Writing Sound

My screenwriting students are bringing examples of cinematic storytelling to class and on Wednesday Chris brought in JURASSIC PARK so we could focus on the sound of T-rex in his first film appearance. It was so interesting to hear about how the sound designer mixed together the sounds of lions, tigers, alligators and elephants to create the wholy original, never-before-heard T-rex voice.

David Koepp, the screenwriter who adapted Crichton's original story, didn't describe the T-rex's sound in any detail. But what he did do was to build suspense by introducing the sound first as a vibration and then as footsteps. From Koepp's 1992 screenplay, posted on dailyscript.com:

IN THE FRONT CAR

TIM-'Can you feel that?'

Tim leans over to the front passenger seat and looks at the two plastic cups of water that sit in the recessed holes on the dashboard. As he watches, the water in the glasses vibrates, making concentric circles - -

--then it stops --

--and then it vibrates again. Rhythmically.

Like from footsteps.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

It was three more pages of suspense in the rainy night inside the tyrannosaurus paddock. A rope without goat, goat leg flung on the windshield, louder vibrations, twitching electric wires, an adult dashing from car to cinderblock outhouse, seeing the T-Rex, moving flashlight beam that really gets him going, until finally the beast opens its mouth wide and--
ROARS.

Wow!