Michael Spera
May 3, 2017
ENFL 265
Dr Cutler
2001: A Space Odyssey
Stanley Kubrick is one of the best directors to have ever lived. He has made many great films
throughout his career., and 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of his best. The movie is about five
astronauts aboard the space station, Discovery One. Out of the five astronauts, two are helping
man the ship, while the other three are hibernating to help conserve energy aboard the space
station. Dr. Dave Bowman and Dr. Frank Poole, not only played the role of manning the ship,
but they also have the help of an artificial intelligence unit called HAL 9000. Throughout the
film, HAL begins to malfunction and it starts to turn on Bowman and Poole.
The given clip shows the worst of HAL’s malfunctions. Just before Dave arrived in the
airlock, HAL had killed Dr. Poole, by cutting off his oxygen supply while he was out in space
repairing the station. This was the last straw for Dave, he managed to get back into the space
station, despite HAL’s best efforts to keep him out. The given clip begins with Dave’s return
back to the station, it shows Dave’s journey on his way to go and shut down HAL for good so he
can do no more harm. In the eight-minute clip, we can see a fair amount of the elements that
Kubrick likes to use in a majority of his films. In the clip Kubrick uses a series of tracking shots,
extreme camera angles, and slow paced scenes. These are just a few of his signature elements
that can be seen in the clip.
Kubrick loves using tracking shots, they are probably one of his most used shots in his films.
We see examples of them in this clip. He does not use a single long uncut tracking shot to follow Dave from the airlock to the door where HAL’s logic control unit is located. Instead he uses a
series of tracking shots that alternate from an over the shoulder point of view, to a close up view
of Dave’s face. Kubrick also uses a tracking shot in The Shining, he uses it to follow Danny
around on his tricycle throughout The Overlook Hotel. In this shot instead of it being a collection
of different shots, it is just one long uncut shot of Danny. At the end of the tracking shot it is the
second time that Danny sees the twins in the hotel being one of the most iconic shots in film
history. The tracking shots in 2001: A Space Odyssey are a little bit shaky, and switching
between the two points of view helps convey to the audience that Dave is in a rush, and that he is
also nervous and panicked. To contrast this the tracking shot in The Shining is very smooth and
steady. It is a very calming shot, just following Danny around the Overlook as he rides. The
audience is not expecting to see anything or anyone during Danny’s ride. This helped make the
appearance of the twin girls that much more jarring to the audience.
Another one of Kubrick’s signature elements is extreme angles, like extreme low and high
angles. In the clip that we are given we see Dave outside of HAL’s logic control unit. In this
scene Kubrick chooses to use an extremely low camera angle, the camera is placed between
Dave’s groin while he unlocks the door. This disorients the audience because we are not used to
seeing such a weird camera angle in a film. Kubrick also uses this technique in The Shining, he
uses it when Jack is locked in the pantry by Wendy. The shot that is used is a very low angle
close up of Jack’s face as he is bent over pushing on the handle of the door trying to get out of
the locked pantry. These shots are both similar and different, in both films Kubrick uses the low
angle shot while one of the character is trying to get past a locked door. The difference between
the two is that in The Shining Jack is trying to get out of a locked room, while in 2001: A Space
Odyssey Dave is trying to get into a locked room. Another one of Kubrick’s signature elements is slow drawn out scenes. In the clip from 2001:
A Space Odyssey Kubrick spends just about five minutes watching Dave in HAL’s logic control
unit unplugging HAL’s parts. In this scene everything is so slow, from Dave’s movements to the
amount of time spent in the room. Kubrick makes no effort to speed this scene up in any way, a
lot of what Dave does in this scene is not needed. Some things could be edited out and the
audience would get the same effect, as the original scene. Kubrick also uses this technique in
Lolita, it happens in the very begging of the film when Humbert comes to Clare Quilty’s house to
kill him for taking Lolita away from him. It is a long drawn out dialogue between the two
characters, in this case I feel that this dialogue between the characters is needed in the film
because it just jumps right in to something that is going on without any context before it to help
back it up. This helps the audience become more interested in the film. The drawn out scenes
in 2001: A Space Odyssey and Lolita are actually very similar, they both have one-character
begging for their lives, and they both have a character trying to kill someone who wronged them.
The difference between the two scenes is that, in 2001: A Space Odyssey the scene is serious and
Dave does not say one word while disconnecting HAL. In Lolita the scene comedic and not
taken so seriously.
Stanley Kubrick has made some of the most influential films throughout his long career as
film maker. Using the auteur theory, it is very easy to tell Kubrick’s films apart from other
director’s films

 

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