2001: A Space Trailer

Still as jaw-droppingly insipiring today as it was back in 1968, 2001: A Space Odyssey is a landmark science fiction movie. From a novel by Arthur C. Clarke and turned into a screenplay by both himself and the legendary Stanley Kubrick this movie is epic. Spanning the dawn of time to the far flung corners of the universe we must now recognise the year 2001 to be more symbolic of a future age than an actual date. It seems that science fiction was overly optimistic in the 60s as to how fast the human technology would progress.

To a casual viewer this movie is tough to say the least. It deals with notions of evolution, technology, artificial intelligence and alien life. And not in an altogether obvious way. What stands out for me is that the effects are as current today as anything cg can achieve. The space exterior shots are filmed with an understanding of the medium. There are no sounds in space as space is a vacuum. This often leads to disturbing silent images as a space walk goes wrong and the hero tumbles off into the void. Underpinning the action is the score primarily by Johann Strauss and most notably the Blue Danube.

It won the Best Effects, Special Visual Effects oscar in 1969 and quite rightly so. It was a pioneer of the front projection technique whereby background images of scenery and landscapes could be projected onto a camera lens within a studio envionment to achieve a realistic exterior effect. The movie was also filmed in Cinerama a process whereby 3 35mm projectors are pointed at a widescreen curved screen. The DVD release of 2001 also includes the original interval complete with score which really is a mark of times gone by. A stunning classic worthy of multiple views.