48
votes
Accepted
Meaning of the final room in 2001: A Space Odyssey
The ending is largely symbolic, and reading the book helps with its interpretation. Here are some different opinions. The one based on the book goes like this:
The black monolith you saw in the ...
36
votes
Accepted
How did they shoot the hostess scene?
They used what most people refer to as a "giant centrifuge". There are multiple sites on the interwebs which explain this.
From Pajiba
The giant centrifuge was built “in the North of England” by ...
31
votes
Accepted
Variable zooms in 2001: A Space Odyssey
It turns out this was an incorrect interpretation - see other answers below - it was based on a principle of no-parallax [perspective shift], but was actually achieved in another way, which also, ...
29
votes
Accepted
Why were certain shots deliberately paced slowly in 2001: A Space Odyssey?
I think there are five related and self-reenforcing effects that the pacing in 2001 has. The first two are related to Kubrick's general intentions to make an artistic film; the others are related ...
17
votes
Meaning of the final room in 2001: A Space Odyssey
In the book, Clarke expertly shows that the Power behind the monolith does not want to hurt Dave in anyway. The monolith creates an environment for Dave to exist in that would not harm him in any way, ...
16
votes
Fault in the chess game in 2001: A Space Odyssey
This was taken from a real chess game Roesch vs Willi Schlage from 1910. You can see the whole game here
In 1968, Stanley Kubrick (a strong chess player himself) directed 2001: A Space Odyssey. ...
13
votes
Accepted
Was Andrei Smyslov named as an homage to chess champion Vasily Smyslov?
Wikipedia claims that it was, and cites this 1999 article from chess site ChessBase. However, the article doesn't provide any proof beyond what you've already stated: that Kubrick was a "chess ...
13
votes
The distorted images in 2001: A Space Odyssey
This has so far proven to be a long and not entirely fruitful search.
The generic answer to "what lens is it?" is .. it's a wide-angle lens, very wide - a type known as a fish-eye.
Precisely which ...
12
votes
Accepted
Which movie is shown during Heywood Floyd's travel in the Pan Am starship?
The footage was made specially for 2001.
According to Creating Special Effects for "2001: A Space Odyssey" by Douglas Trumbull
The movie being shown on the TV set in front of the sleeping ...
11
votes
2001 A Space Odyssey. Dave’s clothes and food change while watching the news
They are two different people, though admittedly they do look somewhat similar and you don't see them both very clearly for very long.
The scene follows the crew member in the uniform as he climbs ...
8
votes
Accepted
How did Kubrick shoot HAL's "eye" in 2001: A Space Odyssey?
You don't see a reflection. What you see is an actor coming towards the camera. The HAL lense and light reflexes are added from a different layer.
In Odyssey Kubrick used a technique called "Front ...
6
votes
Accepted
Is There Any Information About the Four Spaceships at the Beginning of 2001 A Space Odyssey?
OP asks:
Is There Any Information About the Four Spaceships at the Beginning of 2001 A Space Odyssey?
There is, lots.
TL;DR:
In the Wikipedia entry for 2001, there is a section called Military ...
6
votes
Variable zooms in 2001: A Space Odyssey
Its not a zoom. Its a motorised (selsyn) track back on a huge 8x4 ft print of a large format probably 5/4 still of the model interior of Space Station 5 stuck on glass and shot pretty much the way ...
6
votes
What is/was the hardware specification of HAL9000?
Here's the bare minimum specs: Deep Blue (the first computer to beat a reigning grand master at chess)
computer class: mainframe
architecture: parallel, based on SP2 technology
32 Power2 SC CPUs (...
6
votes
Why were certain shots deliberately paced slowly in 2001: A Space Odyssey?
Kubrick was going for as much verisimilitude as he could get out of the various space scenes.
Space is a vacuum - there is no medium for sound - so Kubrick shot these scenes with no sound except for ...
6
votes
The distorted images in 2001: A Space Odyssey
In the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey they used a Fairchild-Curtis custom fisheye lens, as seen on these pictures. Using a fisheye lens creates this specific distorted kind of image.
5
votes
Fault in the chess game in 2001: A Space Odyssey
As with any work of art, you are free to interpret what you like into the scene. Here's my take on it. In 1968 the ultimate goal of AI research was to build a computer that could beat humans at chess. ...
4
votes
Accepted
Is the lens on Gerty 3000 from "Moon" a reference to HAL from "2001: A Space Odyssey"?
Yes, and Duncan Jones has said as much in interviews. For example,
The robot in your film is fairly reminiscent of Hal from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Was Gerty an intentional homage to that film?
Yes. ...
3
votes
The distorted images in 2001: A Space Odyssey
In reference to the HAL POV shots, I may be of some help. Decades ago I acquired a 35mm format Fairchild Curtis fisheye from the estate of Cecil Love, who was tangentially involved (early partners) ...
2
votes
Variable zooms in 2001: A Space Odyssey
I'm not submitting this as an answer, just an addition, as I realize a lot of the interesting chat is in comments, that might one day get lost.
This video features interviews and quotes from both ...
2
votes
Accepted
What is the significance of the ape movies in X-Files S10E02: Founder's Mutation
In season 10 at the hospital it plays a scene on the tv where the female ape is giving birth to baby milo whos name is later on changed to "caesar". In this film ceasars parents pass on to ceasar the ...
1
vote
How did Kubrick shoot HAL's "eye" in 2001: A Space Odyssey?
Nowadays CGI would be used for a scene like this (see Mirror shot without camera reflection in "Velvet Buzzsaw").
CGI Lens shot:
But since that technique was most likely not available at ...
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