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You've probably heard the phrase, "show, don't tell" when it comes to screenwriting.
Take for example this clip of Charlie Chaplin, without a single word being spoken, we know
exactly what's happening on screen.
It's in the framing, in the timing, and the visual action that are simple enough for anyone
to follow.
This is the foundation of visual storytelling, communicating ideas without the use of words.
Unsurprisingly, this was the preferred method of storytelling throughout the Silent Film
era, and you may recognize some of this techniques in many of the Hanna-Barbera or Looney Tunes
animated shorts.
The idea is pretty simple, film is a visual medium of storytelling, so you should make
use of that, instead of filming what Hitchcock called "photographs of people talking".
The problem with words is that they often fall short.
How are you feeling?
Can you put it into words?
Nope.
"There are certain areas of feeling and reality" Stanley Kubrick states "--or unreality or
innermost yearning, whatever you want to call it--which are notably inaccessible to words.
Music can get into these areas.
Painting can get into them.
Non-verbal forms of expression can.
But words are a terrible straitjacket."
2001: A Space Odyssey has received both praise and criticism for its unconventional lack
of dialogue, but Kubrick understood that the only way to breach certain emotions was with
the non-verbal elements that film allow for.
To show us, instead of tell us, what the story is all about.
Much like the Charlie Chaplin clip I showed you earlier, it's all in the framing, the
timing, and the visual action on screen.
Of course with the addition of sound design seldom heard in films from the silent era.
Take for instance, the Dawn of Man sequence at the start of the film.
After a fade-in, we open to a shot of a wide landscape at Dawn, obvious symbolic relevance
aside, what do you think Kubrick is trying to tell us with these shots?
Remember, he has control over everything we see and hear for the duration of the film,
so you should always be asking yourself "why" we're seeing what we're seeing, why we're
hearing what we're hearing.
So let's try it this way.
What do you hear?
Nothing much right?
Just some nature sounds of insects chirping, eventually hearing wind and birds.
Compare that to the all music/black screen intro before the MGM logo, and the iconic
and bombastic opening credits sequence with Thus Spoke Zarathustra drumming in our ears,
this sequence is notably quiet, something to keep in mind for later.
Okay, now let's switch, what do you see?
I'm not talking about lenses or color palette or anything like that, just purely what occupies
the frame.
For roughly one minute and forty seconds, across twelve distinct shots, we see very
little of anything living.
We see the expanse stretching off into the distance, scattered with rocks and outgrowths
of weeds, but nothing else, until the final two shots of the sequence clearly depicting
animal bones.
Kubrick wants us to be aware of the sort of environment that our early ancestors had to
overcome.
With limited food and water, in danger of natural predators and even others of their
kind, not to mention the environment itself.
The opening of the screenplay highlights as much describing a ten million year drought
with our ancestors facing near extinction in the African Drylands.
But in the pursuit of true cinema, Kubrick takes those words, and turns them into images
that convey the same message.
Alright, let's skip ahead a bit.
After an altercation with a rival tribe forces them to leave their source of water, they
retreat to saftey, and wait out the night all huddled together.
When they awake, we can immediately tell that something has changed by paying attention
to the sound.
Music.
It's no coincidence that the first music cue during the Dawn of Man sequence plays right
alongside the introduction of the Monolith.
And if we look at the design of the Monolith itself, it's cleary not something made by
nature, with its perfectly straight lines and smooth surface.
Again, no words spoken, and we can understand that something significant is happening, what
exactly isn't clear to us just yet but will be soon.
A quick cut takes us back to more establishing shots of the landscape, and then we come to
Moonwatcher, as he makes a new discovery.
It's not the environment that's changed, but the man-apes who've now learned how to conquer
it.
This is the sort of cinematic language present throughout the entire film.
All of the depth of the story is told with subtlety, with each subsequent viewing revealing
more detail than the last, simply by asking ourselves the right questions throughout the
film you can find deeper meaning in almost every scene.
By asking why, we're seeing what we're seeing, and hearing what we're hearing.
For instance, think of how little dialogue is present in the film and yet there are two
separate dialogue driven scenes focusing on birthdays.
They may seem totally pointless at first, but the film devotes a lot of its time to
illustrating our biological limitations.
Age certainly being one of them, and what else does a birthday represent if not the
passage of time?
Or you may notice the film frequently focusing on breathing, eating, or sleeping, and even
at one point the simple act of using the bathroom, all normal every day activities that become
notably more complicated in space.
Attempting to show us, rather than tell us, the difficulties humans face when it comes
to space travel.
And how maybe some day, we can enter the next stage of evolution that will allow us to overcome
these obstacles.
Now, all of this could have easily been explained with narration or some other form of verbal
exposition.
But instead, Kubrick wants you focus on the images and the sounds to understand the story,
to ascribe our own meaning to everything we're seeing and hearing because before too long
we wind up in a place that words would never do justice, a scene that's not meant to be
explained in the traditional sense, but rather, experienced.
And even if Kubrick were to offer a concrete explanation, anything he could provide would
hold meaning to some and completely ruin the film for others.
Sometimes things are just better left to the imagination.
"How could we possibly appreciate the Mona Lisa" Kubrick asks us "if Leonardo had written
at the bottom of the canvas: 'The lady is smiling because she is hiding a secret from
her lover.'
This would shackle the viewer to reality, and I don't want this to happen to 2001."
It's one thing for someone like me to offer my own interpretations, but it's another thing
entirely when the artist tries to explain everything, because they're seen as the authority
on the subject and it can betray the potential for personal interpretation.
Of course, many of you may be aware that recently there was an old interview with Kubrick that
was dug up where he does exactly that, but I would suggest holding off on watching it
until you've given the film a fair shake if you haven't already.
One of the things that makes 2001: A Space Odyssey so special is that it forces you to
think, it's not just a quick escape from reality that ties everything up at the end with a
nice little bow on top, it presents many questions and tasks you with finding the answers for
yourself, and for that the film becomes a truly rewarding cinematic experience unlike
any other.
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