The Vanishing Point In Space Odyssey

There are a lot more scenes showing a vanishing point. Another example is the spaceship’s entrance. Although it is a bit difficult so see, the light from the wall makes the edges of the tunnel slightly visible (Figure 36). These edges create a vanishing point in the center of the frame. The object of interest – the glowing wall – is focused. This central perspective is also used when Louise and Ian are in the decontamination chamber (Figure 40). The guiding lines are generated by the ceiling (that looks very much like the ceiling in Space Odyssey (Figure 13)).
There are not only scenes in which central perspective is used; often the vanishing point is on the edge of or outside the frame. In one scene we see some soldiers phoning. The camera pans slowly from left to right as we see them. This is the direction where the vanishing point is located (Figure 41). The desks and the lamps guiding the viewer towards the right edge of the frame. Additionally, the camera pans to the same direction. This is done to guide to that scene’s important character, Captain Marks. He is phoning with his wife (or girlfriend) who is afraid of the aliens. He assures her nothing bad will happen but the audience can guess that he is also afraid.
Later Louise translates one of the logograms with the words

Since the humans cannot communicate verbally with the aliens they use visual aid. Louise tries to communicate via written words and so do the heptapods. Actually the signs they use are not words but called logograms. Ian explains that a logogram does not represent sound like human written language, it conveys meaning. Moreover, he explains that a logogram is free of time, and that their written language has no forward or backward direction. The logogram represents the film’s plot. Its basic shape is a circle; there is no start or end. In the end we find out that the film’s story line is rather a “story circle” for the film’s ending is its