STANLEY KUBRICK AND N.A.S.A IS A FACT

KUBRICK AND NASA IS A FACT

What film techniques did Kubrick pioneer?

Front Projection
for 2001 - first large-scale use in motion pictures
Two major techniques of combining live action elements filmed in a studio with a pre-filmed background were available to filmmakers in the mid 1960's: rear projection and travelling mattes. Both had limitations; rear projection did not give a sharp enough image to be usable in large scale situations, and travelling mattes had to be optically processed, resulting in a noticeable drop in film quality, as well as on occasions, a fuzzy blue line around the actors. In front projection, a projector is placed at an angle of 90 degrees to the side of the camera and its beam aimed at a two-way mirror, angled at 45 degrees directly in front of the camera lens. The projected image bounces off the mirror and onto a highly reflective screen. When an actor stands between this front projection rig and the screen, their body exactly masks the area cast by its shadow, resulting in an almost seamless composite when viewed through the camera lens.

In 2001 front projection was used for most of the shots in the Dawn of Man sequence, and to superimpose live action footage into shots of miniature space ships and moon bases.

For more information on front projection, see the American Cinematographer article at Stanley Kubrick - 1928 - 1999'

Motion Control
A primitive motion control rig was constructed for 2001
Proper motion control is where a computer and robotic mounts control the movement of a camera so that the same movement can be exactly replicated again and again for special effects shooting. No computers powerful enough to do this were available to the FX team for 2001. Although the models were mounted on precision engineered motorised tracks that replicated their movement precisely for the repeated takes needed to combine all the elements for the special effects composites.

On-screen Merchandising
Today with product placement dictating the mise en scene of every Hollywood Blockbuster, Kubrick can be seen as holding the rather dubious distinction of being the first to promote a company in this way. 2001 (1968) featured the logos of Pam-Am, Hilton Hotels, Bell Telephones and IBM, (although many of IBM's were later removed, when they found out that HAL did not exactly promote the image of computers the company had in mind!) In 1968 many critics harshly rebuked Kubrick for what they saw only as crass commercialism, but the idea has been subsequently much copied for artistic rather than commercial reasons in science fiction, as a way of making future worlds more familiar and therefore more credible - examples include: Ridley Scott's Blade Runner(1982) and William Gibson's landmark 'Cyberpunk' novel Neuromancer(1984).

Filming By Candlelight
Prior to Barry Lyndon (1975), the problem of shooting by candlelight had never been solved. Even if the director and cameraman had the desire to light with practical light , camera lenses needed to be at least 100% faster than any available at the time. Fortunately, Kubrick found a lens that could film in very poor light levels, one of a group of ten which Zeiss had specially manufactured for NASA satellite photography. The lens had a speed of fO.7, which was 100% faster than the fastest movie lens. A lot of special modification had to be done to the camera to make it usable. But with the Zeiss f0.7 lens it was possible to shoot in light conditions so dim that it was difficult to read.

When I asked a film director why more people in his profession hadn't tried to replicate the technique, he replied somewhat acerbically that Kubrick owned the copyright on the camera and protected it rigorously. Perhaps this is why Barry Lyndon is the only historical film to have made use of the technique, despite the resurgence in popularity of historical dramas in the 1980s and 1990s.

For Further information on the lenses, see The American Cinematographer article at Stanley Kubrick - 1928 - 1999'
HERE
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