Behind the Effects Used for the T-850’s Deterioration
Stan Winston and his team at SWS revisited an apocalyptic world for the film Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), directed by Jonathan Mostow.
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- Creating the Makeups for Terminator 3
- Building Puppets for Arnold Schwarzenegger’s T-850
- Making Additional Damage Effects for the T-850
Ten years after a young John Connor and his mother, Sarah, presumably saved the world from Judgment Day — the day the machines would launch global nuclear attacks — a T-850 Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) again travels back in time to protect John (Nick Stahl), now an adult, and his future wife, Kate Brewster (Claire Danes) from termination by the T-X (Kristanna Loken). As in The Terminator & Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the Terminator deteriorates throughout the film, battle damage revealing the metallic understructure beneath his organic flesh.
(The T-X portrayed by Kristanna Loken fights Arnold Schwarzenegger as the T-850.)
Creating the Makeups for Terminator 3
The Stan Winston Studio team designed and produced makeup appliances for six stages of deterioration, with the final stages achieved through a hybrid blend of traditional makeup and digital technology.
(L to R: Shane Mahan, Richie Alonzo, John Rosengrant & Scott Stoddard lifecast Arnold Schwarzenegger at Stan Winston Studio.)
(From the lifecast, the SWS team ran a plaster positive bust of Arnold that artists used to sculpt the prosthetics.)
(After the sculpting stage was complete, multiple snap molds were created and use to run the prosthetic appliances.)
(A variety of Terminator "deterioration" prosthetics on vacuum formed bucks are ready for painting and application.)
For some shots, green makeup & materials were used, allowing digital artists to add the metallic understructure during post-production.
(Schwarzenegger poses with his replica puppet on set.)
Building Puppets for Arnold Schwarzenegger’s T-850
Stan Winston Studio also built a full-sized damaged Terminator stunt puppet for the sequence at the end of the movie in which the T-850 suffers a severe beating by the T-X.
(A close-up shot of the full-size Terminator puppet.)
(An SWS artist draws a grid-like mesh onto a cyberscan of Arnold Schwarzenegger.)
(Joey Orosco cleans up a clay press of the molded Arnold cyberscan.)
(SWS mold maker and lab technician, Gary Yee, applies damaged silicone skin to the T-850 puppet head.)
(Key SWS artist Trevor Hensley paints one of the animatronic Schwarzenegger puppet heads, which would replace Arnold for some shots of more extreme phases of deterioration.)
(360° view of Stan Winston Studio's full-body, battle damaged T-850 Terminator stunt puppet.)
Making Additional Damage Effects for the T-850
The SWS crew also replicated Schwarzenegger's torso and lower body for the sequence in which the Terminator, while driving a pick-up truck, performs an operation on his chest to remove a damaged fuel cell.
(SWS artists prepare to mold a lifecast of Arnold's torso with damage added.)
SWS mechanic Bob Mano and artist Jason Matthews led the "surgery chest" build, complete with mechanical innards, and even dummy legs that fit into a truck mockup shot on stage.
(The completed pre-scored Terminator chest with attached false legs at Stan Winston Studio. Schwarzenegger's real legs were positioned beneath the vehicle seat when the scene was shot.)
“Once the chest is open,” said SWS T3 FX supervisor John Rosengrant, “we see the insides of a working endoskeleton, with electronics, lights, and other doodads.” Schwarzenegger’s real legs were positioned beneath the vehicle seat when the scene was shot.
(Arnold Schwarzenegger performs the self-surgery scene wearing a Stan Winston Studio artificial torso and legs.)
“For The Terminator we pretended to build robots, but actually used stop-motion animation and puppetry and bits of animatronics. In Terminator 2, we advanced to digital animation and a full-standing animatronic with a range of motion — but we were still pretending to build robots. In Terminator 3, we actually built robots.” - Stan Winston
(Stan Winston poses with the range of robotic characters his studio created for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.)
- Jody Duncan
Excerpted from "The Winston Effect: The Art & History of Stan Winston Studio"
Courses with the Creators of Terminator 3
- Special Effects Sequence Design with Shane Mahan
- Hybrid Characters: Blending Practical & Digital FX with John Rosengrant
- How To Make A Stone Mold with Gary Yee
- Maquette Painting Techniques with Trevor L. Hensley
- How To Make A Monster Puppet - Rods & Cables with David Monzingo
- Makeup Blood FX - Blow Your Brains Out with David Monzingo
- Animatronics Design Basics with Richard Landon
- Cable Mechanism Basics - Tentacles with Richard Landon
- How To Create A Basic Hand Mechanism - MINI-TUTORIAL with Richard Landon