2001: A Space Odyssey (film)

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"It’s a monumentally unimaginative movie: Kubrick, with his $750,000 centrifuge, and in love with gigantic hardware and control panels, is the Belasco of science fiction. The special effects—though straight from the drawing board—are good and big and awesomely, expensively detailed. There’s a little more that’s good in the movie, when Kubrick doesn’t take himself too seriously—like the comic moment when the gliding space vehicles begin their Johann Strauss walk; that is to say, when the director shows a bit of a sense of proportion about what he’s doing, and sees things momentarily as comic when the movie doesn’t take itself with such idiot solemnity. The light-show trip is of no great distinction; compared to the work of experimental filmmakers like Jordan Belson, it’s third-rate. If big film directors are to get credit for doing badly what others have been doing brilliantly for years with no money, just because they’ve put it on a big screen, then businessmen are greater than poets and theft is art."--"Trash, Art, and the Movies" (1969) by Pauline Kael

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2001: A Space Odyssey is an influential 1968 science fiction film directed by Stanley Kubrick. The screenplay, written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, deals with themes of human evolution and technology, artificial intelligence, and extraterrestrial life. The film is notable for its scientific realism, pioneering use of special effects, and reliance upon ambiguous yet provocative imagery and sound in place of traditional techniques of narrative cinema.

2001's soundtrack did much to introduce the modern classical composer György Ligeti to a wider public, using extracts from his Requiem (the Kyrie), Atmosphères, Lux Aeterna and (in an altered form) Aventures (though without his permission).

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"Star Gate" sequence

The coloured lights in the Star Gate sequence were accomplished by slit-scan photography of thousands of high-contrast images on film, including Op art paintings, architectural drawings, Moiré patterns, printed circuits, and electron-microscope photographs of molecular and crystal structures. Known to staff as "Manhattan Project", the shots of various nebula-like phenomena, including the expanding star field, were coloured paints and chemicals swirling in a pool-like device known as a cloud tank, shot in slow motion in a dark room. The live-action landscape shots in the 'Star Gate' sequence were filmed in the Hebridean islands, the mountains of northern Scotland, and Monument Valley. The colouring and negative-image effects were achieved with different colour filters in the process of making duplicate negatives.

Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "2001: A Space Odyssey (film)" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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+"[[2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|It]]’s a monumentally unimaginative movie: Kubrick, with his $750,000 centrifuge, and in love with gigantic hardware and control panels, is the [[David Belasco|Belasco]] of science fiction. The [[special effects]]—though straight from the drawing board—are good and big and awesomely, expensively detailed. There’s a little more that’s good in the movie, when Kubrick doesn’t take himself too seriously—like the comic moment when the gliding space vehicles begin their Johann Strauss walk; that is to say, when the director shows a bit of a sense of proportion about what he’s doing, and sees things momentarily as comic when the movie doesn’t take itself with such idiot solemnity. The light-show trip is of no great distinction; compared to the work of experimental filmmakers like [[Jordan Belson]], it’s third-rate. If big film directors are to get credit for doing badly what others have been doing brilliantly for years with no money, just because they’ve put it on a big screen, then businessmen are greater than poets and theft is art."--"[[Trash, Art, and the Movies]]" (1969) by Pauline Kael
+|}
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 '''''2001: A Space Odyssey''''' is an influential [[1968 in film|1968]] [[science fiction film]] directed by [[Stanley Kubrick]]. The screenplay, written by Kubrick and [[Arthur C. Clarke]], deals with themes of [[human evolution]] and [[technology]], [[artificial intelligence]], and [[extraterrestrial life]]. The film is notable for its scientific realism, pioneering use of [[special effects]], and reliance upon ambiguous yet provocative imagery and sound in place of traditional techniques of narrative cinema.
-The film received a wide spectrum of positive and negative reviews upon release. Today it is widely recognized among [[Film criticism|critics]] as one of [[Films considered the greatest ever|the greatest films ever made]]. It was nominated for four [[Academy Awards]], winning one (for [[visual effects]]), and won the [[Kansas City Film Critics Circle]] awards for Best Director and Best Film of 1968.
+[[2001: A Space Odyssey (soundtrack)|''2001'''s soundtrack]] did much to introduce the modern classical composer [[György Ligeti]] to a wider public, using extracts from his ''[[Requiem (Ligeti)|Requiem]] '' (the Kyrie), ''[[Atmosphères]]'', ''[[Lux Aeterna (György Ligeti)|Lux Aeterna]]'' and (in an altered form) ''Aventures'' (though without his permission).
+=== "Star Gate" sequence ===
-In 1991, the film was deemed "culturally significant" by the [[United States Library of Congress]] and was selected for preservation in the [[National Film Registry]].
+The coloured lights in the Star Gate sequence were accomplished by [[slit-scan photography]] of thousands of high-contrast images on film, including [[Op art]] paintings, architectural drawings, [[Moiré pattern]]s, printed circuits, and electron-microscope photographs of molecular and crystal structures. Known to staff as "Manhattan Project", the shots of various nebula-like phenomena, including the expanding star field, were coloured paints and chemicals swirling in a pool-like device known as a cloud tank, shot in slow motion in a dark room. The live-action landscape shots in the 'Star Gate' sequence were filmed in the [[Hebrides|Hebridean islands]], the [[Mountains and hills of Scotland|mountains of northern Scotland]], and [[Monument Valley]]. The colouring and negative-image effects were achieved with different colour filters in the process of making duplicate negatives.
-''2001'''s soundtrack did much to introduce the modern classical composer [[György Ligeti]] to a wider public, using extracts from his ''[[Requiem (Ligeti)|Requiem]] '' (the Kyrie), ''[[Atmosphères]]'', ''[[Lux Aeterna (György Ligeti)|Lux Aeterna]]'' and (in an altered form) ''Aventures'' (though without his permission).
-== Soundtrack ==
-=== Music ===
-Music plays a crucial part in ''2001'', and not only because of the relatively sparse dialogue. From very early on in production, Kubrick decided that he wanted the film to be a primarily non-verbal experience, one that did not rely on the traditional techniques of [[narrative]] cinema, and in which music would play a vital role in evoking particular moods.
-The film is remarkable for its innovative use of [[European classical music|classical music]] taken from existing commercial recordings. Major feature films were (and still are) typically accompanied by elaborate [[film scores]] or songs written especially for them by professional composers. In the early stages of production, Kubrick had actually commissioned a [[2001: A Space Odyssey (score)|score for ''2001'']] from noted [[Hollywood]] composer [[Alex North]], who had written the score for ''[[Spartacus (film)|Spartacus]]'' and also worked on ''[[Dr. Strangelove]]''. However, on ''2001'' Kubrick did much of the filming and editing using, as his guides, the classical recordings which eventually became the music track. In March 1966, MGM became concerned about ''2001'''s progress and Kubrick put together a show reel of footage to the ad hoc soundtrack of classical recordings. The studio bosses were delighted with the results and Kubrick decided to use these 'guide pieces' as the final musical soundtrack, and he abandoned North's score. Kubrick failed to inform North that his music had not been used and, to his dismay, North did not discover this until he saw the movie just prior to its release.  What survives of North's soundtrack recordings has been released as a "limited edition" CD from Intrada Records. All the music North originally wrote was recorded commercially by North's friend and colleague [[Jerry Goldsmith]] with the [[National Philharmonic Orchestra]] and was released on [[Varese Sarabande]] CDs shortly after Telarc's first theme release but before North's death.  In 2005, [[The City of Prague Philharmonic]] recorded their version of the ''2001'' theme on their album "The Incredible Film Music Box".
-In an interview with [[Michel Ciment]], Kubrick explained:
-:However good our best film composers may be, they are not a [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]], a [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] or a [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]]. Why use music which is less good when there is such a multitude of great orchestral music available from the past and from our own time? When you are editing a film, it's very helpful to be able to try out different pieces of music to see how they work with the scene…Well, with a little more care and thought, these temporary tracks can become the final score.
-''2001'' uses works by several classical composers. It features music by [[Aram Khachaturian]] (Gayane's Adagio from the ''[[Gayaneh]]'' ballet suite) and famously used [[Johann Strauss II]]'s best known waltz, ''An der schönen blauen Donau'' (in English, ''[[The Blue Danube|On The Beautiful Blue Danube]]''), during the space-station rendezvous and lunar landing sequences. ''2001'' is especially remembered for its use of the opening from [[Richard Strauss]]'s ''[[Also sprach Zarathustra (Richard Strauss)|Also sprach Zarathustra]]'' (or "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" in English), which has become inextricably associated with the film and its imagery and themes. The film's soundtrack also did much to introduce the modern classical composer [[György Ligeti]] to a wider public, using extracts from his ''Requiem'' (the Kyrie), ''[[Atmosphères]]'', ''[[Lux Aeterna (György Ligeti)|Lux Aeterna]]'' and (in an altered form) ''Aventures'' (though without his permission).
-HAL's haunting version of the popular song "[[Daisy Bell]]" (referred to by HAL as "Daisy" in the film) was inspired by a computer synthesized arrangement by [[Max Mathews]], which [[Arthur C. Clarke]] had heard in 1962 at the [[Bell Laboratories]] Murray Hill facility when he was, coincidentally, visiting friend and colleague John Pierce. At that time, a [[speech synthesis]] demonstration was being performed by physicist [[John Larry Kelly, Jr]], by using an [[IBM 704]] computer to synthesize speech. Kelly's voice recorder synthesizer ''[[vocoder]]'' recreated the song "Daisy Bell" ("Bicycle Built For Two"), with Max Mathews providing the musical accompaniment. Arthur C. Clarke was so impressed that he later used it in the screenplay and novel.
-"Daisy" did not necessarily survive in foreign language versions of the film. For example, in the French soundtrack to 2001, HAL while being disconnected sings the French folk song [[Au Clair de la Lune]].
-In Italian version the song was "giro giro tondo", the one you sing when you play ring-ring-a-roses.
-In the German version, HAL sings the children's song "Hänschen klein" ("Johnny little").
-=== Soundtrack Album ===
-The initial MGM soundtrack album release contained none of the material from the altered and uncredited rendition of "Adventures", used a different recording of "Also Sprach Zarathustra" than that heard in the film, and a longer excerpt of "Lux Aeterna" than that in the film.
-In 1996, Turner Entertainment released a new soundtrack on CD which included the material from "Adventures" and restored the version of "Zarathustra" used in the film, and used the shorter version of "Lux Aeterna" from the film. As additional "bonus tracks" at the end, this CD includes the versions of "Zarathustra" and "Lux Aeterna" on the old MGM soundtrack, an ''unaltered'' performance of "Adventures", and a 9-minute compilation of all of HAL's dialogue from the film.
-In 1993, Varese Sarabande issued a CD recording of Alex North's unused music for 2001.
-=== Dialogue ===
-Alongside its use of music, the dialogue in ''2001'' is another notable feature, although the relative lack of dialogue and conventional narrative cues has baffled many viewers. One of the film's most striking features is that there is no dialogue whatsoever for the entirety of the first and last 20 minutes of the film—the total narrative of these sections, totalling almost 45 minutes of the film is carried by images, actions, sound effects, and two title cards.
-Only when the film moves into the postulated future of 2000 and 2001, do we encounter characters who speak. By the time shooting began, Kubrick had deliberately jettisoned much of the intended dialogue and narration, and what remains is notable for its apparently banal nature—an announcement about a sweater being found, the awkwardly polite chit-chat between Floyd and the Russian scientists, or his comments about the sandwiches en route to the monolith site.
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2001: A Space Odyssey (film)

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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"Star Gate" sequence

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