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–$17 million of the film's budget were allocated to the film's special effects, with $5 million 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 $3 million 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:
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