By Gerard, Shane & Daniel

Background Terminator 2: Judgment Day, is a 1991 science fiction

action film directed, co-written, and co-produced by James Cameron and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, and Robert Patrick. A sequel to 1984's The Terminator, it follows the characters of Sarah Connor and her son John (Furlong) as they are pursued by a new, more advanced Terminator, the T-1000 (Patrick). Schwarzenegger reprises his role as the Terminator, but while the character was the antagonist of the first film, in Terminator 2 he is a protagonist, defending John and Sarah from the T-1000 and assisting them in their attempt to prevent Judgment Day, a future event in which machines will begin to exterminate humanity.

Terminator 2 was a major box office and essential achievement. It had an impact on popular culture, and is considered hugely influential in the genres of action and science fiction. The film's visual effects included many breakthroughs in computer-generated imagery, marking the first use of natural human motion for a computer-generated character and the first partially computer-generated main character. It received many accolades, including four Academy Awards for makeup, sound mixing, sound editing, and visual effects.

• James Cameron was born in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada, on August 16, 1954. He moved to the USA in 1971. The son of an engineer, he majored in physics at California State University but, after graduating, drove a truck to support his screen-writing ambition. He landed his first professional film job as art director, miniature-set builder, and process-projection supervisor on Roger Corman's Battle Beyond the Stars (1980) and debuted as a director with Piranha Part Two: The Spawning (1981) the following year.

In 1984, he wrote and directed The Terminator (1984), a futuristic action-thriller starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, and Linda Hamilton. It was a huge success. After this came a string of successful science-fiction action films such as Aliens (1986) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). Cameron is now one of the most sought-after directors in Hollywood. He was formerly married to producer Gale Anne Hurd, who produced several of his films. He married Kathryn Bigelow in 1989.

Mise en scene Terminator 2 is a James Cameron film that is set in America , the film begins in los angles on a motorway filled with many vehicles . In the centre of this scene is the production company named ‘ Pacific Western ‘ in bold white writing . The vehicles continue to be shown on the streets while people are walking past on there day to day routines and it also tells us its in association with light storm entertainment .

Then there are sounds of laughter as they show children enjoying themselves on swings in a park , which is perfectly normal on a nice sunny day . However this happiness soon emerges into a very remote place filled with cars and skeletons on the same los angles motorway which we saw in the beginning but this time the year is 2029 A.D , this is the initial thought of this film being a thriller , which is also highlighted when the camera focus’s on the skulls .

The next scene shows a war between robots and humans which suggests the genre is a sci fi thriller and also there could be a force of good and evil . We find out that the robots mission is to destroy the leader of the human resistant name john Connor .

Camera angles and shots Terminator 2 the opening sequence starts off with a long shot and establishing shot of the motorway in los angles . These shots present that nothing unusual is happening and its just normal people driving .

Next there's a two shot that shows children playing in a park . This shot represents peoples every day lives .The camera focus’s on the girl swinging back and forth on the swing because she is laughing and enjoying herself , like any young girl would on a normal sunny day .

Moving on from the positive scenes it slowly changes . The camera shows a medium shot of a destroyed car with a skeleton in it , the camera continues to focus on the skull which shows an element of thriller genre .

Furthermore this shot shows how powerful the robots are as there is a a low angle shot showing the robots body and head with a weapon standing tall . The robots could be the antagonists of the film. This clip also conveys a genre of not just thriller but sci fi as well .

In the clip on our left it shows an extreme long shot that shows two different sides which are possibly good and evil ( the antagonists and protagonists which is a convention in many thrillers )

Straight after the clip above the clip changes to a close up of a person in a flashback that shows the important of this man in the film . This is also establishing a character john connor (Arnold schwarzenegger)

The camera explores the park by slowly panning across the setting that was shown at the start of the opening sequence with the girl swinging when she was enjoying herself but has been destroyed . This also shows this is a thriller because it shows all the good things in life are being taken away and this gives suspense on what will happen next .

The closing scene of the opening sequence is a close up of a robot continuously staring at the audience , the close up into the robots eyes gives a sense of tension .

Sound

•Non-Digetic sound at the start when the production company is introduced creates enigma because when we look at the footage, it seems like a normal day, however the deep, slow, dark music suggests that the story will not be what we first think.•The voiceover tells us what has happened and why this has happened. The use of monologue offers a great insight into the feelings that the mother feels (it is the mother doing the voiceover).•Digetic sound when the girl is on the swing emphasises the change of the situation, from happiness to unhappiness, or normality to disaster.•The sound when the screen goes from white to the deserted city adds suspense as we expect something will happen to make us jump. Also, it shows us that the time has moved on, but we are still in the same place.•Digetic sound of the creaking swing shows us that we’re in the same place, just at a different time.•Non-Digetic sound when the leader is walking down the alley shows his importance, because it is music that you would associate with leadership.

Editing• The production company, the distribution company and the

director are all presented on screen at the start.• Fade out – Fade in used to show different times.

• The title “Los Angeles 2029 AD” is used to tell us the year the film has fast-tracked to.• Dissolve used from the shot of the car, to the next shot to show that we’re still in the

same time, just at a different place.• Continuity editing used during the war scene, speeds up the tempo of the film.• The shot of the girl on the swing slows down into slow motion. This may be done to

highlight her happiness did not last long.

Conventions of a thriller presented in ‘Terminator 2’

• Establishes character• Enigma• Establishes the setting• Contains elements of continuity editing• Name of production company/distributors/director at the very start• Themes of identity (the protagonist and the antagonist)

Effectiveness of the opening for ‘Terminator 2’

• The opening was very effective in building an element of confusion because of the way the film started and suddenly cut to the derelict city, which made the audience want to find out what was going on.

• The music used created tension because it was very dark and deep, and the audience were expecting something to happen and make them jump.

• The opening was effective in establishing character, from what you see in the opening the robot seems to be the antagonist and human seems to be the protagonist, but is this the way it actually is?