Kyle Thomas Space Odyssey

Kyle Thomas
Tess Evans
English 103
8 December 2009

The Odyssey Of Man

2001: A Space Odyssey is said to be one of the greatest movies of its time. The film shows evolution through time, and the technological advancements man made starting with a single tool. The film doesn’t use much dialogue, which gave me a feeling of what space would be like. I think the lack of dialogue makes you think deeper into the message of the film. Watching it now, the graphics and special effects don’t look like anything special, but for the films time they were far advanced.
When I first started watching this film I didn’t think I would make it through the entire thing. Science fiction films have never been my favorite things to watch. With the lack of dialogue and the slow suspense building music it was hard to keep my eyes open. The film had a deeper meaning that I just couldn’t seem to grasp. I had to watch some parts a couple times to really understand it. I think it would have helped a lot if I didn’t have to watch the movie on youtube.
The movie opens with primitive apes struggling for survival. They are eating grass, and getting water wherever they can find it. The apes were at the bottom of the food chain. While drinking from a water hole a leopard jumps out attacking one of the defenseless apes. In the next scene a large black monolith appears to the apes. There was no sound when it appeared except for the apes panicking. When it first appeared I didn’t know what to think. The silence to me represented the unknown of what this large black rectangle was. After this large stone came to them, the leader of the apes went to a skeleton and picked up one of the bones. He began smashing the rest of the skeleton with the one bone. At this time tools were discovered. The apes were no longer vegetarians eating grass, they discovered weapons not only to protect themselves, but also to hunt and kill. The scene ended with the ape throwing the bone into the air. The bone made a slow transformation into a satellite in space, representing the evolution of man.
The film then jumps millions of years to a space ship. The ship was very “futuristic.” The furniture, the video phones they used to contact home, the lack of gravity and the astronaut’s fancy apparel gave the viewers a feel for what the future held. The transition from the first scene to the second showed the advancements we have made through time, and how far our technological advancements have brought us. The camera kept moving around the ship showing all the bells and whistles it had. There wasn’t much dialogue in the second scene. I think the lack of dialogue made the viewer think and ask questions, which is what the director wanted.
After the transition to space, the film jumps to a different space mission to Jupiter. The ship was again; very futuristic but had one big difference. On this ship was a computer named Hal that was made to help the astronauts, and was programmed to have genuine true emotions. As the mission continues Hal starts to have “computer complications.” He starts questions the humans, and beings to lose his trust in them. Hal then goes completely insane. Feeling so betrayed he kills one of the astronauts, and then goes on to kill the scientists who are in hibernation. The one astronaut that is left manages to shut down Hal, and escape in one of the pods to continue the mission to Jupiter.
This scene was very well done and did a very good job portraying its message. To me, the director was showing us what could very well happen with the advancements in technology. The scientists developed a computer that can think its own thoughts and feel human emotions. The message portrayed is that the technological advancement that are made, will eventually be better and stronger than the human race. We will collapse under our own inventions.
When the astronaut finally gets to Jupiter he is alone in a house. He has nothing. Without technology he ages years at a time until he is in his deathbed. The black monolith from the beginning of the film appears at the foot of his bed. He then passes away and you see his soul rise.
The final scene shows how technology can help us tremendously, but if we become completely dependant on it we are bound to fail. I think that the black monolith represents time. Not time itself, but how far we have come in time. Every time the monolith appeared something was discovered, and time shifted to the future.
2001: A Space Odyssey is a film that requires in depth thinking. It’s not your typical action movie with no real meaning. This film represents the evolution of man through time and how far we have come with the advancements in technology. The discovery of tools marked the beginning of man. This film was very well made, and did a good job making the viewer think. The lack of dialogue left you with your own thoughts, leaving the interpretation of the film completely up to you.

Kyle Thomas our add

As of now in our project, we are moving smoothly. We are making a commercial about credit card use in college students. We have our script ready to go and be filmed. We plan on meeting up next week on Tuesday to get all our scenes filmed. Our group is working very well. We are getting all of our tasks done well, and on time. The only problem we have ran into is finding our camera. We have already talked to Chads roommate and have a camera ready for us next week. Everything seems to be looking good so far.

media and design

The beginning of the first section in the Norton Field Guide section, was mostly information I had already heard through high school.
It then went into media and design. One that I picked up on was the print text. Print text is used in every type of writing. You can make so many variations to print text such as the typefaces, layouts, paragraphs, lists, headings, etc... Making your writing appealing is very important. If you don't get the readers attention, they wont be interested in what you have to say.
The spoken text talks mostly about clarity. If you don't organize your thoughts, and give your words structure, you will lose the attention of your audience. I can really relate to the spoken text section because it gave me some use full advice for my project coming up. I have to act in a commercial, and it really made me think about the clarity of the message we will be portraying.

Guidence is the key

What is the first thing your audience will see? Yes, it is your title. I never put much thought into my title but now realize its a vital part to my paper. I feel pretty dumb for lacking creative titles, because when I look for something to read I always judge by the title. The "key" to writing is your beginning and ending. Every introduction you write needs to focus on grabbing the attention of your reader. While your writing, think about who will be reading your paper, and try to make a connection with their interests. Once you have got their attention with your thesus you need to make good, flowing transitions from topic to topic. Its very easy to lose a reader with pointless detail, or by jumping around to much. Your paper must flow. You may understand it, but can your audience?

Understand, dont reread

The chapter 36 reading was telling us how to grasp the main points of what were reading, and to ask questions about what we don't understand. When reading, pace yourself to make sure you aren't just reading, your understanding the text. Ive had an ever-lasting problem with reading, and then forgetting about what I have just read. Asking questions while you read, highlighting main points, making side notes, and SLOWING DOWN will keep me from rereading another chapter. Reading slower may feel like it will never end, but I will never have to go back and read a chapter again.

Editing and Proofreading

We don't edit for perfection, we edit for clarity. The reading tells you to ask yourself a lot of questions about your writing. "Does each paragraph focus on a point?" "Does every sentence relate to your main idea?" Where have you placed your most important information - at the beginning, middle, or end?" When editing you have to look at your writing as a whole, and then pick out what disrupts the main idea of your paper. If you have a paragraph that doesn't relate to your topic it needs to be thrown out or revised. Irrelevant material throws the audience off of what your trying to say. Your writing needs to have good transitions of thought, making your paper flow so the reader stays with your main idea.
The reading breaks editing down into three categories; editing paragraphs, editing sentences, and editing words. When editing, you will have to go over a paper more than once. This gives you an easy way to break it down. First edit the paragraphs, then the sentences, and then check for common spelling errors. Using the three steps when editing will help you break the paper down so you don't miss anything.
"Proofreading your final draft with care will ensure that your message is taken seriously." Proofreading is the final stage of the editing process. When proofreading your looking for little mistakes. Things like mixed-up fonts or missing pages will hurt your credibility as a writer. Don't trust spell check, it doesn't read your paper.

Assessing Writing

The reading was over assessing your own writing you do for yourself, and how I should NOT do it. The book says to "shut off your internal evaluator", and just write. Don't worry about the structure of your writing, just let your thoughts flow. When you stop to fix the structure, or to revise, you lose your best thoughts!
The next section talked about writing for others. It says how we need to make our writing as clear as we possibly can, because we won't be there to tell them why we wrote what we wrote. Stay focused on the subject, and make sure we have support for what we say, and lastly make sure its organized.
Practice makes perfect. No one will be an expert revisor their first time around. Make sure that every paragraph supports your thesis statement. We revise to sharpen our focus, strengthen our argument, and to organize our paper for ultimate clarity.

Drafting

I wish I would have read this section at the beginning of high school. It would have solved all my problems. After reading I understand many different ways to help me get started, instead of sitting down and staring at a blank Microsoft Word document for twenty minutes. Setting a schedule is something I am never good at. Procrastinating until the last minute stresses me out, usually causing my writers block.
These sections help with understanding that writing is in fact, a process. Its almost impossible to write your best on the first try. When writing you will run into problems, and the reading tells you how to deal with these issues.
The second section shows the importance of detail in writing. You have to make the reader feel the senses you are describing. Help him taste the delicious pizza your telling of. The use of adjectives is important to detailed writing.
Narrating. This section is what I should have read before sitting for an hour or two writing my narrative essay. The use of time markers help the reader understand the time line of your story, showing them the sequence of events. The use of transitions help the reader follow the change of time or events in the story. The use of words like first, then, meanwhile, at last, etc.. Its important to make your transitions flow so you don't lose your readers.
Using dialogue brings voices into writing other than my own. Its the difference between telling a story of a scene, or re-enacting the scene so the reader follows the play by play. Would you rather read about an interview, or read the interview as if you were sitting in the room?