The Shining

The Shining is the pinnacle of psychological horror films directed by Stanley Kubrick starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall, The Shining follows the typical conventions of the horror genre with the setting being in an empty hotel, isolated and trapped by snow. This is also done through the use of colour connotation, mise-en-scene, editing and sound. Kubrick created a successful horror film that created a negative reaction within his audience. 

The first scene that I am analysing is the typewriter tantrum scene, it starts with a wide-shot of Jack sitting at a desk steadily tapping at the type writer on the desk with Wendy coming in to the forefront of the shot. The sound within the scene is equally diegetic and non-diegetic with the type-writer setting a steady tap-tap-tap beat within the scene with a steady shrill of a violin which is ascending. Within the shot, the desk and the room matches up to the rule of thirds with Jack being slightly off centre, this threw me off as a viewer as he is in an awkward positioning and is seemingly going against what is natural.

The violins, which are similar to screams, cut out once Jack stops typing and rips a sheet off of the type-writer. This made me jump but was a false scare as the scene returns to normal and Wendy and Jack engage in a conversation, the shot is then a mid shot of Jack with a small amount of Wendy within the frame, this makes Jack the more important person in the shot and made my attention purely on him, this diminished Wendy as a character, the room that Jack is in is dimly-lit and a wide open space which gives a sense of isolationism and loneliness, this invoked a sense of empathy within me as I was sympathetic of his loneliness, due to foreshadowing earlier in the film it is clear that is very much on his way to losing his mind and it becomes to become apparent in this scene.

Behind Jack while they are talking is an exit sign, this is mise-en-scene as it is showing an exit within the the scene and I think that this was shown so it is clear that Jack is what is in-between Wendy and ‘freedom’ or an exit. The conversational exchange between Wendy and Jack is done in a shot-reverse-shot, when the camera is on Wendy she is perfectly centred close up with her being stood up, in another film such as Scream where the killer is always above the victim, the Shining is different because although Jack is sat down and is a mid shot where he fills up very little of the screen he is a lot more intimidating than Wendy. Horror films are known for being films of binary opposites and this scene is a representation of this, Jack’s character is indecipherable and tittering on the edge of insanity which is beginning to come apparent in this scene.

The next scene that I am analysing is the bat scene, the scene starts with Jack coming into the hall where Wendy is and begins to question it. Non-diegetic sound begins to start and is a high pitch sound which sounds like nails scratching on a chalk board, this put me on edge, this paired with the sweat and desperation on Wendy’s face invoked a sense of compassion for her and also made me feel scared for her and for Danny. This shows her recognition at the state of Jack is evident within the fact that she is carrying a baseball bat around with her, this shows the fact that she is afraid of Jack.

Within the scene there is connotations of the colour blue and the lighting is very low-key, this matches connotations of a common horror film and is often used as a common fear is the dark. The blue tint to the scene gives a negative feel and made me feel almost cold, with the framing of each character they are both equal for the first time through-out the movie both centred in a mid-shot with backwards tracking that follows Jacks footsteps towards Wendy and Wendy backing away.

With Wendy’s character the lighting and scene behind her is refletive of her character as the scene behind is well lit and has a window behind her letting in light which shows her innocence and gives her the feel of a victim. Jack, however has nothing but darkness behind him and behind him is very barren and lacking any props this gives a sense of isolationism. Jack’s facial expressions within this scene become very mean and twisted and reminded me of the Joker from batman. A character that Jack Nicholson also played. His facials expressions begin to show Jack’s insanity and him losing his compassion and love for his wife and son. Wendy on the other hand has a terrified facial expression although it doesn’t change as much as Jack’s does which limits her character and doesn’t give her any depth.

The orange colours within the scene remind me of animal eyes and this is reinforced with the feral look within Jack’s face. The actor Jack played Jack very well and did a perfect portrayal of a man losing his grip with reality and becoming insane. The evil within Jack is apparent in this scene, a shot of Danny using his power ‘the shining’ staring of into space is then incorporated into the scene. This happens a lot during the movie and is used a plot device to carry it forwards. ‘Wild’ Jack is used to alienate him from the audience and makes it hard to figure him out, creating a fear of what is not understand.

In my final analysis of these two scenes it is apparent that both of these scenes use a combination of mise-en-scene, lighting, camera and sound to captivate and disturb audiences and to create what is known to be Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece and best psychological horror also known as the Shining.