Thanks for that, I heard something similar to what you said there on a youtube video about the open matte version. But why does the bluray version I have show a small amount to the left side but the open matte version is cropped, only slightly but noticeable?. Do you know where the open matte version of JP came from and how they got hold of them?. Also, I noticed there was a 16:9 aspect during a non effects shot where the camera moves into Grant’s face as he is looking towards the herd of Brachiosaurs moving across the lake below, but the other non effects shots go back to the open matte look.
I don’t know why that close-up shot (and another one where he says “they move in herds”) was matted. Such shots probably had green screen. We know that they couldn’t film inside the ranch where the lake is. The wide shot of the Brachios wading on the lake is a still photo frame that was animated during post-production. The actors were shot with a green screen in the foreground and later composited in the photo, edited to look like a motion picture image; with heatwaves, reflections on the water surface and camera shakes, etc.