Kubrick Is Always Leading Us Into the Distance With the Forbidden Fruit of Filmmaking

Turn off that unstoppable strain of now fully-schlocked music (try this instead) and see the linchpin that binds many of Stanley Kubrick’s iconic shots in this fan-made trailer for a movie I call Eyes Wide Fixed On the Single Point in the Distance.

What effect does this one-point perspective symmetry have on those eyes? It’s a machine for uncanniness. Symmetry is beautiful but unusual (remember, our universe owes its very existence to asymmetry). In 2003, filmmaker Louis Thonsgaard called symmetry the “forbidden fruit” of film, a technique that sounds simple but that is “far more complex and difficult to apply in practice than one might think.”

The visual power of symmetry is so great that filmmakers often avoid or are advised against using symmetrical picture compositions. And this is not so odd, for if symmetry is used randomly and thoughtlessly, one runs the risk of creating visual disturbances in the narrative of the film. On the other hand, the filmmakers who master the art of symmetry wield a powerful visual aid capable of communicating complex meanings that cannot otherwise be conveyed visually.

Basically, Kubrick. Combine that unstoppable symmetric force with the right soundtrack, say, from a gonzo K-pop hit, and your eyes may belong to the center of the screen forever.