A Space Odyssey (film) - Analysis
A Space Odyssey - Analysis
The film already has some interesting textures in regard to sound with relation to image at the beginning of the clip. The first sounds that come into play are quite and dark and morbid, whilst the image is panning over what can only be described as a strange planet. It sounds similar to stampeding animals in a strange reverberated way, but after approximately 30 seconds, we hear the gradual rising in pitch of string instruments accompanied by the dark texture. After the opening sequence of the clip, we find a man in a pod in the middle of a very spacious futuristic room. The camera pans from different positions in the clip, for example, a view from inside the pod to outside of it. The music that accompanies these panning shots changes in synchronization with the contextual location of the viewer. For example, when the protagonist is inside the pod, it would seem that the sounds are inside his mind, creating quite a disturbing image for the viewer, despite the mise-en-scene of the location being light and minimalist. Perhaps this juxtaposition adds to the mysterious atmosphere of the film at this time, demonstrating how both the screenplay and the audio track rely on each other equally to deliver and communicate the narrative of the film as a whole as efficiently as possible – or as the close to the vision of the director as possible.
As the piece continues, we start to hear faded voices panning left and right for the next couple of minutes. In accompaniment with the voices, there is the sound of someone breathing heavily. As the protagonist looks upon the other version of himself, the breathing sound effect ceases, giving the impression that he has now become the new version of himself, and the older version has disappeared.
In the final couple of scenes, the old man can be seen sitting at the table eating, when he knocks a glass on the floor. He goes down to pick it up when he notices someone in the bed next to him. The breathing sounds cease and the scene changes, reverting to an even older man in the bed who the audience can presume is the man from before, who knocked over the glass. At this time, the echoing sounds of the man breathing heavily fill the aural space as the scene comes to an end.
Stanley Kubrick, via the use of the ominous audio track and silence, intended to create a sense of death as the man sees his life fade before his eyes. The dark sound accompaniment and ambient textures in the film in conjunction with the breathing sounds, as this man faces his very own death, for example, conceptualise his life cycle and perhaps the panic he feels. Finally, there is complete silence and a black panel in the middle of this fifth dimensional scene, which could be argued to represent the death of the protagonist.