The FFOW! series takes a look at that vast library created by the proud and the passionate: fan films. Whether the budget and talent is astronomical or amateur, FFOW! celebrates the filmmakers whose love of comics, books, movies, video games, and TV shows inspires them to join the great conversation with their own homemade masterpieces.
If you want to, just go to Jurassic Park.
You’ll probably be eaten alive after daaaaaark
If you like food, then go to Jurassic Park
You’ll become food faster than you could get chewed by a shaaaaark . . .
Yes, it’s 3D IMAX time for Spielberg’s classic tale of man vs. lizard/bird/frog clones. Time, once again, to listen to the music written by John Williams and played on a constant loop at the Jurassic Park River Adventure Ride in Universal Studios Hollywood. Maybe I did once work in that section of the theme park, and maybe I did write lyrics for the music because it played on a constant loop . . .
Dinosaurs eat food
Dinosaurs eat you
Dinosaaaaaurs eating meeeee . . .
Enough of that. To celebrate our return to Isla Nublar, I’ll sing dino-songs to myself and you can watch this Jurassic Park fan film.
THE FILM
Emergency Landing is the fifteen-minute short from Medoc Productions about a military mission to rescue the crew of a FedEx plane that crashes onto Jurassic Park. Think of it as a shorter and more entertaining version of Castaway. The film opens on . . .
Wait, let me adjust the audio . . . Are they . . . ?
French? The movie is in French? Awesome! It’s a French film with dinosaurs! So now, it’s a shorter and more entertaining version of every French film! Of course, I never made it past high school-level French, so I will do my best to translate.
So, the movies opens over dark and stormy seas. The large FedEx plane loses a crucial section of the fuselage, also known as a crucialage. French! It goes down into the waves. Later, a special army base of some sort receives no transmission from them, so they know they must have crashed onto an island full of dinosaurs and send a team to extract them.
The rescue team is composed of two men. Without subtitles to identify the character names, I shall name them John Survivor and Jack Deadmeat. Possible spoilers ahead. Captain Survivor and Lt. Deadmeat board a helicopter and fly to the island, passing over a peaceful herd of brachiosaurs in the meadow. They land and set off to find the missing FedEx pilots.
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
First, FedEx must have one heck of a benefits package when a plane crash is able to summon military special forces that are willing to rescue the employees from an island full of dinosaurs. Are they hiring? Imagine the dental plan!
Second, the visual effects are cool. Original CG model rigs of velociraptors and tyrannosaurs stalk Survivor and Deadmeat through the jungles. Maybe the velociraptors do only resemble smaller versions of the tyrannosaurs, but it doesn’t have to rival ILM’s dinosaurs to be impressive animation. They incorporate camera movement into their effects shots, which is really tricky for the animator to place a raptor on the ground or a helicopter in the sky when the camera is moving. When poor Deadmeat dies, he gets the proper Donald Gennaro farewell by getting chomped and swallowed whole by a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Classic.
Finally, you know you’ve made a good Jurassic Park movie when an audience that doesn’t even speak your language can follow the story of your film. The late Michael Crichton filled half the novel with lectures on genetic code and chaos theory. As a fourth grader, I didn’t understand half of that book, but I still loved it. Emergency Landing carries on the legacy.
WHERE YOU CAN SEE IT
Emergency Landing is on YouTube along with other shorts and effects tests from Medoc Productions. Vive la Park de Jurassic!
