 3:20 to 3:59, in the intended section of the scene.

[Incanus 5,816]

Thank you and thanks for the correction! For some reason I missed that bit when comparing score to film. I'll adjust the section in question accordingly.

[avalanche 0]

Thanks Incanus! You've made me revisit this score this afternoon with fresh ears, and I was able to listen to it straight through for the first time, I believe, ever.

[Incanus 5,816]

Thank you! That is perhaps the best compliment one could give and I am happy if the analysis has been helpful in any small way in appreciating, understanding or seeing the score from a new perspective.

[JohnnyD 1,327]

By the way, I was curious about something:

WOMPI's Wrench.

What does the title mean?

[Jay 39,582]

We don't know what it means. We've discussed it before here:

http://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=19455&st=240#entry680299

and here:

http://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=20112&st=0&p=715307entry715307

[JohnnyD 1,327]

Hmm... Well, anyway, Incanus and Jason, if (and probably when) an expanded edition of the score is released, what do you think the title of the cue would be?

I like to call it "Surveying the Wreckage."

[Incanus 5,816]

Williams uses the word WOMPI also in a cue title in the original JP score. It is quite unclear what does the composer mean by that, some kind of inside joke perhaps.

Surveying the Wreckage does not sound like a bad name at all.

[Jay 39,582]

I like it when the keep the original manuscript titles on expanded releases. Though I can see why they changed that one cue title in 1941

[Incanus 5,816]

I like it when the keep the original manuscript titles on expanded releases. Though I can see why they changed that one cue title in 1941

From a faithful to composer's original intentions point of view I like it too but on the other hand cue titles in the manuscripts have often quite utilitarian names, e.g. Williams' often uses cue names like "x scene" (translating also directly to track names on albums: Bedroom Scene, Werewolf Scene etc.) which are not perhaps most poetic but do their job identifying the sequence they were written for. Then there are the hyper-poetic sentence long track titles composers like Horner use for soundtrack albums that are a bit too much. Something in the middle would be a good option or alternatively creating completely new track titles for expanded release but mentioning the originals as well so you could get both.

[indy4 155]

Wow excellent post Incanus!

[JohnnyD 1,327]

Thanks guys, and I too am for the composer's original intentions, and if someone does not understand what the cue title signifies, then in-depth linear notes explain it no problem.

[JohnnyD 1,327]

Hey, Incanus, I was just curious to ask:

At what point would the cue,

Reading the Map,

have begun in the film?

[Incanus 5,816]

I would have check the film to be absolutely sure but off the top of my head the cue would have started at beginning of the scene in question.

[JohnnyD 1,327]

So, immediately after the end of the cue, Truck Stop?

[Jay 39,582]

JohnnyD. Incanus' notes point out that the first 1:42 of the cue is dropped from the final film. Can't you just go to the point in the film where the cue does start, then rewind by 1:42 and start the full cue there to see how it would have lined up?

[JohnnyD 1,327]

No, I cannot, because I am way too busy at this time to do so.

[JohnnyD 1,327]

Let me see, the first 1:42 of the cue was unused. The cue picks up right when Ludlow mentions the Velociraptors...

Hey, Incanus, do you think you can help me calculate this?

Would the cue have started immediately after the previous cue, Truck Stop,

or would it have started immediately after Sarah broke up the argument between Roland and Nick, when Nick almost got into a fight with Dieter?

I'm pretty sure the former is correct, but I need additional back up.

[Incanus 5,816]

I just checked the film and compared it with the cue and it seems that the cue would have come in right after the previous scene, and in original form would have started pretty much immediately after Truck Stop.

[JohnnyD 1,327]

I thought so.

Thank you for confirming it.

[bondo 33]

I've been listening to this score all week and have begun to appreciate it because of the analysis. Sadly, I might have completely overlooked "The Island's Voice" motif if you all did not mention it.

[Doo_liss 6,496]

I "hated" the new carnivore motif, until I heard the complete score, and heard all the great unreleased versions.

[bondo 33]

Agreed! This score would benefit 100% from a complete release. Faleel, are you referring to a DVD rip or a... *ahem*... "different" version?

[Jay 39,582]

The sessions have never leaked, there's only DVD/blu rips

[bondo 33]

Gotcha

[JohnnyD 1,327]

I am curious about Big Feet.

How come a portion of the cue was unused in the film?

[Jay 39,582]

Who knows. The entire score was massacred in the final film

[JohnnyD 1,327]

???

The ENTIRE score? I think you are over exaggerating just a bit.

Only a few cues were either edited a bit or unused all together.

[Jay 39,582]

No, almost every cue was modified in some way. Well, at least half, I'd say.

[JohnnyD 1,327]

Really? I have listened to the score and have watched the film many times, and I think you are exaggerating a little bit.

[Jay 39,582]

I'm definitely not.

[JohnnyD 1,327]

Whatever... I was just asking a question about one cue.

[Jay 39,582]

Well, none of us know for sure why Spielberg chose to dial out that one particular cue, you'd have to ask him. All we can do is speculate. I guess Spielberg felt the scene played better without music >shrug<

[JohnnyD 1,327]

It is not that the scene did not have music. Only a portion of the cue was edited out. What I think is that the unused portion probably scored Dieter's encounter with the Compy. That scene was probably edited in the final film to go after Ludlow steps in the T-Rex footprint. I think the scene originally was to happen like this. After Malcolm, Sarah, Kelly, Nick, and Eddie see the Parasaurolophus being brought down, the next scene is Dieter's encounter with the Compy. Then it would have gone to Roland calling Burke to identify the footprint, finishing with the shot of Roland loading his gun and Ludlow stepping in the footprint.

[Jay 39,582]

No idea. It's been a long time since I've seen the film.

[JohnnyD 1,327]

That may have been the case.

[Jay 39,582]

About what?

[JohnnyD 1,327]

I just read your reply. I was referring to the cue.

[JohnnyD 1,327]

Has anyone done an experiment to see the unused cues accompanying the scenes each one scores?

The Hunt, Up In a Basket (mostly unused), Reading the Map (partially unused), The Trek (mostly unused), Rialto Ripples (partially unused), High Bar and Ceiling Tiles (partially unused), Heading North (partially unused), Ludlow's Speech (partially unused), WOMPI's Wrench, Monster On the Loose (partially unused), Visitor In San Diego (partially unused), and Ludlow's Demise (mostly unused)?

[JohnnyD 1,327]

Has anyone done something like that?

[Sharkissimo 1,974]

Has anyone done an experiment to see the unused cues accompanying the scenes each one scores?

Could you rephrase that? Not sure what you mean.

[Incanus 5,816]

I think he means that has anyone compared the unused pieces of music to the picture and how they all sync.

Has anyone done something like that?

Well naturally I have!