Hi everybody, Tyler here. You are watching
part one of a series where I analyze and uncover the production of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001
A Space Odyssey. For a long time now, 2001 has been at the top of my list of all time
favorite movies. Why? Because I’ve found it to be the most thought provoking movie
I’ve ever seen and despite inspiring a vast collection of filmmakers and their projects,
it remains the most unique movie I’ve ever seen. To me, this movie sits
comfortably in a category of its own. There is 2001 and then there are all other movies.
As an aspiring filmmaker, I’ve sought an answer to the question: How did Kubrick make
this film? After a month of research, I managed to peel
back the curtain just a bit to peek at the genius of its construction. 2001 A Space Odyssey was directed by Stanley
Kubrick and written by Kubrick and British science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke. The
screenplay was inspired by Clarke’s short story titled The Sentinel, which is similar
to the Floyd section of the film. In an interview with physics professor Jeremy Bernstein, Kubrick
estimates just how much time was spent writing the screenplay. Stanley Kubrick: “The thing that uh, does
take all the time is to extract say, two hours and fifteen minutes of a story. And really
keep distilling and distilling and distilling and distilling and distilling, uh, I would
say that, um, if you count the time that’s spent during the shooting day, also working
on the story— in rehearsal and rewriting it and so forth— I would say that an average
of at least four hours a day has been spent on this story. Much more than that because
in the real solid writing period it was like eight hours a day. But let’s just say that
it averaged four hours a day for two years. Say an average of six days a week. That’s
twenty-four hours a week times, uh, maybe a hundred weeks. I’d say that’s a good,
uh, twenty-four hundred hours spent on, call it two hours and forty minutes of story. So
that’s about a, a thousand to one, isn’t it?” We start at the beginning of the film, but
in fact, this was the end of production. The Dawn of Man sequence was shot after all the
other scenes were wrapped. The establishing landscape shots were actually still photographs
done by a second unit in Africa. Because Kubrick had a phobia of flying in airplanes, despite
having a pilot’s license, he directed the second unit on what to capture via the telephone. Kier Dullea: “And he had a graph with 1,
2, 3, 4, 5, 6… going up the left-hand side of the graph and A, B, C, D, E, F, G… going
off the top of the graph and he was on a direct telephone connection with these still photographers
and he’d say, uh, ‘Okay, Joe, um, the mountain range should start- you’ve got
it at 3B change it so now 4M.’” These images would come in to play later on
in the soundstage. The shots involving the apes were filmed on
Soundstage 3 at MGM Borhamwood in England. “[T]he M-G-M studio is hardly distinguishable
from the rather antiseptic-looking factories nearby. It consists of ten enormous soundstages
concealed in industrial-looking shops, paint shops, office units, and so on. Behind the
buildings is a huge lot covered with bits and pieces of other productions… Kubrick’s
offices are near the front of the complex in a long bungalow structure that houses,
in addition to his production staff, a group of youthful model-makers working on large,
very detailed models of spacecraft to be used in special-effects photography: Kubrick calls
their realm ‘Santa’s Workshop’” (Making 63). It is possible that it wasn’t always the
plan to shoot the Dawn of Man sequence in the studio. While going over information earlier
in the production on “the average temperature and rainfall all over the globe at every season
of the year,” Kubrick was quoted saying, “We’re looking for a cool desert where
we can shoot some sequences during the late spring… We’ve got our eye on a location
in Spain, but it might be pretty hot to work in comfortably, and we might have trouble
controlling the lighting. If we don’t go to Spain, we’ll have to build an entirely
new set right here” (Making 66). And they did. The plate glass photos that were captured
by the second unit in Africa made up the background of these shots. How it was done was the photos
were made into 8 by 10 inch Ektachrome transparencies and using a special projector they were projected
from the front onto a highly reflective screen that was 40 feet by 90 feet. Large-scale front
projection hadn’t been done before. At the time, this was actually the largest front
projector ever made. Normally, projections like this would be done from behind the screen,
but the light that was reflected onto the rest of the set and the actors was weak enough
not to be visible (Making 83). The projector projected the image into an
angled two-way mirror with the camera on the other side recording the image from behind
the two-way mirror. This way the camera would record at the exact angle that the image is
being projected from, which would hide any shadows cast by the actors onto the projection
screen. To make sure nothing got onto the mirror,
the camera operator would wear a surgical mask while shooting. Here you can see an ape brush past the projection screen causing it to move slightly. The projected image doesn’t show up on him and his body perfectly hides the shadow he casts. The fun-with-kubrick tumblr noticed that this still image in particular was used as the background in several shots—sometimes flipped. If you look closely, you can see the similar cloud pattern. In an interview for American Cinematographer,
special effects supervisor Douglas Trumbull details what went into creating this effect: “To camouflage the varying light transmission
rates between rolls of the front projection screen material on the giant 40- by 90-foot
screen, the material was cut up into small, irregular pieces and pasted up at random so
that slight variations in the transmission rates would merge with cloud shapes or be
lost altogether in brilliant sunlight effects” (American Cinematographer). You can see some of the imperfections of the
projection screen on some of the closer shots in the Blu-ray version if you look hard enough. “Since the screen occupied an entire wall
of the stage, and the front-projection rig was delicate and cumbersome, the sets were
built on a giant rotating platform which covered most of the stage floor. Widely varying camera
angles could then be obtained with no movement of the screen, and little movement of the
projection rig” (American Cinematographer). This “zebra” was actually a dead horse
that was painted to look like a zebra. Because they were using a live leopard in the film
they had tranquilizer guns on hand in case anything happened. It has been said the horse
smelled really bad during the filming of this shot and the crewmembers were not happy (Making
76). The tranquilizers did get some use as this
tapir was knocked out in order to look dead during the meat-eating scene (Making 69). The apes were played by mimes. Dan Richter,
who played Moon-Watcher (the ape that discovers that a bone can be used as a weapon, was given
a camera by Kubrick to go film apes in the zoo to study movement and behavior. Dan Richter: “What I was looking for was
always people I could, I could get to act a little bit because I understood that the
movement wasn’t the solution. The solution was to motivate the movement.” “The actors [playing the apes] had to have
exceptionally thin arms and legs and narrow hips so that when they wore the costumes of
hair they wouldn’t look bulky and like men stuffed in gorilla suits. It was an extremely
complex task to produce apelike masks with delicate articulation for bearing fangs, snarling,
eating, drinking. (A company that manufactured artificial limbs was contracted to produce
a long-fingered, narrow apelike hand, which could be operated remotely by the actor’s
hand within the sleeve of a longer arm. This failed to look convincing and was abandoned.)
Facial makeup was created by making a plastic substructure skull with hinged jaw. A fine
rubber mold was made with the equivalent of skin on the face; hair was added as one would
put hair on a wig. Movement in the lips was achieved by having false tongue and false
teeth and an arrangement of toggles that the actors could move with their tongues and that
allowed the lips to curl left, right, or both directions. The eyes were the actors’: the
mask was made right up to the eyelids” (Making 81). As you can see, the precise lighting gives
the set a very theatrical quality. Remember how Kubrick was concerned about having control
of the lighting? Well, “fifteen hundred individually controlled lamps were on the
ceiling of the sound stage” (Making 81). Naturally, this made the set very hot.
Dan Richter discusses the harsh conditions on set in an interview for Cinetropolis. He
said, “With the front projection system the demands of lighting to get the proper
match and color temperatures right meant that the temperatures were sometimes over a hundred
on the set. We had medical personal standing by and compressed air to be blasted into our
costumes the moment Stanley called cut. The union also limited the time we could have
the masks on. I and Richard Woods, who played One-Ear, had full contact lenses to color
our eyes for close ups which got very painful as the dust rose” (Cinetropolis). All of the ape sounds were recorded by Richter
and his actors as well. (Cinetropolis) In this picture, you can see one of the apes
taking a break. There is a pipe in his mouth to hold the jaw of the mask open so he could
breathe easier because the elastic made the mouth close automatically (Making 75). In the same interview, Richter talks about
filming the Leopard attack. “The stunt man Terry Duggan, who worked for the Chipperfields,
was practicing play fighting with a lion and a leopard. Stanley in the end went
with the leopard. Stanley had a cage built around him, the camera, and the crew. We put
Terry in a man-ape suit and I got between him and the background man-apes. On the first
take the leopard, confused and nervous, went for me and Terry tackled him before he reached
me. The second take worked” (Cinetropolis). Two baby chimpanzees were used during production
that “had to be prodded by their trainer to cower with the [actors]” (Making 81). The monolith was originally going to be a
tetrahedron, but as Special Effects Supervisor Con Pederson said: “The tetrahedron didn’t
look monumental or simple or fundamental. It tended to express diminution more than
impressive scale. And there would be people who would think of pyramids.” (Making 76) This monolith was twelve feet long and it
was made of wood covered in black paint. It was also going to have another function: Arthur C. Clarke: “In fact, our original
idea was to have something with a transparent screen on which images would appear, which
would teach the apes, you know, how to fight each other, maybe even make fire, but that
was much too naïve an idea.” Now, the best we can hope to achieve is to
recognize the choices that Kubrick made and of course we can only speculate as to why
these choices were made. Considering the fact that this sequence was shot after the rest
of the production was completed, it allowed for a better understanding of the overall
look of the film. Although it is also imaginable that the choices made here were due to production
constraints. Every time they wanted to shoot a new angle, they had to rotate the set so
they may use that massive projection screen. What is interesting here is that the entire
sequence seems to be made up primarily of static shots. There is the occasional very
subtle movement, but no dolly or tracking shots, only slight pans and tilts. The establishing
landscape shots are static (obviously, because they were still images). The theatrical lighting
and composition of the shots almost seems to evoke an image of a museum diorama or zoo
habitat. You’ll also notice the substantial use of long shots, which seems to lend itself
nicely to the diorama idea. Whereas it is possible that this choice was made simply
to make use of the full scope of the set, some have speculated that this is to make
the audience feel like observers rather than participants and allow them to watch the apes
much in the same way the alien presence did. And since the Dawn of Man sequence was shot
last, it is conceivable that the “habitat look” was meant to mirror the final sequence
of the film in which Dave Bowman finds himself in a habitat of his own. It is questionable
whether or not all this was intended or simply necessary due to the inability to shoot on
location. Let’s look at the initial meeting between
the ape tribes. The two tribes meet on either side of a watering hole. The shot list seems
to be made up of mostly long shots from either side facing each tribe. We’ve established
that there was only one projection screen and the set was on a turntable, so each view
we see is of the set rotated 180 degrees. We never get a shot from the side showing
both tribes on either side of the frame. Now, it looks as if these large rock formations
would have prevented a clear shot had the set been rotated 90 degrees. That said, Kubrick
could very well have brought the camera closer to shoot from the side. Instead, we get a
reverse shot with a foreground layer of the backs of the apes looking at the tribe that
we are looking at to make the meeting make sense without an establishing shot from the
side. What I’m getting at is—it seems as though the physical location of the camera
never crosses on to the set. Even the closer shots appear to be shot from far away with
a telephoto lens—see how the apes closest to the camera seem to pass in front with relative
ease. The question is—did the set constrain the production and reduce the possible choice
of shots or did shooting from outside the set purposefully lend itself to the constructed
habitat idea? The camera does cross onto the set directly
after this scene for the night scene and the scene with the monolith. Although, only two
of these shots feature the projection screen. For the most part, nearly every shot in the
Dawn of Man sequence features the projection screen. There are the long shots of:
the watering hole, the flat walled off space, and the shelter space where the monolith appears.
Then, there are some closer shots that seem to take place very close to the projection
screen, this one is a little further back – possibly to transition from the still
establishing shots, and a few medium close-ups shots without the screen visible. So, why does the Dawn of Man sequence work? You’ll also notice that the Dawn of Man
sequence lacks any dialogue whatsoever—it is for all intents and purposes, a silent
film. It works really well as an opening to the film because it is a very simple and direct
story told completely visually that perfectly sets up the concept and the overall theme
of the film— a man-ape tribe tries to survive on limited food and water, there is a confrontation
between two tribes over ownership of a watering hole, a mysterious object appears before one
of the tribes and gives them inspiration for the first use of a weapon to kill animals
for meat and to reclaim their resources giving their tribe strength and power. Despite the
relatively simple story, the way it was shot stimulates our intellect upfront by lacking
very many close ups. The use of many long shots and medium shots with several subjects
inhabiting the frame stimulates the audience’s mind by forcing them to choose what to look
at and what to notice as opposed to a close up, which directs the audience’s attention
to something specific. This way, the audience is required to become more active and engage
with the story. There are points of specific action to lead the viewer’s attention, but
there are also several shots that are purely observational. Even some of the pivotal scenes
contain a variety of shots that don’t favor any one character in particular. This perfectly
introduces the pacing for the following section— our introduction to space. And the story is
propelled forward by the intrigue and mystery of the monolith that links the sections together. I feel that the way the entire Dawn of Man
sequence was staged and shot meshes very well with the rest of the film and it seems that
the cohesiveness would have been lost had they shot on location with potentially more
freedom. There was one shot however, that was filmed
outside of the soundstage and that is the shot where Moonwatcher uses the bone to crush
the skull. The sky in this shot is real. Richter performed this scene on a platform outside
most likely so that they could shoot the extreme low-angle and not have to worry about lights
getting in the shot (Cinetropolis). It was reportedly after this scene was shot
that Kubrick got the idea to do the graphic match-cut of the bone in the air with the
nuclear satellite. Arthur C. Clarke: “Stanley was walking back
to the studio and he had a broomstick and he was throwing this broomstick up in the
air and I was quite worried that it might come down on him. And I think that was when
he got the idea of this transition, which is of course what happened. The bone goes
up and turns into what is supposed to be an orbiting space bomb—a weapon in space. Although
that isn’t made clear. You just assume it’s some kind of space vehicle and there’s a
three million year jump cut.” Thanks for watching. You can find the links
to the sources in the description. I researched all the sections at once, so part 2 shouldn’t
take as long to complete. And if you’re new here, please hit that subscribe button
now because there are plenty more videos on the way for cinephiles like you. Thanks again
for watching.
This Kubrick guy seemed pretty ahead of the curve on this movie making stuff
I was about to watch the 4k version of 2001, should I watch this series before to enhance my appreciation for it?
Funny, I just watched all of these this weekend. I found this series to be superior to the documentaries in the latest 2001 Anniversary Blu Ray.
I just happened to watch this the other day. It is worth a view.