2001: Special Effects That Changed Cinema

"Please read the show notes!" She screamed into the void of a blank page. (I realise no one apparently reads the show notes but this time I genuinely think it might be useful to you.)

This is episode two of the 2001: A Space Odyssey mini-series!

I like to keep episodes under an hour to make them digestible but there is a 15 minute longer version of the episode available for Patreon members or to buy as a one off for £3 or $3. You can find it here: https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm

It is being released early because I am going on holiday and I have no idea how great my internet is going to be or how often I'll be able to check it while I am away. (I do know that in the summer of 2024 it once took somewhere between 3 and 6 hours to upload the podcast from my mum's house.)

We have two more episodes to go (one about the sound and the other about Kubrick).

If you missed the first episode I would suggest you go and take a listen to both parts. If you have not watched 2001: A Space Odyssey you can find an overview of it here on the Wikipedia page.

I have also mentioned the IMDB page during the episode and the full list of credited cast and crew can be found here: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_cst_sm

This episode is about some of the mind-blowing, ahead of their time (by at least 11 years or so when Star Wars came along) and fantastical special effects of the film.

I never watch videos for podcasts myself, but I would perhaps consider it for this episode as Paul expresses the practicalities of special effects quite well with hand gestures. There are clips of the special effects you may want to look at. You can find the video on YouTube and on Spotify.

As always, there are spoilers ahead!

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The special effects for 2001: A Space Odyssey were shocking in 1968 but still amaze almost sixty years later. I have managed to procure two heavyweight guests to talk us through this mammoth achievement. (I wanted to make an ape pun but I remembered I don't actually like puns.)

Paul Franklin is a Special Effects Supervisor for many blockbuster films including the Dark Knight series and has won Oscars for his work on Interstellar and Inception.

Julie Turnock is Professor of Media and Cinema studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign she has written extensively about special effects in cinema including in Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Chapters

0:00 Intro

01:35 Special vs Visual Effects

06:12 Impact of 2001 A Space Odyssey special effects

12:45 Douglas Trumbull and more

29:03 The Discovery centrifuge

33:38 A slow visionary film

39:35 Defying gravity

41:47 Joy Sneddon's moon

43:51 The floating pen

45:34 Front projections on The Dawn of Man

49:53 Legacy

54:36 Recommendations

Recommendations:

The Lost Worlds of 2001 by Arthur C Clarke

Bodies in Space: Film as "Carnal Knowledge" by Annette Michelson: https://www.artforum.com/features/annette-michelson-on-stanley-kubricks-2001-a-space-odyssey-210883/

NEXT EPISODE!

I shall be speaking about the music and sound of 2001: A Space Odyssey so no need to watch any films in the meantime. If you are extra eager about what comes after the mini-series, I will be taking a detour (kind of) to discuss the 1968 origin of the modern zombie: The Night of the Living Dead.