alan molstad
Sr Member
a final look back at the Monolith.
The tour continues....
2001 Monolith build
- Thread starter alan molstad
- Start date
a final look back at the Monolith.
The tour continues....
alan molstad
Sr Member
I will shot a video
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It does. I see this signage at trailheads and waterfowl areas all the time. Looks official.
alan molstad
Sr Member
corellian77
Well-Known Member
I just came across this thread today while browsing the forums and wanted to congratulate you on the build Alan. It may sound a little crazy, but I actually teared up a bit reading your post (#296). I don’t know if I can explain it, but it was really touching to see you do something after so many years for no other reason than it gave you joy. It’s clear 2001: A Space Odyssey really means a lot to you, and it’s moving to see you’ve kept that sense of awe and wonder the movie instilled in you all those years ago alive in your heart.
And don’t let it get you down if others don’t recognize the monolith. I myself tend to wear T-shirts with rather obscure sci-if film references, which I know goes over the heads of 95% of the people, but ultimately they make me happy, and when I do finally run into one of those 5% that gets the reference, it’s a great payoff… almost like a secret handshake with a total stranger.
And don’t let it get you down if others don’t recognize the monolith. I myself tend to wear T-shirts with rather obscure sci-if film references, which I know goes over the heads of 95% of the people, but ultimately they make me happy, and when I do finally run into one of those 5% that gets the reference, it’s a great payoff… almost like a secret handshake with a total stranger.
alan molstad
Sr Member
just a little update:
Tonight I had guests to our house , and I took them on the tour of the backyard without telling them about the new 2001 Monolith.
They were stunned!
The sign helped them a lot to understand what they were looking at.
One of tonight's guests was actually old enough to remember the movie!!!
And he was stumped as to how the Monolith was standing there with nothing under it to hold it up in the air?
He even walked a few feet around the little fence as he tried to guess how the Monolith appeared to be hovering in the air?
He said that he wanted to see what type of support shafts are in the back of it to hold it up in the air?
. He looked behind the Monolith where he expected to see something holding the Monolith in the air and was stunned to not see anything behind the monolith...
"What holds it up in the air like that Alan?"
I only said that it's held up in the air via "Movie magic" ..LOL
He wanted to know what the secret was?..But I just smiled and said, "I'm not free to discuss it"
(I have waited my whole life to say something like that)
It was a perfect moment.
the perfect fulfillment of the whole effort to build and set up the Monolith,,,to get to this type of moment where someone who remembers the 2001 movie Monolith turns a corner and is suddenly face to face with this part of their history,
and is then stumped as to how it can seem to be hovering in a manner that can not be true, and yet it seems to be true...?
It was very gratifying to give this fan of the movie this experience.
Tonight I had guests to our house , and I took them on the tour of the backyard without telling them about the new 2001 Monolith.
They were stunned!
The sign helped them a lot to understand what they were looking at.
One of tonight's guests was actually old enough to remember the movie!!!
And he was stumped as to how the Monolith was standing there with nothing under it to hold it up in the air?
He even walked a few feet around the little fence as he tried to guess how the Monolith appeared to be hovering in the air?
He said that he wanted to see what type of support shafts are in the back of it to hold it up in the air?
. He looked behind the Monolith where he expected to see something holding the Monolith in the air and was stunned to not see anything behind the monolith...
"What holds it up in the air like that Alan?"
I only said that it's held up in the air via "Movie magic" ..LOL
He wanted to know what the secret was?..But I just smiled and said, "I'm not free to discuss it"
(I have waited my whole life to say something like that)
It was a perfect moment.
the perfect fulfillment of the whole effort to build and set up the Monolith,,,to get to this type of moment where someone who remembers the 2001 movie Monolith turns a corner and is suddenly face to face with this part of their history,
and is then stumped as to how it can seem to be hovering in a manner that can not be true, and yet it seems to be true...?
It was very gratifying to give this fan of the movie this experience.
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drusselmeyer
Master Member
Congratulations. Very few people get a moment of satisfaction out of their work like that.
Goose bumps. That is so very cool.
Metalalien
Sr Member
I like how it floats!
alan molstad
Sr Member
Yet another update:
Had another guest and his wife stop by to take the tour of my backyard, and heard a few comments that I took to heart.
I was told that I need to have the sign positioned in such a way as to have the guest be able to read the sign as well as look at the Monolith without turning around..
I decided that such an idea is way better than what i currently have designed where the guest has to turn all the way around and face away from the monolith to read the sign.
So....
Today is a day to make a few changes to the design of the Monolith area.
I think rather than moving the sign I may just change the placement of the little fence...and then just flip the sign around to face the other way.
Photos will be posted as work allows.
Had another guest and his wife stop by to take the tour of my backyard, and heard a few comments that I took to heart.
I was told that I need to have the sign positioned in such a way as to have the guest be able to read the sign as well as look at the Monolith without turning around..
I decided that such an idea is way better than what i currently have designed where the guest has to turn all the way around and face away from the monolith to read the sign.
So....
Today is a day to make a few changes to the design of the Monolith area.
I think rather than moving the sign I may just change the placement of the little fence...and then just flip the sign around to face the other way.
Photos will be posted as work allows.
alan molstad
Sr Member
Finished!
What I did today is rip up the little fence where it was and move it closer to the sign.
I then turned the sign around so that a guest will be able to look at the sign and the Monolith at the same time without turning around.
This was said by a guest to give a more professional look.
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alan molstad
Sr Member
tomorrow I will cut some of the grass, and I have to paint a few spots to make it look better..
Notice the glare of the sun in the photo.
This is not an accident.
I wanted the guest to have to look into the sun when viewing the Monolith because the sun's light would hide the imper4fections of the plywood that the Monolith is made of.
it also makes the black paint appear that much more black.
The fence was needed to be put into place because every guest seemed to always walk up to the Monolith and feel it.
The finger prints were being left and it was looking 'funny" to the next guest who would only seem to notice all the finger prints.
So the little fence was a way I drop the hint to "Stay back"....without needing to put up a sign.
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alan molstad
Sr Member
Many of my photos that i take with my old cell phone camera will show the monolith bending due to the fish-eye setting I seem to always want to use.
That setting have a wider field of view, but it tends to bend the image .
The actual Monolith is straight up and down..and it sits in a ton of cement to hold it in place...
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alan molstad
Sr Member
I just love the floating effect that I pulled off .
So far this has stumped everyone that has seen it as to how the Monolith seems to float?
Some guests think they know what is going on and run past the fence to look at the back of the Monolith expecting there to be some sort of support posts, but when they look at the back they get a funny look on their face and start to wonder if the Monolith could actually floating????
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alan molstad
Sr Member
I will likely be changing the area around the Monolith for many years as I think of new ways to have things.
It's fun to play around with how things will appear to a new guest.
It's fun to play around with how things will appear to a new guest.
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alan molstad
Sr Member
Time for another "Shaky-cam" video.
I will record a better video with my wife's camera tomorrow.
(Sorry, my camera has never been right after I dropped it in my boat's live well while fishing)
Taking a good photo of my real life Monolith is tricky to get it looking like the one seen in the movie.
I have noticed that when the movie shows the monolith on the moon they have some very bright lights positioned to shoot into the camera and thus blind it with glare.
I also learned that my Monolith also looked better with the sun blasting into the eyes of my guests.
This is why when some of my guests asked to come over and view the Monolith i would suggest they come over in the evening where I knew the sun would be behind the Monolith thus the side the guests see will be in shadow.
The shadow hides the normal grain of the plywood the thing is made of.
Also in the movie when we see the monolith with the actors interacting with it, we tend to only see the Monolith from the side, with bright light aimed at the camera.
This might have helped hide the face of the monolith from the bright lights that may have made the flaws in the plywood it was made of being more noticed?
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joberg
Legendary Member
Great update and modifications. You're right when you say that Kubrick used the lighting to convey the mass and darkness the Monolith was offering to its viewers...like you do, right now, with the Sun's position in the sky. I'm sure that, along the months, that position will change and it'll be interesting to see how it's going to influence the viewing for your spectators.
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