Visual Effects
9/13/10
Douglas Trumbull 2001: A Space Odyssey
Trumbull started out as an illustrator and airbrush artist for a small graphics arts and animation studio Graphic Films. One of his first projects was a film about space travel for the New York World’s Fair. The film impressed director Stanley Kubrick who then enlisted Graphic Films president to work on 2001: A Space Odyssey. Through the Graphic Films president Trumbull was able to come in contact with Kubrick who, being impressed by Trumbull’s previous work, hired Trumbull to do animations for 2001. During the project Trumbull worked on creating the illusion of computer graphics on a screen by animating various charts and graphs and developed the “slit-scan photography” process that allowed for the intensely psychedelic “star gate” scene in which the astronaut Poole is hurdled through the stars flying through a menagerie colored light and shape. 2001 earned critical acclaim and launched Trumbull's career as a visual effects supervisor.
