In these reflections, I explain how the filming techniques used in different scenes illustrate how the film,2001: A Space Odyssey fulfills this statement made by Kubrick: “A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what's behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later.”
Towards the beginning of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Kubrick films a scene that I thought was very powerful because of the way it made me feel. In this particular scene, there is a primitive man who closely resembles an ape who has picked up a bone and is smashing it on other bones of a deceased animal. This scene made me feel wary, because the ape is discovering a weapon for the first time. I couldn’t help but think about how far we have progressed today- going from pieces of bone to nuclear weapons. Overall, the scene made me dread the violence that man would come to know in future centuries. However, I also felt the power that the ape would have in that moment and the thrill of a new discovery. Kubrick did a beautiful job at portraying this through his filming techniques. He uses a long shot first to show an ape picking up a large bone from the remains of an animal. He starts to hit some bones and causes them to fly up into the air. Then, the ape feels a surge of power, and Kubrick jumps to a low angle shot. This makes the ape look strong, powerful and almost frightening as he begins to smash the bones. Then Kubrick jumps from close shot to close shot of the arm with the bone raised high in the air and the skull of the animal being smashed in, as well as a live animal collapsing. This shows pure destruction and the newfound power that the ape finally has to hurt those who threaten him.
The second scene that moved me emotionally was the scene where the men find the monolith buried on the moon. When the astronauts walked into the opening, I immediately felt gripping anticipation. As they walked into the cavern and walked up to the monolith, I thought back to the first scene to where the apes had done the same. I felt afraid for the astronauts and yet very curious at the same time. Overall it was a very powerful scene. Kubrick used filming techniques that made the scene even more powerful. First of all, the non-digetic music was haunting to me, it sounding like the frantic buzzing of an angry wasps nest and made me extremely nervous. First an establishing shot reveals the cavern and the astronauts as they approach it. A low angle shows them standing at the edge, making them appear powerful and ready for investigation. Then as they begin to descend, the camera dollies and moves shakily down with them as if it is one of the astronauts. This built the anticipation, leaving me worrying about what awaited at the bottom. Different close shots are shown as one astronaut approaches the block and reaches out to touch it. Then another shaky shot is shown as they line up for a picture. A dutch angle is used to show the photographer lining them up as a loud beeping noise goes off. He then cuts to an image of the sun and the moon rising together over the block, almost meeting and then going to a blank screen. All of the shakiness shown in the scene made me feel nervous and the dutch angle used gave off a very sinister vibe. This truly was an excellently filmed scene.
In this scene, Dave and Frank are secured in a pod where Hal can no longer hear them. They are contemplating what to do should Hal be proven to make a mistake. Kubrick starts the scene with a medium shot of Dave and Frank sitting in the pod. Nothing is heard but their voices, but through the window of the pod the viewer can see Hal’s red light and flashing computer screen. Kubrick strategically places this in the center of the screen so that the viewers can’t help but notice the menacing red light of Hal. This gives the viewer some cause for anticipation or merely confusion at first. Then the camera does a close shot of Hal through the glass, making it even more apparent that Hal can probably see what it going on. Finally the camera zooms to Hal, and the airy sounds of the ship can be heard. The viewer then could assume that Hal is having some thoughts of his own at the moment. Lastly, The camera creepily pans from Dave’s lips to Frank’s lips and back, showing that Hal himself is reading their lips. No sound continues to play but the natural sounds of the ship, making the concept even more eerie. This makes the viewers shudder as they realize that Hal is hearing all the compromising things that the astronauts are saying about him and makes them wonder with fear what Hal will do next.
The final scene that I will analyze is the scene where Dave deactivates Hal. Dave comes into the red control room of Hal, immediately sending a warning message to the audience. The bright red lights seem to send off a hazardous and dangerous signal, also alluding to the evil of the situation. As Dave makes his way to the controls, many different angles are shown. This relates to Dave’s instability and fear as he attempts to move around and control the situation. The result is a wide variation of camera angles and shots on Dave that make the audience unsure of which way is up down, right, or left, adding more confusion to what Dave likely feels. The lack of background music makes the viewers painfully aware that the only sounds are those of Dave’s breathing and Hal’s calm attempts of persuasion. This achieved the effect of Hal sounding more human and vulnerable, whereas Dave seemed more machine-like in the way that he only breathed and took out Hal’s memory, slot by slot. This made the whole scene very unnerving and disturbing, especially when the distorted sounds of Hal’s singing was all that the viewer could hear.
2001 A Space Odyssey Reflections
In these reflections, I explain how the filming techniques used in different scenes illustrate how the film, 2001: A Space Odyssey fulfills this statement made by Kubrick: “A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what's behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later.”Towards the beginning of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Kubrick films a scene that I thought was very powerful because of the way it made me feel. In this particular scene, there is a primitive man who closely resembles an ape who has picked up a bone and is smashing it on other bones of a deceased animal. This scene made me feel wary, because the ape is discovering a weapon for the first time. I couldn’t help but think about how far we have progressed today- going from pieces of bone to nuclear weapons. Overall, the scene made me dread the violence that man would come to know in future centuries. However, I also felt the power that the ape would have in that moment and the thrill of a new discovery. Kubrick did a beautiful job at portraying this through his filming techniques. He uses a long shot first to show an ape picking up a large bone from the remains of an animal. He starts to hit some bones and causes them to fly up into the air. Then, the ape feels a surge of power, and Kubrick jumps to a low angle shot. This makes the ape look strong, powerful and almost frightening as he begins to smash the bones. Then Kubrick jumps from close shot to close shot of the arm with the bone raised high in the air and the skull of the animal being smashed in, as well as a live animal collapsing. This shows pure destruction and the newfound power that the ape finally has to hurt those who threaten him.
The second scene that moved me emotionally was the scene where the men find the monolith buried on the moon. When the astronauts walked into the opening, I immediately felt gripping anticipation. As they walked into the cavern and walked up to the monolith, I thought back to the first scene to where the apes had done the same. I felt afraid for the astronauts and yet very curious at the same time. Overall it was a very powerful scene. Kubrick used filming techniques that made the scene even more powerful. First of all, the non-digetic music was haunting to me, it sounding like the frantic buzzing of an angry wasps nest and made me extremely nervous. First an establishing shot reveals the cavern and the astronauts as they approach it. A low angle shows them standing at the edge, making them appear powerful and ready for investigation. Then as they begin to descend, the camera dollies and moves shakily down with them as if it is one of the astronauts. This built the anticipation, leaving me worrying about what awaited at the bottom. Different close shots are shown as one astronaut approaches the block and reaches out to touch it. Then another shaky shot is shown as they line up for a picture. A dutch angle is used to show the photographer lining them up as a loud beeping noise goes off. He then cuts to an image of the sun and the moon rising together over the block, almost meeting and then going to a blank screen. All of the shakiness shown in the scene made me feel nervous and the dutch angle used gave off a very sinister vibe. This truly was an
excellently filmed scene.
In this scene, Dave and Frank are secured in a pod where Hal can no longer hear them. They are contemplating what to do should Hal be proven to make a mistake. Kubrick starts the scene with a medium shot of Dave and Frank sitting in the pod. Nothing is heard but their voices, but through the window of the pod the viewer can see Hal’s red light and flashing computer screen. Kubrick strategically places this in the center of the screen so that the viewers can’t help but notice the menacing red light of Hal. This gives the viewer some cause for anticipation or merely confusion at first. Then the camera does a close shot of Hal through the glass, making it even more apparent that Hal can probably see what it going on. Finally the camera zooms to Hal, and the airy sounds of the ship can be heard. The viewer then could assume that Hal is having some thoughts of his own at the moment. Lastly, The camera creepily pans from Dave’s lips to Frank’s lips and back, showing that Hal himself is reading their lips. No sound continues to play but the natural sounds of the ship, making the concept even more eerie. This makes the viewers shudder as they realize that Hal is hearing all the compromising things that the astronauts are saying about him and makes them wonder with fear what Hal will do next.
The final scene that I will analyze is the scene where Dave deactivates Hal. Dave comes into the red control room of Hal, immediately sending a warning message to the audience. The bright red lights seem to send off a hazardous and dangerous signal, also alluding to the evil of the situation. As Dave makes his way to the controls, many different angles are shown. This relates to Dave’s instability and fear as he attempts to move around and control the situation. The result is a wide variation of camera angles and shots on Dave that make the audience unsure of which way is up down, right, or left, adding more confusion to what Dave likely feels. The lack of background music makes the viewers painfully aware that the only sounds are those of Dave’s breathing and Hal’s calm attempts of persuasion. This achieved the effect of Hal sounding more human and vulnerable, whereas Dave seemed more machine-like in the way that he only breathed and took out Hal’s memory, slot by slot. This made the whole scene very unnerving and disturbing, especially when the distorted sounds of Hal’s singing was all that the viewer could hear.