When I was a kid, I don’t think any movie had more of an effect on me than Steven Spielberg’s JURASSIC PARK. It was AMAZING. I spent most of my childhood wanting to BE a Tyrannosaurus Rex, so it made sense that I would have an affinity for such a creature on the big screen. When I grew up, and studied film in college, I learned more about the importance of symbols in moviemaking. It occurred to me that one of the most memorable images from JURASSIC PARK has nothing to do with dinosaurs or any of the movie stars in the film, but a simple glass of water. Here’s the scene.

A glass of water has never been so terrifying.

In anticipation of my Cooking With Sound final, I was thinking about this scene. What makes a glass of water vibrate like that? How does it get those perfect concentric rings? Thanks to what I’ve learned about waves in Cooking With Sound, I understand how vibrations can transfer their energy through objects.

I tried to replicate this effect using what is essentially the same method as the special effects designers who worked on the movie. It works with the help of a resonant guitar string.

Here are my results, demonstrating the effect three different ways. First, when the glass mounted on a wood block which has a groove in place for the string. The second, with the same set up, but with a high frequency pluck instead of low frequency, and the third with the glass on the board underneath the string. In this last case, I believe the result is due to the wood of the board vibrating, rather than the air displaced by the string.

CWS Midterm from Matt London on Vimeo.

As a bonus, here is a clip from the behind the scenes feature which shows how JURASSIC PARK achieved the same effect.