The invisible horror of the brilliant: how the music makes the film emblematic of Stanley Kubrick even more terrifying

by Finn Patraic

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As well as it may seem for readers of this site, there are lovers of films who claim not to take advantage of Stanley Kubrick's work. But even his most constant non-learners must give it to him to THE BrightHis Stephen King adaptation in 1980 widely considered one of the most scary – very scary – films. The visual reasons for its efficiency far beyond the main audience of Kubrick lovers are numerous, and they have been a lot examined by video trials from the 21st century. But as explained in Kaptain Kristian video abovean important part of the horror of THE Bright is invisible. In other words, we do not see it, but listen to it; Or rather, what we hear greatly intensifies what we see.

A technique powerfully used in the film has the incongruous name of “Mickey Mousing”. Named from the way in which classic caricatures were noted in narrow synchrony with the movements of their characters, he had fallen into disuse by the nineteen 1970s, when a more subtle cinematographic style has prevailed.

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For The brilliantKubrick and the musical editor Gordon Stainforth have chosen to relaunch it, assembling scenes to pieces of music like Béla Bartók “Music for strings, percussion and celesta“In order to enhance not only the moments of shock, but also to deepen the feeling of dread that permeates the film with its opening moments. The brilliantThe music of his characters and the actions of his characters is a surprise that most of the film was shot without what we hear on the soundtrack to play on the set; Some scenes were not even intended to have music before assembly.

Stainforth said That the overall idea was to use “music as a spell”: for example, the “big chords” that accompany the title cards announcing the day of the week, which preserve “an apocalyptic day of judgment to come closer”. When you look at The brilliantPay attention to the clues, and notice how much they are associated in your memory – and how much more frightening they are made by – their accompaniment images: Jack dancing through the ballroom filled with ghosts of the jazz age, Danny turning a corner and seeing the pale twins, the blood flowing from the elevator, Wendy locking the eyes with the man in the Costume bear. But then, I suspect that the last would be frightening, no matter what was on the soundtrack.

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Free documentary See from the Overlook: Make the brilliant Look at how Kubrick made “the most scary film in the world”

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Based in Seoul, Colin MArshall Written and broadcastTS on cities, language and culture. His projects include the substack newsletter Books on cities And the book The stateless city: a walk through Los Angeles from the 21st century. Follow it on the social network formerly known as Twitter in @ColinmArshall.

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