So for my Humanities class we had to do a presentation on an artist, architect, filmmaker, or musician. We drew names out of a hat and I almost jumped for joy when I drew Stanley Kubrick. The assignment was to post 5 links relevant to the person and their work and write a few sentences describing the relevance of each link.
I had so much fun with the project that I'm going to share it with you guys.
Bio
This Wikipedia article describes Kubrick’s life and family
information and his transition from photographer to filmmaker. A chronological
description of his films and how he made them follows. Description of his
trademark film techniques are also given along with some fun trivia. In the end
you realize this man was a true master of his craft.
Demonstration of
Kubrick’s use of one point perspective
This video demonstrates Kubrick’s use of the one point
perspective (shown above) in all of his films. One point is more often used in
paintings and photography, but Kubrick made it into an art in his movies. As
you watch, notice how effective such a perspective is in capturing the
importance of scene. Classical music plays throughout because Kubrick liked to
feature that type of music in his films.
Film psychology: THE
SHINING spatial awareness and set design.
This video describes how someone designing a video game
level based on the movie stumbled upon the fact that the layout of The Overlook
Hotel in Stanley Kubrick’s THE SHINING was flat out impossible. Further
research was done and more impossible doorways, corridors and windows are
discovered and shown. It is then revealed that Kubrick did this on purpose to
cultivate the horror vibe by messing with the viewer’s perception and spatial
awareness.
On the youtube screen you should also find plenty of links
to other videos showing hidden stuff in THE SHINING. There are so many crazy
conspiracy theories about the details in this film that a documentary was made
called “Room 237” I want to see it!
Extreme details in
2001, A SPACE ODYSSEY
This was a fascinating article which describes the insane
detail that Kubrick put into his film, 2001, A SPACE ODYSSEY. Not only do we
learn how many of the special effects were pulled off in a time BEFORE CGI was
invented, but we also learn about how deeply Kubrick and his team were involved
with research for the project. They visited NASA space stations MANY times.
Kubrick wanted the set equipment to actually be able to work on the Moon!
Visions of Stanley
Kubrick
This is part 2 of a video because the first half they mostly
talk about THE SHINING…which is cool, but I already shared a link about that
film. Anyway, directors and other film people discuss how Kubrick’s skills as a
photographer influenced and improved his movies. Different innovations in
camera technology and the unique ways Kubrick applied them are shown.
Kubrick’s thing with
bathrooms
I added this as a bonus link because it likely won’t count. Cracked.com does a bunch of lists of articles with interesting trivia. However, the section on Kubrick I believe is more a technique than mere trivia. I also don’t think he had a “fetish” with bathrooms. I think he set all of his pivotal scenes in bathrooms for more psychological impact because one is more vulnerable in the bathroom. Just my 3 cents. Anyway, all of the Cracked features on Stanley Kubrick are entertaining as well as educational. J
