Sound in thrillers

The shining - 'Bat scene'

 

The film follows Jack Torrance, who becomes the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel up in the secluded mountains of Colorado. Jack, being a family man, takes his wife and son to the hotel to keep him company throughout the long and isolated nights. When a snow storm hits, the situation turns from bad to worse as jack is possesed by the evil spiririts of the house.
At first, general dialogue is exchanged between Jack and Wendy and a subtle, echoic, resonant sound is held in the background. Shortly after, a sort of trickling sound scratches its way into the soft ambience in which the two characters are in. That is until Jack asks the question: “What are you doing down here?”. At this point, a build up of the trickling squeaky sounds begins to form a climax – this would stand as the cacophonic underscore of this sequence. This creates an atmosphere of unease and uncertainty.​A zooming in close-up shot of Danny appears at the same time Jack further digs into their conversation; as he speaks, Danny foresees a room of blood  his voice becomes distorted and harrowing, painting a more disturbed picture of the character whose mind is influenced by dark premonitions. During the delivery of his line, the expression of fear and confusion was set on Danny’s face, which could also trigger the audience to think the same way as him.