The special effects of the 1991 American science fiction action film Terminator 2: Judgment Day were developed by four core groups: Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Stan Winston Studio, Fantasy II Film Effects, and 4-Ward Productions. Pacific Data Images and Video Images provided some additional effects.
Overview
Pre-production While writing Terminator 2, director/writer James Cameron and his co-writer, William Wisher Jr., created a villain based on an abandoned idea Cameron had for its predecessor, The Terminator (1984). The T-1000 was a machine made of liquid metal who adopted the form of an average human. To ensure their ideas were viable with current visual effects technology, the pair frequently consulted with special effects studio Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). ILM had assisted on Cameron's previous film, The Abyss (1989), with realizing a water-like alien being, similar to what would become the T-1000. The unprecedented use of digital effects was risky, because if they did not work, then the entire film could fail.
A ten-month schedule and approximately $15–$17million of the film's budget were allocated to the film's special effects, with $5million separately allocated to the T-1000. Co-producers Stephanie Austin and B. J. Rack determined that the 150 visual effects of Terminator 2 could not be realized by ILM alone, so the project was segmented into four core groups: ILM under special effects supervisor Dennis Muren managed the computer-generated imagery (CGI) effects, Stan Winston Studio created the prosthetics and animatronics, Fantasy II Film Effects (who also worked on The Terminator) developed miniatures and optical effects, and 4-Ward Productions was responsible for creating a nuclear explosion effect. The cost of producing CGI and practical limitations of staff numbers meant the technique was used sparingly, appearing in 42–43 shots, alongside 50–60 practical effects.
A truncated three-month pre-production cycle began in July 1990, as locations were scouted and effects sequences were designed and storyboarded. Cameron provided storyboards for every scene, while effects designer John Bruno and artist Philip Norwood were responsible for storyboards for effects and action sequences. Cameron spent several hours a day over a week choreographing vehicle scenes with toy cars and trucks, filming the results, and printing out the frames for the storyboard artists to transpose. There was no time to properly test out practical effects before filming; if they did not work, they would have to be worked around.
ILM underwent a major expansion. The six-person CGI team that worked on The Abyss was not viable for the scale of Terminator 2, and the team was expanded to 35 people, including software engineers and animators hired from around the world. ILM invested $3million in purchasing new equipment, including eleven high-powered, five medium, and ten small Silicon Graphics computers. A further $500,000 investment was used to create software specifically for Terminator 2.
By the start of principal photography in early October, the effects teams were set up to begin work. Scenes requiring the most time-consuming post-production visual effects were scheduled to be filmed first, with Muren and his team on location to supervise the recording of their various VistaVision plates that would later have effects added. To compensate for the difficulties of matching visual effects to live-action footage where the camera was in motion, it was organized that the background plates would be filmed in a static position and a moving version would only be made if time allowed. Those scenes storyboarded to feature a camera move were performed using a motion control camera system, allowing a computer to read and replicate its movements later.
Despite working with a substantial budget compared to his other work, cinematographer Adam Greenberg did not have the freedom he thought he would, mainly because of the sheer complexity and scope of the project and the high number of crew to manage. He remarked that where he used to shout instructions to his crew on other films, Terminator 2 required 187 Motorola walkies-talkies to keep in touch. His long-time colleague Mike Benson led second unit photography.
The production went on right up to the eve of the film's release due to the time taken to render shots, with one of the most difficult and last scenes rendered being the T-1000's death. Cameron had chosen to have Consolidated Film Industries render the theatrical reels, which Austin described as unusual due to their relatively small team, but Cameron was fond of some of its crew, who worked across 24-hour shifts to meet the deadline while others (such as Austin) slept on the office floor to remain close to the project.
Crew
The film crew for Terminator 2 included:
John Bruno (effects designer) Stephen Burg (conceptual artist) Doug Chiang (visual effects art director) Jamie Dixon (Pacific Data Images effects supervisor) Paul Gentry (camera operator) Julia Gibson (effects producer) Janet Healy (effects producer) Richard Hollander (Video Image project supervisor) Michael Joyce (Fantasy II supervisor) Michael Karp (camera operator) Peter Kleinow (puppet animator) Van Ling (visual effects coordinator) Shane Mahan (art department supervisor) Bret Mixon (rotoscope supervisor) Dennis Muren (ILM visual effects supervisor) Joseph Nemec III (production designer) Phillip Norwood (artist) Mark Segal (ILM mode shop) Robert Skotak (4-Ward visual effects supervisor) Dennis Skotak (4-Ward supervising director of photography) Gene Warren Jr. (Fantasy II effects supervisor) Steve Williams (ILM animation supervisor) Stan Winston (special makeup producer)
Technology
Terminator 2 used rear projection techniques, but because scenes were generally in motion, Bobby Gray developed a hanging rig with lights on a circular track that created a realistic movement of light. To avoid the lights from shining onto the rear projection screen, a new technique tunnel made of black cloth was used, deflecting the light away from the screen. These scenes were generally filmed at night on stages in Valencia because the crew was already acclimated to working a night schedule.
Greenberg used various methods for lighting and also made adjustments, such as wetting down the streets to enhance the contrast by making them darker. He also did this with cars, not so they would look wet, but to alter their color. Greenberg also used three different film stocks—Kodak 5297, Kodak 5245, and Kodak 5296—which gave richer colors, as he wanted to create a cold, blue aesthetic with elements of orange to provide warmth. For the hospital lighting, Greenberg wanted to go against a more traditional "bland and antiseptic" appearance achieved with fluorescent lighting; instead, he lit it from outside using xenon lights on towers to create an overexposed look which he believed made it less "soothing," although this made filming more difficult as the only in-film light came from outside.
In particular, ILM had to increase its artist count to 35 to produce the effects for the T-1000 during just four to five minutes of screen time, at a cost of $5.5million. The CGI was so complex that 15 seconds of footage could take up to ten days to render, and the film contained about 150 visual effects shots across four different teams. A variety of software was used to produce the film, such as Alias, RenderMan, Photoshop, and a variety of programs written specifically for the film.
Stunts Highway pursuit About $1million was spent on stunts, one of the largest ever stunt budgets at the time. One of the most demanding night scenes, the highway chase, was filmed along of highway over three weeks. The production had to rent cabling from many studios, including Paramount, Disney, and Universal, because of the difficulty of running lights across the entire stretch of highway. Lighting was provided by Musco lights with lighting on condor cranes with 12k HMIs on each, requiring 11 generators to power. It took the full crew two weeks to prepare everything, and it had to be planned meticulously by gaffer Gary Tondreau to ensure costs did not spiral out of control. For closeups of actor Robert Patrick (who played the T-1000) in the helicopter, a mock-up helicopter was built and suspended from a crane arm attached to a moving flatbed truck, which was also used when the helicopter crashes into the SWAT van carrying the T-800, Sarah, and John.
Cameron wanted to shoot scenes continuously in one, long sequence and used cameras inside cars and helicopters flown by stunt pilots Chuck and Mike Tamburro. Chuck also performed the stunt of the helicopter flying under a bridge, with only clearance above and below. He had to fly at 60 knots, as going any slower would have made it potentially lose control under the bridge. Because camera operators refused to film the closeup of the scene, Cameron did it himself from a moving vehicle.
The tanker truck was storyboarded to crash through the steel mill gates and jackknife onto its side before sliding into the mill itself. Cameron attempted the jackknife live but was unable to get it to roll in the necessary spot, so the few moments of usable footage were combined with a miniature effect done by Fantasy II. The team measured and photographed the site, and the entrance to the mill was recreated on a 1/4 scale under the supervision of Jerry Pojawa. The finished miniature was about and was up to tall in areas. It was built with a clearance underneath to allow operators to control things from below. The set had a steel substructure for strength while the buildings and items were made from hundreds of pieces of vacuum formed plastic, plus railings made with dowels and windows of acetate. It had to be large and reasonably detailed because some of the shots showed the whole location.
A , 1/4 scale tanker truck was built, mainly by Monty and Dwight Schook, based on the live-action version. Monty carved the body from foam and it was vacuum formed out of styrene. The cab had working suspension, steering, and lights as well as a full interior detailed by John Eaves. The tires had to be custom-made, with details to match the live-action versions, including treads. A single mold was made from which all the tires could be formed.
Four truck cabs were made: one for the rollover effect itself, and three with stronger lead tops for when it crashed into the mill. The tanks were made from PVC tubes capped on both ends. The first was rigged to tip over with hydraulics, while the second was a thicker tube cut in half lengthwise with a hinge and pneumatic actuator allowing it to split open to spill canisters filled with liquid nitrogen and alcohol.
Railroad tracks built into the live-action mill proved a convenient means of hiding the cable systems attached to the truck to trigger actions such as tipping over or jackknifing, although the most difficult aspect was lining its position up to match the live-action footage.
The T-800 climbing onto the side of the truck was a live-action stunt, while the miniature versions used a tall T-800 sculpted by Dan Plant with a steel armature and radio controls for the T-800 pulling itself onto the truck as it rolled over. The radio controls were removed after and it was used as a standard go motion puppet for the following shots animated by Peter Kleinow, particularly the T-800 leaping off the truck and hitting the ground while rolling towards the camera. The puppet was suspended in midair, and a jump was animated and aligned to make it appear as if the figure was leaping from the truck to the ground. The puppet landed in blank space, so had to animate the motion of landing on the ground. The shot took two months and 25 takes to meet Cameron's approval.
T-800 bike jump