2001 special effects
How do the special effects in 2001: A Space Odessy (1968) hold up?
How do the special effects in 2001: A Space Odessy (1968) compare to the special effects in today’s science fiction movies?
I think it’s pretty amazing that almost every effect was done in-camera. You have to realize that at the time, no one had ever seen effects like this. Most sci-fi movies had hubcaps on strings for spaceships, and rotoscoped “death rays.” 2001 was the first plausible science fiction movie. Arthur Clarke worked closely with Kubrick to ensure that there was no “magic.”
People complain that the movie is slow. Well, space docking is slow. Interplanetary travel, governed by the laws of physics, is slow. I look at the part where Bowman returns to Discovery in the escape pod, and think “Yeah that’s probably how it would work.” And it was all done with models, moving parts, mockups, etc. Kubrick was such a nut for details that the instructions on the space toilet, which are on camera for, what, five seconds — actually are fleshed out.
And I’ve still never seen anything quite like the centrifuge. The mechanics behind that set are still astounding.
Sadly filmmakers today are getting lazy. They shoot an actor in front of a greenscreen and let their cgi wizards do the rest. Kubrick didn’t have that option, he and Douglas Trumbul had to think each shot out.
2001 A Space Odyssey – Space Sequences Tribute Part 1of4