Terminator 2 Judgement Day is a movie directed by James Cameron and stars Arnold Schwarzenegger. The story starts off in the present where people are still alive and the city is well. There is a shot of a girl swinging on a swing that fades into a flashforward of the future in 2029, where Judgement Day has already happened. The first shot is of a skeleton in a blown up car and the camera pans across the scene to reveal more destruction. There is a voice-over narration explaining that Judgement Day has happened that continues until the camera zooms in on a skull on the ground. Then as she says Judgment Day, a terminator crushes the skull with his foot and the camera tilts up to reveal him. There is low key lighting that is interrupted with a splash of color due to an explosion in the distance. This opening scene really sets a grim mood. The special effects in the first scene include different explosions, laser blasts from the robots, and the robots themselves. The director frequently uses the overlap of shots which helps convey the characters emotions towards what is happening. The scene which introduces the different actors and producers serves as dramatic irony because it takes place against the playground showed in the first scene, except it is completely enflamed. The director includes shots from the terminators point of view, everything is electronic. He sees the world in a red tone where words are written across the shot as he analyzes his surroundings.
The scene that introduces John Connor, the character Schwarzenegger is sent to protect, has very high key lighting and the camera follows each character as the scenes go on. There is the diegetic sound of the music played from John stereo as he rides around on his motorcycle. The scene in the mental hospital where John's mother is has very high key lighting as well but in this setting, it looks sickly. The caretakers treat her very badly which makes the audience feel empathy towards her and want to root for her. In a later scene where Sarah is dreaming and the father of her child comes to comfort her and give her advice, the shot appears fuzzy and there is very soft lighting which contrasts with the earlier scene where she is being mistreated. There is a dolly shot of her running slow motion through the halls of the hospital. She runs to the end and opens the door and ends up in the playground of the first scene. There are very intense colors and you can tell something bad is going to happen. Sure enough, the whole place blows up and she wakes up from her dream. The camera cuts back and forth between medium shots of Sarah and her psychiatrist as she tries to get transferred to a minimum security wing.
The director uses technology to move the story along especially since John has skills as a hacker. John and a friend hack into an ATM to steal some money and there is an extreme close up shot of all the equipment and things he does to get the cash out. There are shots in a tech lab where scientists are keeping all the evidence they have from the terminators first attack. There is a lot of use of the color blue and I believe its representative of the good that contrasts with the red of the terminators eyes. Except the bad terminator is dressed up as a cop, which is quite ironic since they are supposed to be the "good guys".
