Nancy Smith - Film Analysis - 'The Shining' (1980)

I have chosen to analyze the first ten minutes of the film 'The Shining', based on the novel by Stephen King and directed by Stanley Kubrick.

The film i have chosen to review is the same genre as the film we produced as a group, a thriller with aspects of horror. The story follows the life of a family who head to an isolated hotel for the winter, where an evil spirit lures the father (played by Jack Nichalson) into a violent frame of mind, whilst the hotel reveals dark secrets from its past that only the psychic son can see.

I believe that our film is similar to 'The Shining' as both the film openings change from one scene and setting to another. In the first ten minutes of 'The Shining' we see 3 different locations. The first is a high angle shot view of a mountainous American country landscape.

I believe that this scene gives the feeling of isolation, as it is set away from inhabitance. The camera pans to follow a car, which at one points passes through the outskirts of a woodland which is also a setting in our film. The music played over this scene is key to giving it an atmospheric feel. It is very screechy and typical of a thriller film or film of a similar genre. The titles roll upwards onto the screen during these shots. These titles are very different to the ones we used in our own film, as we decided to separate ours from the actual film. At the end of the first scene the words 'THE INTERVIEW' appear on the screen. This is placed on a black background with a very harsh sound behind it. This only lasts for about 3 seconds and gives the effect of fast pace movement, which we tried to incorporate into our film as it is a typical element of a thriller film.

The next scene we see in film is of the character Jack walking into the hotel. Firstly he walks through a very grand reception area and then into the office of the hotel manager. As he walks from the reception to the office the camera follows Jack a pace behind. As he turns the corners in the hotel lobby the viewer is unable to see quite what Jack is seeing. I believe that this is a very good way of beginning to create fear inside the viewer as it creates a feeling of unknowing. When Jack reaches the office there is a quick conversation between himself and the hotel manager before the scene changes.

The next scene opens with the new setting of a residential apartment area, set in front of a cluster of mountains. The camera pans in towards the building for about 5 seconds before the shot changes to see the characters Wendy (Jacks wife) and Danny (the psychic son) sat in the dining area of a small apartment.

Whilst both characters talk about the move to the hotel for the winter, in the background you can hear what sounds like an old children’s racing cartoon. The screeching sounds of the cars and the music played over them sounds very disjointed next to the characters voices. I believe that this subconsciously makes the audience feel uncomfortable, which evokes the emotion of fear the film creates. In this scene we also see the character Tony, an imaginary friend created by Danny and supposedly living within his index finger. The audience instantly knows that this character is in fact only Danny’s thoughts, although, it does create the effect that Danny may have a split personality, which is often used as a theme in thriller films.

The next scene jumps back to the hotel and the conversation between Jack the hotel manager, and other man. A series of shot reverse shots take place between all 3 men as they talk about the hotel an its past. Into the shot, the hotel manager explains to Jack how a previous man who had spent a winter taking care of the hotel had suffered what they believed was 'cabin fever' when he had gone insane and killed his wife and two daughters.

This information is key in the film as in a later scene the ghosts of the murdered family begin to appear and taunt Jacks son Danny. Many thriller films use this technique of giving a certain piece of information in the beginning of the film, as it will link with a key part in the story later, breaking up and linking together the film. In our film, we played a radio broadcast of the missing girl in our opening title sequence. Later on in the two minuet opening one of the character finds what the audience believes is the body of the girl. Without the radio broadcast the audience may not understand what has been found in the woods, which would not thrill them at all.

After Jack has been told about the murders he still agrees to go ahead with taking care of the hotel. All the shots in this scene are straightforward medium shots which gives the scene a calm flowing feel, breaking up the feeling of fear within the audience, which keeps them interested.

The first ten minutes of the film 'The Shining' introduces the storyline and key information as to what the rest of the film will be about. Our film uses many aspects which are also present in 'The Shining' and many other films of the thriller genre.