This is first instalment of my "Kubrick Cut By Cut" series for Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey. In this post I will cover the first act with its twenty minutes – the "prehistoric" scenes – plus the short one minute Entr'acte that serves as a bridge to the second act.
Going cut by cut (and making notes as to the time of the cut) allowed me to discover some important hints which helped me to better understand the film, and Kubrick's mode of work.
The first thing I want to highlight is how methodical Kubrick is: A casual viewing of the first act might give the impression that we are simply seeing one long unstructured narrative being played out on the screen. However, after the notes I took so far, I can say that Kubrick has clearly structured the first act:
- 1. Act: THE DAWN OF MAN (Twenty minutes in four settings)
- 1. Setting: The Formation of the Solar System (Five minutes)
- 2. Setting: Huminids: Animals among Animals (Five minutes)
- 3. Setting: The first Monolith (Five minutes)
- 4. Setting: Tools and the first Murder (Five minutes)
- Entr'acte: (SPACE) BOMBS (One Minute)
The second thing I want to highlight is that Kubrick does place his cuts with care. Four individual cuts stand out in the first act, which each cut marking the end of a setting, and the beginning of the next setting or the entra'acte – I will refer to these cuts as "delimiters":
- 1. Delimiter: 0:05:02 (cut ASO009)
- 2. Delimiter: 0:10:00 ("audio-cut" ASO049)
- 3. Delimiter: 0:15:01 (cut ASO073)
- 4. Delimiter: 0:19:53 (cut ASO117)
What is the meaning of the cut-times? With regards to the last cut-time (ASO117), I have good reason to believe that Kubrick is making a reference to the year 1953.
With regard to the first delimiter and the third, I think Kubrick is highlighting the number "2" and the number "1", which together make the number "3". Later on in the film we will see other examples were Kubrick shows a set of 3, made up of 2 similar and 1 slightly different element – e.g. 3 buttons on a pen, 2 of which are white, and 1 is red (ASO125-01). By the way, this ties in nicely to the title of the film.
The time of other cuts so far may be important as well, however I again lack time to do this now, and would rather first transcribe all cuts in the film.
And the last thing I want to highlight for now is that there is a scene 114 in this film – ASO114 here – which holds special, pivotal meaning, and quite likely that there is a scene 114 in other films by Kubrick as well.
Some notes: I make mistakes – maybe even here. With regards to the number of cuts in this sequence, I found two mistakes before publishing – there may be still mistakes lurking here.
So, let the games begin. (And in my next life I'll rather choose to do Hitchcock's Rope…)
1. Act: THE DAWN OF MAN (Twenty minutes)
1. Setting: The Beginning of the Solar System (Five minutes)
ASO001 (0:00:00) Black screen, music
Extraordinary:
ASO001-01:
And in the beginning there was darkness – we are witnessing the formation of the Solar System.ASO001-02
Music begins at 0:00:04 and ends at 0:02:52. (Possibly two more cuts to be counted.)ASO002 (0:02:58/N) MGM logo
ASO002-01
The ignorant Renata Adler asserted quite rightly (in what was possibly her only bright remark on the film): EVEN the M-G-M lion is stylized and abstracted in Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey.As we are witnessing the creation of the Solar System, the MGM logo symbolizes either the Sun, or possibly the disc of the entire Solar System. In the beginning there was darkness, now there is light. The beginning of the film symbolizes literally the beginning of time. Stanley Kubrick is giving us an highly artistic allegory about the beginning of the Universe and of the Solar System, and Renata Adler is shouting from the peanut gallery: "BORING!"
ASO003 (0:03:07/FO/~2sec) Fade back to black
Extraordinary:
ASO003-01
Crossfade starts at 0:03:06. 36, 63?ASO004 (0:03:15) Thus spoke Zarathustra – Moon, Earth, Sun aligned – Title
ASO004-01
Black screen from 0:03:15 to 0:03:17 – Moon fades in at about 0:03:17. (Possibly one more cut to count.)ASO005 (0:04:28/FO/~2sec) Fade to black
ASO006 (0:04:38) Still black screen, sounds from Africa
ASO007 (0:04:42.5/FI/~1sec) Fade to pre-dawn sky – title card THE DAWN OF MAN
ASO008 (0:04:57)
2. Setting: Huminids: Animals among Animals (Five Minutes)
ASO009 (0:05:02) Sun-rise
Extraordinary:
ASO009-01
The cut at the 5 minute mark is an delimiter between the 1. setting and the 2. setting of the 1. act. We will realize that more clearly at the next delimiter, the 10 minutes cut in ASO049-01, and then at the 15 minutes cut (ASO073-01) and the 20 minutes cut (ASO117-01).In ASO008 the Sun hasn't risen yet – and there was only the Sun, the Moon and the Earth. After the cut, we see in ASO009 the Sun climb over the horizon and start illuminating the steppe/savannah and with its wildlife including the early (pre-Monolith) huminids.
