![]() The concepts behind these designs were meant to be as realistic as possible. Cameras could get very close to models with no loss of detail or believability” (Making 88). Fine detailing was made up of special heat-forming, plastic-cladding, flexible metal foils of different textures and thicknesses, and of wire, tubing, and thousands of tiny parts carefully selected from hundreds of plastic, ranging from boxcars and battleships to aircraft and Gemini spacecraft. He said: “Basic construction of models was of wood, fiberglass, plexiglass, steel, brass, aluminum. ![]() In an interview, Special Effects Supervisor Douglas Trumbull talks about constructing the models. You’ll notice that they don’t appear to turn three-dimensionally. What we are seeing are actually still photographs of the models, which were “shot on a large horizontal camera” (Making 88). The satellite models were about two feet long. What follows is a German weaponized satellite and, according to the script, a French and a Chinese weaponized satellite. ![]() That said, it looks as though this was changed as this American military aircraft insignia appears on the side of the first satellite. Keep in mind that this was filmed around the height of the cold war and tensions were high between Russia and the United States, but more on this a little later. The first weaponized satellite that appears in the script actually belongs to Russia. But to others, the situation seemed comparable to an airline with a perfect safety record in showed admirable care and skill but no one expected it to last forever.” (Screenplay) There had been no deliberate or accidental use of nuclear weapons since World War II and some people felt secure in this knowledge. Matters were further complicated by the presence of twenty-seven nations in the nuclear club. They were capable of incinerating the entire Earth’s surface from an altitude of 100 miles. Hundreds of giant bombs had been placed in perpetual orbit above the Earth. “By the year 2001, overpopulation has replaced the problem of starvation but this was ominously offset by the absolute and utter perfection of the weapon. The narration for these images is as follows: The only reason we know this is that the script originally had a narration to accompany the opening of the Floyd Section. Clarke mentioned, there is no indication in the film itself that we are in fact, looking at weaponized satellite. It is introduced through, perhaps the most famous graphic match cut of all time, which poetically compares the humble beginnings of mankind’s weaponry to that of modern times. Our first image is that of an orbiting satellite carrying a nuclear warhead capable of striking presumably any point on the Earth’s surface. We get our first glimpses of Earth in the year 2001 in what we’ll call The Floyd Section of the film. I explored what was available on the Internet and found tons of great information from a wide variety of sources concerning the special effects, music, costumes, set, and several of the actors. ![]() Every bit of information in this video was available for free on the Internet and from the Bluray of the film. In Part 2, we dive into the production of the Floyd section of the film. Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about the making of Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.
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