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Info & Idea: Editing '2010: The Year We Make Contact'

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 (Edited)

I was watching 2010 the other day, and though of a few things for a fan edit project.

I love the film as is, and I don’t feel it really needs any alterations; however there are a few ideas to help it be a little closer in tone to 2001, yet still have it retain its own identity. Pretty much all of these ideas involve the audio rather than the picture, with one exception.

 

1: The 80s score sounds a bit dated. So changing to classical music (preferably lesser known works than 2001, and more Khachaturian to fit the Soviet scenes) for certain scenes might make a difference. Any suggestions welcome.

2: We have sound in space in this film which was not present in 2001, and could be removed for exterior shots.

3: I never liked the sound of Floyd’s narration; it sounds like it has a lot of reverb and was recorded in another room than the mic. Also I think there is a lot more narration than necessary. So I would edit the narration length down, and to filter it so it sounds like he is talking over the radio and have them played over exterior space-travel shots.

4: I never really liked the “Bowman visits wife & mother on earth” shots; and I’m considering cutting them altogether.

 

Any thoughts?

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I like your suggestion to use more Soviet composers to fit with the theme and Khachaturian is probably the right choice. But I don’t think you actually should turn away from using very famous classical works if the tracks are appropriate, it may actually be preferred if you can apply a piece famous enough that would be recognized and symbolically used for a reference.

“The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.” - DV

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 (Edited)

Like the idea of Soviet composers as well. There were several impressive looking space films that came out of that era, (Roger Corman would dub them or use the FX shots for one of his own productions) but I’m blanking on the scores.

I’d hate to lose the sound effects, as the scene where the Discovery’s engines fire up has a lot of impact.

I know the Bowman on Earth scenes are in the book, but in the film they rob Dave’s appearance on the Discovery to Floyd of some of it’s power. Having said that, I’d hate to lose the Clarke/Kubrick cameo in the hospital scene. Maybe edit it so it’s more mysterious? The mother sits up in bed, but lose the actual hair brushing scene?

I sometimes think the Mission Report is too static. Maybe have some moving mission recording footage from 2001 to replace each slide cropped and formatted as if it’s being viewed on a computer screen? (In other words, you don’t see anything that couldn’t have been recorded by a camera at the Monolith site or on board Discovery. The accompanying text could be translated (subtitled?) on the fly from English into Russian to suggest who’s reading it.

Would love to see this MGM logo at the beginning.

Maybe entrance/exit music and an intermission to further emulate 2001?

End credits could be 2001 style as well.

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Where were you in '77?

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 (Edited)

Call me crazy, but there are some tracks from John Barry’s score to The Black Hole I think could work in places.
https://youtu.be/lPrKguwVNVs
https://youtu.be/dr5sIW1Ejlc
https://youtu.be/tky9jYrsB60
https://youtu.be/JJ7p6gp0iXI
https://youtu.be/FvN5U46cu8Q
https://youtu.be/-qNImL96rno
https://youtu.be/VGGrXRtSNAU?t=178

Moonraker Score by John Barry
https://youtu.be/0IKahbz75xo
https://youtu.be/KIOOqCzvmcQ
https://youtu.be/XYw69v0GIaA

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Where were you in '77?

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The soundtrack to the first season of Space: 1999 also used a lot of classical music to great effect.

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Where were you in '77?

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These are all great suggestions, thanks! Will reply shortly with some rough clips for testing

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Ice said:

I was watching 2010 the other day, and though of a few things for a fan edit project.

I love the film as is, and I don’t feel it really needs any alterations; however there are a few ideas to help it be a little closer in tone to 2001, yet still have it retain its own identity. Pretty much all of these ideas involve the audio rather than the picture, with one exception.

1: The 80s score sounds a bit dated. So changing to classical music (preferably lesser known works than 2001, and more Khachaturian to fit the Soviet scenes) for certain scenes might make a difference. Any suggestions welcome.

2: We have sound in space in this film which was not present in 2001, and could be removed for exterior shots.

3: I never liked the sound of Floyd’s narration; it sounds like it has a lot of reverb and was recorded in another room than the mic. Also I think there is a lot more narration than necessary. So I would edit the narration length down, and to filter it so it sounds like he is talking over the radio and have them played over exterior space-travel shots.

4: I never really liked the “Bowman visits wife & mother on earth” shots; and I’m considering cutting them altogether.

Any thoughts?

Well, the Bowman visit to his former wife Betty and his Mother are in the novel so why cut them out. It’s an acknowledgement that there is still some of his old self inside the Star child. Could try and cut the Cold War stuff as this seriously dates the film. Could replace the USSR patches with Russian Federation flags?

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That would take an awful lot of digital work to replace the patches. I wish those pesky CRT monitors on Discovery could be made to look like the flatscreens of the original set myself.

Could the screens from 2001 be pasted over the 2010 shots?

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Where were you in '77?

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This is part of the problem comparing 2010 against 2001, it just looks so cheap, look at that chunky HAL it went from menacing to a fisher-price playset.

“The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.” - DV

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IIRC, chunky Hal may have resulted from modelling it on the only known surviving 2001 faceplate, which is above the door to the brain room, barely glimpsed in the movie, and not quite like the others.

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Where were you in '77?

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Possibly more convexly shaped for the angle, but it looks even better in that candid photo than the 2010 shot! The lighting and color are doing a lot too, I would say just to replace the whole console with 2001’s like you say but I wonder how far that can be taken and if there aren’t trickier shots of Hal from other angles that would throw a total wrench in continuity.

Had a composer suggestion! Sergei Prokofiev has a nice Soviet connection, though I understand some works being in the ‘too famous’ category here.

“The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.” - DV

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I don’t need anyone calling me chunky, even if it was ten years ago.

Just wanted to say, I’d watch this! I would prefer not to change much as far as removing scenes, but I like the other ideas you present in the OP. I second the idea of using classical music that has some symbolic meaning, if esoteric.

I kinda want to watch this movie now; it’s been a while.

My stance on revising fan edits.