Sixteen years ago,
2001:
A Space Odyssey was launched into the cinematic firmament - a glimmering
enigma which, among other things, promptly established a new aesthetic,
as well as a whole new set of ground rules for motion picture special effects.
Nearly a decade would pass before
Star Wars and
Close Encounters
of the Third Kind, using computerized motion control photography and
advanced compositing techniques, would begin to close the technological
gap established by
2001. When Arthur C. Clarke published his much
anticipated sequel
2010: Odyssey Two in 1982, it was reasonable
to assume that it would soon find its way onto the screen, with the full
force of contemporary state-of-the-art movie magic brought to bear on its
complex effects requirements. Rising to the challenge were producer-writer-director
Peter
Hyams, futurist designer
Syd
Mead and visual effects supervisor
Richard
Edlund. From actualizing a Russian interplanetary spaceship to devising
an authentic-looking representation of Jupiter's turbulent surface, the
2010 effects unit fulfilled the demands of the production and in
the process established a fresh new look in simulated space photography.
Article by
Don Shay
