Short soundtrack analysis on THE SHINING

Soundtrack analysis for The Shining

Kubrick was a director that paid a considerable amount of attention to his film’s music and sound. He had an ear for classical music and classical composers such as Beethoven and Stravinsky. Kubrick also adored the works of Ligeti and Penderecki for their ability to convey eerie and suspenseful arrangements with orchestral music. A perfect example of this would be in Kubrick’s interpretation of Stephan King’s novel “The Shining”. A she-male named Wendy Carlos wrote an electronic composition for the introduction. It is an exceptional piece that leads us through Jack’s path to the Overlook Hotel. It commutates an evil quality with an undertone of mystery. Both Carlos and Kubrick had a devoted love for orchestral music but also for modernist music because it was a piece made for synthesizer.

Within The Shining we witness a lot of synergized sound. The occasions where Jack is getting mad at Wendy are perfect examples of this synergized sound which in turn intensifies the scene creating a tension between the two characters. When Jack says “okay…let’s talk…what do you want to talk about?” and flips through the pages of his “novel” we hear trickling strings that generate an eerie atmosphere which pops for a split second when his hand falls on the pages. These moments of synergized sound are heard\seen throughout the movie and have been noted for their frequent synchronization. Kubrick was huge on this technique because he believed music to be one of the most important things in film. A direct quote from Brainyquote.com helps us understand Kubrick's ideology when he says “A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what's behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later.” The Thriller genre uses this technique a lot.

During the winter maze scene Kubrick used a temp track of Igor Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring”, a horrifying (yet beautiful) classical piece, to set the scenes mood and most likely to scare Danny.

There is much more to be said about Kubrick’s use of sound and music. Such movies such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clock-Work Orange, Paths Of Glory and Barry Lyndon further more exemplify his multifarious use of sound and music. SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!?!?