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The Making of T2:3D Battle Across Time
From: Islands of Adventure HQ
Date: July 3, 2003
By: Kyle Young
Since the birth of polarized glasses made it possible for mass consumption, 3-D has always held a
special fascination for filmmaker's. Classic 3-D movies like House of Wax and Bwana Devil achieved
a slight bit of success in the early fifties, but the novelty quickly wore off. A brief resurgence
of interest in the 80's produced Jaws 3-D, and a few others; but for the most part, mainstream
audiences, suffering eye-strain brought on by poor camera and projection techniques, remained none
to impressed with the genre. But when special venue demands led to a revival of 70mm widescreen film,
the door was opened to a more suitable format for 3-D, and the technology took a significant leap
forward with such attractions as Disney World's Magic Journey and, more recently Honey I Shrunk the
Audience and Muppet Vision 3-D.
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With the debut of T2:3D Battle Across Time at Universal Studios Florida, the envelope on 3-D
cinematography and technology has been expanded upon in a way that no one had ever imagined or even
thought was possible. Designed as a a continuation of the Terminator franchise that ignited the
careers of both writer- director James Cameron and superstar Arnold Schwarzenegger, the $60 million
dollar extravaganza gracefully blends a theatrical stage show with an expansive 3-D film to provide a
totally immersive experience that brings the viewer's right in the middle of its nonstop thrills and
excitement throughout the duration of the show.
The show, which is divided into 3 acts, begins in the present day, as audience members shuffle into
an auditorium belonging to Cyberdyne Systems. Midway through a demonstration of the company's latest
advance in high-tech weaponry, the T-70 cyborg soldier, the show is interrupted, as renegades Sarah
and John Connor repel into the theater with guns blazing. Pursuing them from the future is the deadly
T-1000, morphing into his familiar liquid metal form through a bullet hole blasted in the huge
Cyberdyne logo mounted behind the stage. But before the T-1000 can dispatch his adversaries, another
inhabitant of the future arrives in spectacular fashion, riding his trademark Harley-Davidson onto
the stage through a time sphere that appears to open in the wall. With the T-1000 in hot pursuit,
the Terminator grabs John and leaps back through the time portal, pulling the audience in with him
as the presentation shifts from live stage show to 70mm 3-D film. Landing in the post-apocalyptic
ruins of Los Angeles in the year 2029, the audience follows as the speeding motorcycle races through
the war zone, fired upon by Hunter Killer tanks and aircraft.
On foot, the two take cover in a destroyed parking garage where they come under attack from a fleet
of mini H-K's. Upon locating Skynet, the heart of the machine-ruled empire, they descend into its
depths, intent on destroying its brain center. But first they must do battle with the ultimate killing
machine, the deadly T-1000000.
"Okay we know that you wanted a stunt show, but this is way better, something you have never seen
before", those just happened to be the first words ever spoken about the proposed Terminator 2
attraction by Landmark Entertainment Group President Gary Goddard to Universal executives in the
fall of 1992. Goddard's company Landmark Entertainment Group had been initially brought into develop
a Terminator 2 related stunt show, since Landmark had previously collaborated with Universal on some
other crowd pleasers that included Kong-frontation, Ghostbusters, and JAWS.
Goddard and his team spent countless hours initially watching Terminator 2: Judgement Day looking for
an idea for an attraction. They realized after watching it enough times that the major action pieces
that were in the film were essentially three fantastic James Cameron chases, plus some spectacular morphing
effects. So the first thing that came to mind was how to do the morphing, and at that point 3-D was brought
into the picture. The Landmark team then came up with the concept of a 3-D morph on multiple screens that
suddenly surround you. And from there developed the idea to combine it with live actors that appear to jump
in and out of the screen. From there the ideas just flowed like water from a faucet.
As they continued flesh out their ideas to Universal, Goddard and his team had to also factor in that
they would have to be creating a project that served Universal's needs and it would have to be something
that the Terminator series creator and director James Cameron could get interested in working on. Goddard
and his team really knew they would have to really push the envelope on this attraction to snag Cameron for
sure. So in December of 1992, armed with Universal's official endorsement, a thirty page treatment of the
initial attraction, detailed storyboards, and more than a hundred color sketches and preliminary designs,
Goddard headed off to meet with Terminator creator James Cameron.
One of the most burning questions that Goddard and team were pondering prior to the meeting was "Oh man,
we're pitching this thing to the guy who created the Terminator films, it's his characters, his creation.
You think that he's going to like it?" How is this going to go over? But one thing that Goddard knew going
into his meeting was the Cameron loved new technology, and that was a big part of what they were promoting
was the idea that they would be pushing the limits of 3-D with this project. "We were counting on the fact
that he might be intrigued by the opportunity to explore a new medium" said Goddard, "that turned out to be
a good call".
Initially somewhat skeptical, Cameron quickly warmed up to the idea of a 3-D presentation, even
initially hinting that he may be interested in taking on a more active role than just a consultant.
"My initial contribution" recalled Cameron, "was to sell Universal on the idea that we get the actual
cast and do it like a real movie, as opposed to their idea of using generic actors. They thought the
Terminator could have his face mostly blown off, and you wouldn't really see that it wasn't Arnold.
But I couldn't see how that would work. I pointed out that this was an attraction that six-year-olds
would be going to, and that they probably didn't want to see a bloody ripped face like the two R-rated
films it was predicated on. You had to be true to the underlying material, but you also had to modify
it. That was the fundamental stylistic evolution of the piece". Cameron's influence would also extend
to the Landmark script, which contained more effects and gags in its proposed nine-minute show than
in both Terminator films put together. Cameron also helped Landmark to refine the script, rewriting
portions of dialogue and substantially paring down the effects while retaining the essence of the story
and concept to his liking.
Over the next 12 months, T2:3D remained in development at Universal, as talks continued with Cameron's
production company, Lightstorm Entertainment, and with Digital Domain, the then-new visual effects organization
established by Cameron in partnership with Scott Ross and Stan Winston. While Cameron's attentions were engaged
elsewhere, a lengthy period of research and testing on the project continued, funded by seed money from
Universal.
One of the first things that had to be figured out was how to establish how the stereo film was going
to work across multiple screens. "If we were to make audiences believe they were actually in the
environment represented by the film, we'd have to get the perspectives to fall correctly on the three
screens and there were a lot of problems related to that" remarked Goddard. Another aspect of the
testing was seeing if we could take different elements in a 3-d environment, live plates, cg, miniatures,
place them in the same composite, and have it all work both compositionally and in terms of stereo cues"
stated Goddard.
To address many of the issues, an elaborate test version of the script, directed by members of the
Digital Domain team, was shot in a hangar at the former Hughes Aircraft facility in Playa del Rey.
"The test phase was more elaborate than some shows I've worked on", observed one worker. A triple
screen mockup was created in the hangar to determine the full parameters of the concept. "We weren't
just planning a film", explained Cameron. "We had to focus in on the entire presentation, which
included theater architecture and projection system, something a traditional filmmaker usually doesn't
have to worry about at all" Cameron stated.
Throughout the testing phase many discoveries were identified, like what causes the eye to be
adversely affected by 3-D. Although the test phase proved to be successful, T2:3D would remain in development
limbo through the following year as Cameron continued other work at the time which included directing True
Lies, although the project continued to make headway even during Cameron's absence.
However in March of 1995, after nearly 3 years in development, T2:3D was at long last was green-lighted
by Universal for full production. Cameron had by then secured commitments from the principal cast of T2
to reprise their roles for the 3-D movie, pitching it as a link to a possible third Terminator film.
As production neared problems began to slowly rear their ugly heads. Due to a tight window of
availability for both Cameron and Schwarzenegger, live-action shooting of the future war in Act 2
was scheduled for a two-week slot in middle of May, jus two short months away. So a new production
team was assembled for the live action shooting. But no sooner was everything in place than the first
problem to begin to rear its head, the need to find a suitable location to shoot the nighttime future
war sequence. The original set used for Terminator 2 future war scenes, was an abandoned steel mill
in Fontana, California, and was no longer an option as that facility had since been demolished.
Luckily for the production crew a replacement was found at Eagle Mountain near Blythe that had been
used to supply Fontana Steel with iron ore.
It fit the productions needs quite well considering that it was slated for demolition, which meant
the production team could do pretty much whatever they wanted to do to it since it was going to be
destroyed anyway.
However the new location's biggest disadvantage was its utter remoteness, it was nearly 40 miles from
the nearest town. Which initially created a logistical problem for the functionality of the production
itself, however, an existing airstrip was used to transport supplies and people back and forth to Los
Angeles.
Other problems that began to arise were the cameras. Being that 3-D is such a precise and mathematical
medium it required absolute precision from the cameras, which always wasn't the case. So what do you
do when you can't get what you want out of what you have? You improvise, and that's just what Cameron
did, by applying visual filters and effects Cameron was able to blend Steadicam footage which initially
was thought to be impossible to use in 3-D with the traditional 65mm footage without any issues. Another
problem that came up during shooting was related to the movement of the cameras in consideration related
to shooting in 3-D. During shooting it was not uncommon for only four shots to be completed on a working
day. Because they were dealing with a third dimension camera depth had to be exact in order to be
effective and not to look inappropriate.
However once filming was wrapped the next phase of the T2:3D project began, the auditorium. The production
team created one of the world's most expensive and unique theaters in the history of live show and theater
production. Inside the custom-built auditorium, three huge projection screens lit by the images from six
70mm projectors work in tandem with dozens of speakers to create an all-enveloping experience. Pyrotechnics,
animatronic figures and live actors are all synched to the film image via the multi-track sound mix and
computer control, allowing the 12 minute show to run several times an hour.
While you might think that the stage actors performing as the Terminator, Sarah, John and the T-1000
might seem extraneous next to the images of the original actors on the screens, the synchronization,
audio and narrative flow make the presentation seamlessly blend without raising a hint of suspicion
that it really isn't Arnold in front of you performing.
With a budget of two-thirds that of the film itself and at less than one-tenth of the feature's
running time, T2:3D had one of the highest dollar-per-second price tags in recent memory. However
this is actually quite typical for a high-profile attraction that not only has to run smoothly
dozens of times a day with live actors seamlessly, but also must do this for a decade or more
without losing its excitement, popularity or relevance.
And of course of no attraction is complete without a great gift shop. T2:3D exits into a gift
shop complete with a whole new era of T2 related merchandise with everything from Cyberdyne Chip
breath mints to T-shirts and everything in between, and even some new T3 merchandise, which help
to keep the attraction, the feature film and Cameron's vision fresh in the minds of everyone even
long after you have gotten back from your vacation! Wow man where did you get those breath mints???
Amid all the begging throughout years for yet another visit to the Terminator universe, in a sense
they did this with T2:3D, and with audience participation no less!
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Last modified: Feb 04 2008
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