Experiments To Create A Believable Extraterrestrial Lifeform, For 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968).

Experiments to create a believable extraterrestrial lifeform, for 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968).

As makeup artist Stuart Freeborn told Cinefex:

Stanley came up to me one day, and he said: “I’ve got an idea. What if we do a kind of optical illusion?” He had seen a dotted pattern somewhere, in front of a dotted-pattern background - and the result was something that was virtually invisible, yet somewhat visible just because it was on a different plane than the background. It was an intriguing idea, and Stanley asked me to begin working on something along those lines. So we got a performer, and I made a white bald cap that fit him nice and tight; then I put black round spots evenly all over it. I did the same thing on a pair of tights that covered the rest of his body. We got the largest paper hole-puncher we could locate, and stamped out perfect rounds of black paper, which we glued all over his white form. We covered him completely - right over his feet, all down his legs, everywhere. Then we stood him against a white background with the same-size black dots all over it. The effect was stunning. Standing still, he would disappear into the backing; but when he moved, you could just make out a shape. It was an amazingly weird effect - quite extraordinary - but I don’t think it really fit in the movie. I could never see how Stanley was going to use it - and, of course, he never did.

(Images from Italian 2001 site, 2001italia.)