These effects are too important for me to allow you to jeopardize them

February 6, 2015 5:00 PM

Kubricks' 2001: One Man's Incredible Odyssey - "With today's article I've decided to cover the truly outstanding visual effects and design work from one of the single most influential and remarkable pieces of cinema of the twentieth century - Stanley Kubricks' 2001-A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968) - a film that just gets better and better with the passing years"
posted by a lungful of dragon (35 comments total)

I've wondered what it would be to work for someone as demanding and totalistic as Stanley Kubrick -- but even more I wonder what it would be like to be someone like Stanley Kubrick. I suspect it's an unending nightmare on both sides, but the kind of nightmare that somehow makes life sweeter and more intense for surviving it. And of course, we the audience get the kind of uncanny perfection that infuses 2001. Dammit, what a movie -- unlike almost anything else.
posted by argybarg at 5:24 PM on February 6, 2015 [4 favorites]

Holy shit. The bit about the front projector they used for the backgrounds in the Dawn of Man sequence.

Holy shit.
posted by mr_roboto at 5:45 PM on February 6, 2015 [3 favorites]

It's almost to the point where I can't even enjoy the thematic or story elements of his films, because I keep shouting "What a shot! How did he get that?" ad nauseum.

Who am I kidding? Kubrick's thematic and story elements were paramount in all of his films. He picked great stories and shot the absolute f*ck out of them.
posted by Sphinx at 5:45 PM on February 6, 2015 [5 favorites]

Also, the bit about the black levels in the title cards. I'm going to be completely honest here: the main reason I went plasma instead of LCD for my most recent TV purchase was because of this movie.
posted by mr_roboto at 5:52 PM on February 6, 2015 [6 favorites]

Kubrick's thematic and story elements were paramount in all of his films. He picked great stories and shot the absolute f*ck out of them.

Shot the fuck out of em: yes.

Actually told the story well: meh, not so much.

I don't think anyone would be able to get a good idea of wtf is going on in 2001 without at least reading the synopsis of the book. I'm going to put myself up for some scorn by revealing that I think 2001 is kinda overrated. It's a beautiful film, but a shite story (at least from the film side. The book is awesome).
posted by mullingitover at 5:55 PM on February 6, 2015 [6 favorites]

I've wondered what it would be to work for someone as demanding and totalistic as Stanley Kubrick

I feel like I trot this little chestnut out in pretty much every 2001 thread, but the original script sent Discovery-1 to Saturn, not Jupiter (Arthur C. Clarke's novel, produced in parallel with the film, reflects this original plan).

Doug Trumbull just couldn't get Saturn's Rings to look convincing on film in time to meet the production schedule, so Kubrick decided to change to Jupiter.

A couple years later, Doug Trumbull jumped from being just a special effects wizard, to being a full blown producer/director, for the express purpose of making the film Silent Running because the SFX tech had advanced enough that he could finally put Saturn, and its Rings in all their glory, onto the big screen, like he was originally meant to do for 2001.
posted by radwolf76 at 5:55 PM on February 6, 2015 [8 favorites]

mr_roboto: “Holy shit. The bit about the front projector they used for the backgrounds in the Dawn of Man sequence.

Holy shit.”

This was the one that got me saying, "Holy shit."

Doug Trumbull: "It may be noted that in only a few effects shots in space does one object overlap another. The reason for this is that normal matting techniques were either difficult or impossible to use. The rigging to suspend the models was so bulky and complex that the use of the blue screen technique would have been very awkward. Also, the blue screen would have tended to reflect fill light into the subtle shadow side of the white models. It became a monumental task merely to matte the spacecraft over the stars, and the final solution to this was meticulously rotoscoped, hand-painted mattes."

"Meticulously rotoscoped, hand-painted mattes." Holy shit.
posted by ob1quixote at 6:17 PM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]

This is almost certainly not what Kubrick intended but even though 2001 is one of my absolute favorite films I almost don't really care about the story anymore. I'm perfectly content to watch it just for the visuals because it just SO BEAUTIFUL. I'll never forgive reality for not looking like the world depicted in 2001.
posted by LastOfHisKind at 6:24 PM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

MatteFilter.
posted by uosuaq at 6:27 PM on February 6, 2015 [8 favorites]

Jodorowsky's Dune is a real trip. Let's form a gang and go out on an epic quest! Spoiler alert, they visit Trumball, and he's "Nah."
posted by ovvl at 6:40 PM on February 6, 2015

"Filming of the 'Dawn of Man' sequence took place entirely on only one stage at the studio. Distant backgrounds for all the action were front-projected eight-by-ten Ektachrome transparencies, using probably the largest front-projection device ever made, and constructed specially for 2001 by Tom Howard. The projector consisted of a specially intensified arc source with water-cooled jaws to hold the oversized carbons, special heat-absorbing glass, giant condensing lenses which would occasionally shatter under the intense heat, special eight-by-ten glass plate holders and positioning mounts, an extremely delicate semi-silvered mirror, and a specially built nodal point head so that the camera could pan, tilt, and zoom without fringing of the image."

Now they'd just paint the back wall blue.
posted by octothorpe at 6:46 PM on February 6, 2015

I always found that such a beautiful movie has the ironic touch of paranoia/secrecy as a central theme with-in the human and non human dialog.
posted by clavdivs at 6:46 PM on February 6, 2015

Kubrick's masterpiece was and always will be Dr. Strangelove. Now there's a well told story!
posted by I-Write-Essays at 6:53 PM on February 6, 2015 [8 favorites]

I don't think it's a well-told story any more than Miles Davis' In a Silent Way is full of great songs. It's an extended, enigmatic visual experience with many layers. That may not be to your taste, but it hasn't failed at what it tried to do.
posted by argybarg at 6:59 PM on February 6, 2015 [4 favorites]

Now they'd just paint the back wall blue.

Or just shoot on location.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:00 PM on February 6, 2015 [3 favorites]

I don't think it's a well-told story any more than Miles Davis' In a Silent Way is full of great songs.

Heh. I would have compared it to A Love Supreme, though.

Also, Rothko wasn't much of a portraitist.
posted by mr_roboto at 7:07 PM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]

If you're near Portland, 2001: A Space Odyssey will be the first film shown on their new 70MM projector on March 21st and 22nd.

The screenings are sold out already, but maybe they'll add shows or you can scalp tickets or something.
posted by msalt at 7:22 PM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

Or just shoot on location.

Teamsters In Space is really phase one of my plan for Universal Domination... Shooting on location in this context moves that forward quite a great deal.
posted by mikelieman at 8:20 PM on February 6, 2015

When I was a kid the news blurbs about this movie just about killed me. I first saw it in 1968 at the Summit Cinerama, Detroit MI and it was one of those events that transcends childish whims: it was as though *this was going to happen* within my lifetime. I couldn't believe it, it was so lovely and alien and exciting.

Even now, looking at the stills, I remember the wonder I experienced as a ten-year-old, watching what I thought was the future that was mine to have.
posted by jet_silver at 9:12 PM on February 6, 2015 [11 favorites]

Interesting thing to me about 2001. Every criticism someone makes about the film ends up being one of the reasons I love it. I think you just have to be a bit Kubrickian to enjoy ALL of it.
posted by vicx at 11:20 PM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]

octothorpe: Now they'd just paint the back wall blue.

There are a few big films lately (Interstellar and Oblivion) that used "old school" rear projection. It's expensive as hell, but it pays off.
posted by brundlefly at 2:08 AM on February 7, 2015

Oh, and I got to see 2001 in 70mm. Holy shit.

Holy shit.
posted by brundlefly at 2:09 AM on February 7, 2015

This is almost certainly not what Kubrick intended but even though 2001 is one of my absolute favorite films I almost don't really care about the story anymore. I'm perfectly content to watch it just for the visuals because it just SO BEAUTIFUL.

I'm pretty sure Stanley would be pretty pleased with this, actually. A lot of his films stand-up really well when experienced more as a series of visual meditations, and I firmly believe this is intentional. Regardless of whether one agrees with this, though, you can't escape the fact that Kubrick's films are almost universally visual delights.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:35 AM on February 7, 2015 [1 favorite]

The guys in ape suits have really not aged well and today would be CG motion capture. Everything else does indeed get better and better.
posted by colie at 4:31 AM on February 7, 2015

The guys in ape suits have really not aged well and today would be CG motion capture.

And would therefore look stupid and fakey in a more contemporary way.
 
posted by Herodios at 6:27 AM on February 7, 2015 [6 favorites]

brundlefly: "octothorpe: Now they'd just paint the back wall blue.

There are a few big films lately (Interstellar and Oblivion) that used "old school" rear projection. It's expensive as hell, but it pays off."

Nolan was pretty explicitly trying to make his own 2001 so it's not surprising that he's use so many old school effect techniques.
posted by octothorpe at 6:58 AM on February 7, 2015 [1 favorite]

Oh, and the less said about 'Oblivion', the better.
posted by octothorpe at 7:20 AM on February 7, 2015 [1 favorite]

Oblivion wasn't so bad a movie, and the effects were well done.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:15 AM on February 7, 2015

Now they'd just paint the back wall blue.

Don't they use green now ?
posted by Pendragon at 9:55 AM on February 7, 2015

That depends on what's being shot. Blue is still used sometimes.
posted by brundlefly at 2:25 PM on February 7, 2015

I heard from the "Making Of" book that the original script was largely bullshit. As n they had a lot of stuff they hadn't figured out yet, so they simply had blank pages with titles such as "RESERVED FOR INCREDIBLE NEVER BEFORE SEEN SPECIAL EFFECTS".

As it turns out, in many senses they were correct.
posted by happyroach at 4:36 PM on February 7, 2015

Thanks are due to this thread for reminding me to watch this again, which I did today. It was completely astounding.
posted by Wolof at 1:14 AM on February 8, 2015

I find the Aries IB moonlander absolutely incredible, you only see the module for a few seconds.
I read in a cinema magazine that the moonlander had been designed by two engineers working on the Apollo Space program. There is more on fictional spacecraft in 2001 at Wikipedia, "Spacecraft from the Space Odyssey series."
posted by Narrative_Historian at 1:26 AM on February 8, 2015

great resource
posted by cyrusw8 at 11:30 AM on February 9, 2015

Wikipedia? Yeah. People like to snark but I find it invaluable.

Wait, what?
posted by msalt at 10:14 PM on February 13, 2015