Hired By Universal Studios - Spinosaurus Shoot!
- mitchelwu
- 7 days ago
- 3 min read
This project, a collaboration with NBC Universal, was one of the most fun I've had to date. I created an exciting episode for "Jurassic World: Beyond The Gates - Creator Edition." What made this one so fun? Read on...
Amazing toys! These Hammond Collection Spinosaurus and Stegosaurus dinos from Mattel, recently debuted here and elsewhere for the first time, are essentially huge, beautifully articulated action figures. I was shocked when I first received and unboxed them, immediately noticing their enormous size (the spinosaurus is 25" long!), the beautiful paint decorations, the thoughtful details (like their glass eyes), and especially the articulation. All of these things combined really inspired storytelling and dynamic imagemaking.
Amazing partners! This was a dream collaboration with NBC Universal, Mattel and Target. I was grateful for their incredible support and enthusiasm.
Amazing location! I wanted to take these dinos out of the studio and into the wild, and am so grateful that the team at NBC Universal enthusiastically supported and shared that vision. Taking a production outdoors and on location always adds complexity and challenges. Even something as mundane as the weather can disrupt the best laid plans.
Here's some images leading up to shoot day:
5 1/2 weeks before shoot day with the dinos: My wife and I decided to go for a hike. Referring to my hiking app, I found a beautiful trail about a 90 minute drive from our house. I also saw that it was by a river and wanted to explore the possibility of shooting toys there in the future. The photo below is the view we saw just minutes into our hike. I was immediately drawn to the physical features of the river, the rocky environment and relatively calm water. It looked prehistoric to me, a place I could imagine dinosaurs roaming around. What really caught my eye were how the rocks in the river often formed interesting pockets of water, which reminded me of tide pools along an ocean shore. You can't see it in this image, but the current was pretty strong in some areas, but these pockets of water, protected by rocks, were often quite calm.
One day before shoot day: We went back to the river for pre-planning and pre-visualization purposes. Two of my goals for this trip were to (a) identify potential locations to shoot at, and (b) determine how the toys would react once in the water. I wasn't sure if they'd sit firmly on the river bottom on their own, or if they were buoyant and would need to be anchored to the bottom. I was relieved to see they didn't float. Another benefit to this precursory trip to the river was that accomplishing my 2 goals took most of the pressure off the next day's shoot. Preparation is everything.
Shoot day: I was grateful to have my wife filming video for me. An artist herself with an eye for composition, she has been capturing a lot of my behind-the-scenes content recently. Having her with me at this shoot was so much fun - we were constantly laughing. And why wouldn't it be fun - we were knee-deep in a river photographing Mattel's latest and greatest Hammond Collection dinosaurs! Things got a little soggy, but that was the plan!
And the final image
Check out the official "Beyond The Gates Creator Edition" episode I created here on Target's Jurassic World Beyond The Gates website.
See more toy photography and learn more about what I do at: