Universe (documentary) - Definition and Overview

Colin Low and Roman Kroitor made an inspiring black-and-white short documentary, less than 30 minutes in length, in 1960 for the National Film Board of Canada. The name of the film in English is Universe, for which version Stanley Jackson did the narration; in French it is called Notre Univers, and the narrator was Gilles Pelletier. But the film's true highlight is its orchestral score by Eldon Rathburn.

Its story is the nightly work of an astronomer of McGill University, at his rather large telescope in a suburb of Toronto. He prepares his equipment and then photographs by long exposure one star, using the technology of his era (to check that it works, he sets off a flare!). The show then presents special effects which show an exploding nebula.

For this work, Low then worked with Stanley Kubrick on 2001: A Space Odyssey, but as that was a color film the same special effects would not work. The awesomeness of this short probably influenced Kubrick to begin his project.