Tuesday 29 May 2018

Part 4: Epic Cinematography of 2001 Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick

Continuation of 2001: Space Odyssey Composition.

2001: Space Odyssey Compositions

Part 3: Epic Cinematography and Philosophy of 2001 Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick
Part 2: Epic Cinematography and Philosophy of 2001 Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick
Part 1: Epic Cinematography and Philosophy of 2001 Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick

Epic leading lines

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Continuing from Part 3, we have one of my favorite scenes: The moment where DAVE walks through the corridor, with all these epic lines:

walking through entry-1 walking through entry-6 walking through entry-5 walking through entry-4 walking through entry-3 walking through entry-2

Broken down, here is the leading lines I see:

Then going into the scene when he sees the space pods, note the epic use of the wide-angle (fisheye) lens, which really sucks you into the frame:

Then the next scene, you get a different angle, with great ‘bookend’ compositions with the two space pods (on the far left and the far right):

Super-epic layers

Then you have this scene when DAVE is about to enter one of the space pods, with one of the most sublime layered compositions:

First of all note you have the claws in the foreground which are out-of-focus (in cyan), and the layers of the space pods in pink:

The key is this: once DAVE is about to enter the pod, you can see he is framed in-between one of the claws. This is key because later in the movie the CLAWS is a key element: when DAVE tries to save his friend//also the claws are the metaphysical hands of DAVE, to open the hatch doors:

A closeup:

Lesson: When you’re shooting certain scenes, put your focus in the background, and put elements in the foreground which might foretell a future story (like the claws).

Scene shift: DAVE’s friend looks on

Then the next scene, DAVE’s friend (yellow astronaut) watches DAVE enter the pod:

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The composition is fantastic for the storytelling, because you can see the ‘bookend’ of the yellow co-pilot on the far-left of the frame (outlined in cyan), then you have HAL a little on the right-thirds of the frame:

Also study this composition and the spacing of the square-block-rectangle elements.

Shifting camera angle

Continuing from the previous scene, note the shift of the camera perspective– almost being ‘topsy-turvy’ (which makes sense for the sense of disorientation, because they are in space!)

Follow the pink lines to see the orientation of the man (I had to turn my head a bit):

Then the cyan lines perspective lines in the background:

Space parallax

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How do you get the sense that something is moving in space?

This is how Kubrick did it:

Stationary spaceship (really small in white)
Tiny stars in background (white dots), moving slowly to the left
Big rocks (meteors) moving from the bottom of the frame, to the top of the frame, slowly getting bigger!

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