In the opening of the scene we are shown a close up of Frank in the spacecraft, which is done to show detail and emotion in his face. With this shot we can see the panic in his face, which is done to make the audience feel a sense of danger that Frank is in. This close up shot is also a high angle shot, suggesting that the camera angle is coming from the spacecraft, and most likely from Howell, the villain. By doing this, it makes the audience engaged, therefore an active viewer who is feeling emotion from the film. This camera angle is shown at the beginning of the scene in order to create a strong atmosphere and engage the audience.
The lighting in this shot is also a key factor in connotating messages and creating a strong and engaging atmosphere. Most of the lighting in this shot is coming from the console units of the spacecraft. The typical colours in this shot are red, however, they contrast against the deep and black space outside, with the dull spacecrafts flying about. This therefore creates a sense of safety, as the outside gives the audience a sense of danger. Usually, the audience would connotate the mainly red and blinking lights with danger, however, with this context we get the opposite effect. The lights are also a playing factor into showing the emotion of Frank.
During this scene, great sound techniques are used to create an in-depth atmosphere to engage the audience. At first, we only hear the deep and heavy breaths from Frank to express panic with the audience. Throughout the scene there is complete science when we are shown shots of space. Having the silence makes the audience feel unsettled and on edge, as we know that the production of this film is high quality, so having noise at all engages the audience into the scene and makes them feel like they are the ones falling through space. The silence may also represent how Frank has no hope in surviving, as there is nothing out there to save him form what is happening.
I think that the main message conveyed in this scene is that technology I the future will go too far and become too smart for humanity to deal with. This movie is set in 2001, which is about 30+ years after the film was released. At the time, they had no idea how technology would advance (this is the same with the “back to the future” movies). At the time of the production of this film. Society was fascinated buy how technology would advance in the future. This would be because of the year this was released in, 1968, which is just one year before America managed to put men on the moon. This would also mean that the film, and specifically this scene, are a metaphor for the space race during the cold war. The red lights in the scene and the red light that Howell has may represent the Soviet Union, which America was against. But this film suggests that Americans made it to space first, and a long time ago, before they have actually reached the moon. Another reason why we know that this film could have been made as propaganda in the cold war is because there are no women in this scene, or throughout much of the movie. Even the AI Howell is named after a male, but typically technology, like ships and computers, are called females still to this day. Feminism had not advanced very far, as well as other things like gay marriage, and a white person marrying somebody who was black was massively frowned upon, especially by president Nickson. HHoeel
Film Studies 