Museum of Science, Boston

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Tuesday, April 03, 2007 - Thursday, June 10, 2010

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The world's most charismatic megafauna star in a gorgeously shot, meticulously rendered IMAX® film. Watch the science of paleontology evolve from the early 20th century through today, as the ultimate predators take over the ultimate big screen.

When filmmakers Bayley Silleck and Dave Clark read about the early 20th century naturalist and explorer Roy Chapman Andrews, they felt his story was a great tale of discovery that had not been widely told. They trekked their 225-pound cameras to Mongolia, where the fossils of the Late Cretaceous represent the end of the dinosaurs' reign on Earth. They paired antique footage of Andrews's adventures with their own shots of the remote, sandstorm-swept Gobi desert. A new, smaller IMAX camera enabled them to film from the nose of a helicopter and the front bumper of a Jeep.

Then they recorded modern paleontologists at work in New Mexico, a location perhaps less exotic, but no less stunning. There, scientists are still uncovering fossils from the dawn of the dinosaur age, the Triassic Period.

Witness the painstaking process of locating and excavating dinosaur fossils as scientists uncover secrets locked in time. Then, be amazed by the work from top digital animators to create the most realistic dinosaurs on film, depicting each flared nostril, dripping tooth, and glinting eye in full detail. Leading paleontologist Mark Norell, who works for the American Museum of Natural History just as Andrews did a lifetime ago, provided approval for the dinosaurs' physical appearance and walking effects based on the best and latest fossil evidence.

Dinosaurs Alive! conveys how the study of dinosaurs has progressed — how new insights build on previous work, and how each new generation of paleontologists continues the legacy of people like the illustrious Roy Chapman Andrews. The real stars of the film, however, prove just how far the technology of computer-generated graphics has come.

Dinosaurs Alive! was produced by David Clark, Inc., Giant Screen Films, the Maryland Science Center, and Stardust Blue LLC, in association with the American Museum of Natural History. Major funding and support provided by the National Science Foundation, the Museum Film Network, and the 3D Film Interest Group.

Related Links:

Dinosaurs Alive! website