Terminator 2: Judgment Day
The company’s T-1000 comes to life without CGI in a new video that achieves the effect with real liquid metal. Released in 1991, the second installment of Terminator the franchise comes once again from filmmaker James Cameron. Arnold Schwarzenegger returns as a T-800 in the film, this time assigned to protect John Connor (Edward Furlong) from Robert Patrick’s more powerful T-1000 unit, which has the ability to transform into liquid metal. The film was widely celebrated, among other things, for its groundbreaking visual effects used to bring the T-1000 to life.
In a new video, VFX artist Wren Weichman from Runner Crew tries to film his own version of the T-1000, using mainly practical methods. The video shows Wren experimenting with the chemical element gallium, which can be easily heated to liquid form. After scanning his own head and making a 3D model, he was able to make a scaled-down mold for the gallium.
After he had the gallium cast on his head, Wren melted using heat guns and then reversed the footagemaking it look like he was transforming into a T-1000. He was then able to composite the footage of the gallium head with his real head, morphing the two to create a T-1000-like effect. Check out the video below to see the entire process or start at 11:08 pm to see the final result:
What the T-1000 Effect Meant for Terminator 2
James Cameron’s Sequel Is Beloved
The original Terminator in 1984 it visually pushed some impressive boundaries despite being a fairly low-budget endeavor. The ending, for example, uses stop-motion to bring the T-800’s metallic skeleton to life. The T-1000, however, was a Terminator that could not be practically taken out, as it is shown changing from liquid to solid form. on several occasions, in addition to transforming into metal bars and absorbing bullet impacts.
The T-1000 was, at the time, one of the most advanced CGI creations ever filmedbut its origins actually lie in another Cameron project. Before doing T2Cameron did The Abyss (1989), and this sci-fi adventure film features a water tentacle with a face. The CGI used to bring this creature to life served as the basis for the removal of the T-1000. The T-1000 is ultimately part of the reason Terminator 2: Judgment Day remains not only one of the most beloved Terminator films, but one of the most celebrated sequels of all time.
Our Take on Terminator 2’s Recreated T-1000 Effect
CGI was the best choice for T2
Wren obviously did not have the same financial resources to realize his T-1000 effect that Cameron had in Terminator 2and it’s quite impressive considering. It is important to note, however, that the use the gallium method would have been much more difficult if Wren had attempted to recreate more action-oriented scenes of the T-1000, such as its melting through the bars. Additionally, even though the project didn’t use CGI, VFX and compositing were still ultimately a crucial part of bringing the effect to life.
However, it was interesting to see the effect of the T-1000 Terminator 2: Judgment Day recreated this way. The video talks about the challenges of working with special effects and how the practical elements of a film set often need to work hand in hand with the visual effects.
Source: Runner Crew