The Shining

AS Film Analysis of ‘The Shining’

The first scene of my analysis is the opening scene/credits of ‘The Shining’. Whilst there is a lack of characters and dialogue in the scene that would be relevant to the plot line, there are some horror conventions in the first scene that foreshadow the danger later in the film.

The scene for the opening credits begins by panning over a lake in a mountainous area before cutting to a birds-eye view of a car that is driving along a lonely road. The camera tracks this car continuously until it reaches the hotel at the end of the scene, indicating a long drive and a large distance from any towns or cities.

The most obvious cinematic technique in this scene is the non-diegetic sound that plays in the scene from beginning to end. At the start of the sequence the music is a deep bass which soon reveals to be a brass instrument, most likely trombone which repeats the same notes and tune a couple of times, though it does appear to vary slightly. After forty seconds into the scene, the sound increases in pitch slightly, but is beginning to be accompanied by the sound glass makes when tapped. The non-diegetic sound gets higher and higher, and is accompanied by different noise, like something akin to whispering and a distorted screaming closer to the end.

The sound itself is related to the conventions of horror due to these noises that the audience hears within the three minute scene. The deep bass of the trombone gives the viewer a sense of foreboding that generally accompanies the horror genre, and this feeling increases due to the sound of distorted screaming at the end. To me, the combination of bass and soprano used in the way it is during the opening sequence is particularly apprehensive due to the drastic variation, not to mention that the distorted screaming at the end sounds close to begging. Personally, the music alone creates a sense of anxiety which is why this scene is a brilliant opening scene to ‘The Shining’.

Another part of the scene that is also noteworthy in the way it relates to the horror conventions, as well as forewarning the viewer of the danger later on is the isolation the camera angles reveal. For the opening scene, the camera is taking the shots in birds-eye view to show the lack of cars on the road as well as the few buildings around the area, immediately the audience registers the idea that if something happens at the hotel there is no one around to help.

Despite the effective use of camera angles and sound in the opening sequence, there is a lack of iconography in the scene. In my opinion, this is due to the director trying to establish the setting and the isolation that the film revolves around.

The second scene that I am analyzing is the ‘Come play with us’ scene where Danny is riding his tricycle through the hallways of the hotel, whereupon the sinister ghost girls appear and proceed to scare Danny with images of their dead bodies.

The scene is one minute and fifty-seven seconds long and has over twice the amount of shots than in the opening scene. The first two shots track Danny down the corridor and reveal him seeing the ghost girls; the shots then proceed to cut between close ups of Danny’s expressions, and getting closer to the ghost girls as they ask him to play with them ‘Forever....and ever....and ever’. Whilst this occurs, we see the bodies of the girls three times as they suggest what will happen to him eventually.

The iconography in the scene is most prominent when the girls’ remains are shown to Danny and the audience; in the shot, there is blood on the walls and an axe lying on the floor beside the body of one of the girls. The axe itself seems to forewarn the viewer as to what choice of weapon Jack will chose to attack his family with, and as it may possibly be blunt after lack of use, the axe may seem more deadly and disturbing attack.

However, whilst the iconography with the axe is meaningful, the blood on the walls seems a bit too exaggerated. Personally, I think that the setting department got a little carried away when decorating the walls with fake blood as, while the amount on the girls is enough, the amount on the walls is too much, and it is unlikely for the blood to drip down the walls in that way as it is more likely for a slight splatter to occur when the axe is taken out of the body and swung.

Also there seems to be too little blood on the axe to be scary enough for me; this lack of realism makes it very hard to find this shot scary in my opinion, but the scene itself does disturb me.

The main reason this scene disturbs me is the idea of spooky twin ghost girls confronting you and asking you to die and play with them, added to the notion of a seemingly MPD, physic child who’s alter ego he seeks comfort from: ‘Tony, I’m scared’ ‘Remember what Mr Hallorann said. It’s just like pictures in a book Danny, it isn't real’.

Another point about this scene that disturbs me is the lighting. Generally in horror films, the lighting is usually low key, particularly when confronting or being confronted by the ghost/monster. However, in this scene, the lighting is neutral to high key, drifting away from usual horror conventions. This personally makes the scene more disturbing as it creates the sense that you could be attacked at any point during the day and not even realise it.

Altogether, the iconography, though a bit exaggerated, the shots, the characters, and the lighting makes this scene quite disturbing for me when watching as it creates a sense unease when the girls are suddenly there and then suddenly gone.