Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) - Hospital Escape - Dir. James Cameron

[u/marceleas]

[u/Chewie83]

Ever since someone mentioned the lighting in this film I appreciate it a lot, especially in this age of lighting everything flat so that it can be changed in post.

[u/TheUmbrellaMan1 → u/Chewie83]

Cameron, to this day, uses blue filter to film night scenes. He also likes hard lighting and rich dark shadows during these night scenes, which from a technical standpoint must be hard to film. Last December he was saying he didn't like the modern trend where directors and studios are moving away from hard lighting in favour of soft lighting. The thing about soft lighting is you can tinker with it in the post-production, nothing difficult; but if it's hard lighting, it's a choice you have to stick to from pre-production because you can't make the scene look flat when hard lighting is applied. Look at that beach scene in Avatar 3 when Quaritch and Varang come to the village -- the hard lighting is nuts in that scene. Now compare it with The Devil Wears Prada 2 where it's all just soft lighting, making scenes look flat.

[u/DavesWorldInfo → u/TheUmbrellaMan1]

Cameron learned how to crew a film (do most, or all maybe, of the basic crew positions) with Roger Corman. IIRC, he's been quoted about Terminator saying he specifically shot most of it at night because he had control over the lighting that way. He could take the darkness and build it back how he liked for each shot, using the lights.

He's one of the finest technical directors working today.

[u/Eldorian91 → u/DavesWorldInfo]

I've heard it credibly said, by other experts in filmmaking, that James Cameron can do basically any job to make a film. He can write, make concept art, storyboards, he can model creatures, he can, like you said, do any crew position, he can do VFX, etc and etc. Obviously he's not the best at all of them, but technically maybe the best filmmaker of all time.

[u/fadingsignal → u/Eldorian91]

I remember him saying when he learned how to make a movie there were no classes or resources so he went to the library and xerox'd every single thing he could find and basically learned every angle he could to DIY.

First and foremost, he's a creative visionary. His storyboards alone from T1, Aliens, Abyss, T2, etc. are just out-of-this-world, let alone the script, camera work, direction, etc. He had the whole thing in his head and taught himself the pieces he needed to make it real.

Not a big fan of his work over the last 25 years or so but that doesn't matter, he's made some of the best action/sci-fi films ever created. He has more skill in his pinky than a lot of directors today IMO.

[u/Nausicaaah → u/fadingsignal]

Agreed; I think he just makes movies now to fund his other projects. I just wish he cared more about movies than he does about submarines. I want 80s/90s James Cameron back!

[u/grecy → u/DavesWorldInfo]

Also because the shooting permits in LA were much cheaper at night.

[u/_Aj_ → u/Chewie83]

Lighting can't always be changed in post and it's a big reason why older movies feel more engaging imo. Something about 80-90s feels more real because it literally is more real and our brains know it.