2001: A Space Odyssey Evaluation

From the very beginning of the movie, it becomes evident to the viewer that Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey is a movie unlike any other. The movie is set into multiple acts , almost like a play. The first part of the movie focuses on the prehistoric apes, who are surprised by the presence of a black monolith. The apes learn to use bones as tools and weapons and become a smarter species. The movie goes into the next part, which switches way to the future, with a man, named Dr. Heywood Floyd, who is traveling to the space station. After docking, they head to the moon where, once again, the monolith presents itself in the movie, only this time the humans witness it. From there, the movie flashes forward to a ship on route to Jupiter. The ship is run by a computer system named HAL 9000. The astronauts aboard this ship are afraid that HAL has failed and that he is after the astronauts. After the deaths of most of the crew, HAL is shut down and Dave, the remaining astronaut, travels into a new dimension. This helps open up the last part of the movie where Dave grows old and dies in a bedroom, where once again, the monolith appears. The movie finally ends with the image of what seems to be a fetus.

For its time, 2001 incorporates many futuristic and innovative technologies that give a sense of realism, making it a one-of-a-kind movie. The music and lack of dialogue that Kubrick put into his movie also separates his it from the others in the genre. With all of these different techniques brought into one movie, it causes the viewer to go on a psychological journey through the movie to try and interpret what happens throughout the film.

While watching the movie, the viewer is easily able to notice the strict and defined detail in the technology and ships throughout the film. Each scene is filled with vastly complex and high tech gadgets that improved the overall sense of the film. Everything from a video phone, HAL, the pods, and even the way the astronauts slept, helped define the movie and set the tone throughout the film.

Kubrick also took a huge gamble by filling the movie with slow moving classical music and very little dialogue. For most, the movie came off as boring because the ideas and plot was not thrown out to the viewer. He required the viewer to step into the movie and envelop your mind into the movie and make predictions as to what the movie was really saying. The music set an ambient tone and helped the viewer keep perspective into the movie. The music Kubrick chose was enough to keep sound in the film, but it wasn't overwhelming to the point where it gave away the movie. Once again, it caused the viewer to think about what was going on rather than just have it spoon fed to them. Roger Ebert states that, "When classical music is associated with popular entertainment, the result is usually to trivialize it. Kubrick's film is almost unique in enhancing the music by its association with his images."

The main factor that sets Kubrick's film apart from so many other sci-fi films is the fact that it brings in a psychological element that other movies cannot mimic. The movie forces the viewer to think about what is going on since it is not shown or verbalized, like most films. The movie, in a sense, plays with the mind of the viewer and makes them think in depth about what they are watching. Even after much questioning, Kubrick only replied with this statement, ”You're free to speculate as you wish about the philosophical and allegorical meaning of the film, but I don't want to spell out a verbal road map for 2001 that every viewer will feel obligated to pursue or else fear he's missed the point." With that, the audience is able to gather that Kubrick intentionally set the movie up to be one where every viewer can and will see the movie in a different light. The fact that he leaves it up to the viewer to ponder the plot makes it a movie unlike any other.

The Progress of the Video

With the deadline fast approaching, our video is starting to come together. We spent a lot of time on it last week and met up to work on it. We have the music cut, edited, and put in with the pictures. One of the problems we are having is trying to get everything to fit into the one minute time slot. If we had one minute and thirty seconds we would have more than enough time but the time restraint is causing some minor problems. Other than that, everything is going well and we are in the final stages of the video.

The Makings of a Video

For our group project, going with a video seems ideal. It allows us to get our point across in a dramatic, interesting way. However, having the constraints of sixty seconds to provide a message leads towards a daunting task.

Our group decided to make a video about "Going Green" and the ways college kids can help save the environment and maybe even a little extra money for themselves. We are going to try to make a solid message that leaves the viewer thinking they can make a difference even as one person on this Earth. However, we want it to be viewed in a funny and laid back tone.

The challenges are combining a message, keeping it interesting, and making it funny in a sixty second time frame. In order to do so, we will use good teamwork skills and form many lists and outlines of what is expected and what we want done so the task can be completed quickly and efficiently. If we can all work together, the project will be easy to complete.

Appeal is Everything

A movie producer spends countless months using visual designs to appeal to the viewer for his or her movie. Everything from colors, costumes, design, and even the movie box has to be appealing in order to produce higher sales. Believe it or not, when you write a paper, you add visual effects to appeal to your reader.

The Norton Field Guide to Writing states that when you submit your paper, you add different fonts, sizes, and even colors to add appeal to your paper. For instance, when you walk through a grocery store you are more drawn to the magazine with the big fonts and striking colors than a plain black and white magazine cover. Not only do colors and fonts change the look, but bold headings, phrases, and even the position of the words help to entice the reader.

When I write my papers that don't have any predetermined stipulations, I try to pick a nice font to go with the topic of my paper. I also bold and even color the heading to entice the reader. Not only is having a good quality paper important, but it also needs to look good. You can even add graphs, pictures, or charts to draw the eye towards your paper.

Appeal can make or break the paper. If the paper, article, or even add doesn't have visual appeal, the audience will overlook your paper. That is why it is important to make sure that your paper isn't plain and boring.

It's all about the Beginning and the End

How do you grab the attention of a reader? Unlike buildings and products, you cannot put flashy pictures and colored lights on your paper to make someone interested. Instead, you bring a reader into your paper by making the beginning as interesting and engaging as possible. There are multiple ways that a writer can bring the reader into the paper such as offering background information, defining key terms, or even connecting the subject to the readers' interests or values. Whatever method you use, it must be engaging enough to make the reader want to read more and continue with your paper.

On a similar note, the end is the same way. It must be interesting and wrap up the story. As stated by the name, the end of your paper is the last thing that your reader will read, so you want to make it interesting and leave a lasting impression.

A good way to make sure the reader is satisfied with what they are reading is to guide them through what they are reading. This can be done by stating topics as questions, narrowing down to your thesis, and even using transitions.

With all the different articles and papers out there, you, as a writer, must make your paper stand out from the others. It needs to be the one with the neon flashing lights that says, "Read Me." If you can successfully pull a reader into your paper, your job is done.

What Caused that Effect?

The Norton Field Guide to Writing states, "Analyzing causes helps us think about why something happened, whereas thinking about effects helps us consider what might happen." This statement couldn't be more true and helps introduce the reader to the many possible ways to write a cause and effect paper. There are some simple steps that, first, involve stating a cause and an effect. Once your cause has been stated, you can begin your paper and argue to show how your cause actually caused your effect. In doing so, there are a few ways to organize your cause and effect. First you can identify the cause, then the effect. You can also switch it around and start with your effect and trace it to what caused it. Lastly, you can start with a cause and continue with a chain of effects.

While writing your cause and effect paper, you will most likely be adding in some comparing and contrasting, which the book also explains. Two ways of comparing and contrasting are the block method, and the point-by-point method. In the block method, the writer simply states all the information about one item and then goes on to compare or contrast it in the next paragraph, which sets it up like a block. The point-by-point method goes on to state it one point at a time. While using these techniques, the writer can easily form a well-written cause and effect paper.

To Read, or not to Read

When you sit down and read an article, do you ever wonder about how you're reading it? Do you have a particular strategy to the way you read and understand information? Believe it or not, you read and interpret different types of texts in different ways. You wouldn't analyze a newspaper article the same way you would analyze a science text book. In order to have a better understanding of the way we interpret articles, the Norton Field Guide gives many clues and helpful tips on how to read different texts with a "critical eye."

When you first go to read any text, there are a few ways you can proceed to evaluate the text efficiently. As stated in the Norton Field Guide, it's best to start by previewing a text. Look at it, evaluate it, skim it, and think about your initial response to what the reading is about. By doing so, you can get a fresh look at the text and start the mental process involved in evaluating the text. Another strategy that can be used is annotating. This strategy requires the reader to highlight key words, phrases, and sentences and then connect tehm with how they work in the text. This particular strategy is good to use because everything that you feel is important is highlighted and noted for future purposes.

After you have initiated the first steps to analyzing the text, the next step is to think about what the writer says in the text. Explain his point to writing what he wrote. After you correctly analyze the situation, then you can move on to analyze the argument and figure out what the writer is arguing against. Find out what his motives for writing the text was. Who is the writer arguing against and what side does he present in the text?

Once all of these steps have been followed, you should have a deep understanding of the text. These particular strategies noted in the book realy help me to evaluate a text. Some of the strategies I, personally, have never heard about, and it's always nice to find new ways to help make life a little easier. The book helps to explain that the best way to analyze a particular text is by having a "critical eye" to watch for everything stated in the paper. With the information listed in the book, the reader will have a better understanding of what the text is really explaining.