THE DINOSAUR PROJECT

UK, 2012, 83 minutes, Colour.

Richard Dillane, Matt Kane, Peter Brooke, Natasha Loring, Abena Ayivor, Stephen Jennings.

Directed by Sid Bennett.

Popular entertainment in 2012. The continued popularity, after Jurassic Park, speculations about dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures. The influence of The Blair Witch Project and the genre of “found footage”. There was also the memory of popular films of the 1970s, explorations, into the past, The Valley of Gwangi, Land that Time Forgot.

This film is very strong on the conventions of found footage, the characters provided with cameras, photographing the scenery, the creatures, their action, human reactions, and the characters talking to camera. Because it is found footage, the editing is in abrupt cuts from one piece to the other. And a lot of handheld camera, creating an atmosphere of exploration.

The presupposition of the story is an organisation in England, Cryptozoological, and television news about the sighting of a creature in Africa. An expedition is organised, a local guide, female, camera expert, of the members with one of them turning out to have violent rivalry, and the leader, very experienced, with encounters with his 15-year-old son who stows away for the expedition, and is instrumental in the crash of a helicopter, and some blame and acrimony from the violent member of the expedition, wanting to kill him in several confrontations.

The plot is conventional enough, the group lost in a kind of lost world, moving through the jungle, encountering the creatures, filming,  hiding, menace and attacks. The 15-year-old, Luke, proves adept at science and technology, putting the camera on one of the creatures, establishing a relationship, feeding, spat upon (which is important eventually because it means that the other creatures accept him and not in the violent man who is about to kill him).

The film was shot in South Africa, vivid scenery and locations. There is some attention given to the characterisation but, mostly, to the leader and his son, the female doctor dying quickly into the action, the female guide becoming more hostile. The CGI of the animals, the creatures, is quite effective.

And, at the end, the authorities find the footage and begin to watch it.

Audiences interested in in searches for prehistoric creatures will find it intriguing in its way, but it is a short, modest, production