Oliver Yendell

2001: A Space Odyssey is a dramatic film about an ancient monolith that has appeared on the surface of the moon, and a team try to work out what it is and where it came from. Later the same monolith appears on one of the planets in the outer solar system, and a group of people are sent out to find out what it is. All goes to plan till the AI robot called HAL 9000 aboard the ship goes rogue and causes havoc.

Directed by Stanley Kubrick, 2001: A Space Odyssey is considered to be one of the greatest SCI-FI films of all time. This is mainly down to the incredible storyline and how it is portrayed. But also the visual effects and the production design. Released in 1968, there were no such things as computers. So all visual effects were done with compositing on film, which is a very long process in some cases.

One of the more unusual characteristics of this film is its lack of music, apart from a particular docking scene that had ‘The Blue Danube’ by Johann Strauss playing during the dramatic scene of a spaceship docking unfolding. Because of its lack of music, the simple sound of silence increases tension, as if you are waiting to see what happens next. This is a key reason why it is such an iconic film, as it strays away from the conventual format.