Terminator 2: Judgement Day (Paul Hernandez)

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Terminator 2 Judgment Day (Paul Hernandez)

Terminator 2 Judgment Day is a sequel to The Terminator which was filmed in 1984, both movies were filmed by James Cameron and were both a huge success in the film industry. Terminator 2: Judgment day or T-2 is a film that hade huge success both with fans and in the box office. The film was released in 1991 and grossed close to $205,000,000 dollars with a budget of an estimated $94,000,000 dollars. The film is also considered a recommended film to watch on various types of movie lists.  James Cameron has various trademarks in his films, his very own style of directing which makes him standout from others.  I would also like to address a few attributes of using space as a technique in this film. These attributes help aid shots, scenery, and make the film dynamic.

The film has an interesting story structure that involves a boy John Connor who is targeted by a cyborg from the future. However another cyborg has been sent to be John’s protector. The film revolves around a constant struggle preventing John Conor’s death.  Along with the mission of preventing computer and mechanical technology from gaining control of nuclear weapons and destroying humanity in the future. It is an action packed filmed filled with car chases and explosions. The film uses various types of colors to make the scenes pop out at you and help structure the scenery.

The film uses color very well with the use of color variation in the film multiple scenes are brought to life. The use of warmer colors such as; reds, oranges, and yellows make objects and feel of movie stand out more .If used right the technique makes objects appear closer than cooler colors. The film has various types of colors that help set the scene as well as emotion. For example the opening credits of T-2 shows scenery of a playground being burned. In this scene you can see the playground engulfed in flames. The background is dark solid black allowing all the bright orange, red and yellow color to pop out. The use of red also has connotations as being a color of despair or anger.  Another use of color is blue in T-2 there are numerous scenes that heavily display blue. The future is set in blue as well as the nighttime in the film. The color blue is used to convey a dull, eerie feel to the scenes. Throughout the film a lot of action takes place at night. The color blue sets up the feeling that anything can happen at night. The color blue is also involved in car chases as well as the introduction on the terminators. A separate scene where Sarah Connors is in the Mental Hospital the use of colors is displayed reatly. In the hospital the hallways, uniforms and patient attire all have similar ranges from white, to gray, to beige. The hospital has no color what so ever other than Sarah Connor’s psychiatrist, the color white reinforces the idea of a mental hospital being neutral with no color, no sense of life anywhere as well stating the psychiatrist as the authority in the hospital because his jacket sticks out in the white scenery.

Another technique involved in T-2 that deals with space is linear perspective or the use of lines. The use of lines when filming a scene helps set up a scene in various way from the frame to eye level. For example in the opening credits once again the playground is engulfed in flames there is a shot with several horses on the playground burning. The angle that it was shot at shows a diagonal line allowing all individual horses to be seen for a moment as everything is burning. This type of use of line provides depth of the burning playground. The use of linear perspective is displayed largely in scenes of the movie dealing with chases whether on foot or in vehicles. The chase between John Conor and the terminator in the truck also display use of lines. The scene shows both the motorcycle and truck driving in the street and tunnels. The shots of the street and tunnels shows lines lead to a vanishing point. The walls in the tunnels act as lines which help to reinforce the scene and make the scene feel compact as the truck chases the motorcycle through the tunnels.  The final example is at the end of the film where the camera is focused on the line divider and follows the road until the credits role. This is another example of linear perspective in the scene there is no indication of where the road ends it is a never ending pattern. The scene also takes place at night where there the road smoothes over the frame creating a space out of the frames of the camera.

One trademark that I would like to focus on is James Cameron shots on feet and moving tires and wheels. In the film from beginning to end there are numerous shots of close-ups on feet and wheels. For example the scene when Arnold is on the bike after taking the bikers bike there is a close up on Arnold’s boot as he steps off the bike to confront the man with the shotgun. Another example would be after John, Sarah and Arnold get away from the terminator a piece of the metal returns to the terminator by entering his boot.  The same concept applies to wheels, there are many close ups of the wheel of motorcycles as well as trucks.  The wheel shots vary from closing or opening a scene. For instance in the film the shot of the motorcycle wheel pans out and shows Arnold and John on the move riding down the street. The use of a wheel is also displayed when the truck blows up in the tunnel and the false threat of a burning wheel appears. I believe the use of a wheel is simple when starting a shot because movement helps aid the eyes when watching a film and as it changes to a different scene.