The Shining Essay

Fraser McKean
AS Film
The Shining

The scene from The Shining that I am going to analyse is the infamous scene of Jack attempting to murder Wendy and Danny, this scene starts from approximately 1 hour and 34 minutes into the movie.

The scene opens with a tracking mid shot of Jack limping towards to camera (the room), the fact of Jack limping references many other forms of "boogey men" that are notably slow in movement, however they are still terrifying and dangerous, another connotation is the colour of Jack's jacket; red, a connotation to blood, danger and lust, these have all been at some point referenced in the movie thus far and this point is where Jack is the cause of the events, an axe is shown in Jack's hand, he does not hold the weapon in a cautious way, indicating that Jack has taken on a reckless approach to the scene, this is proven by the mise on scene that the axe is hanging only by Jack's grip, an axe is also of a stereotypical slasher's choice of weapon, a somewhat everyday tool that is found easily around the surrounding area of the movie's setting, an axe can cause decapitation as well as impalement, injuries that are often linked to the horror genre.

Throughout this scene there is non-diegetic music, an eerie, high pitched grainy noise, similar to the sound of a set of nails being dragged across the chalkboard, this is used to provide tension and succeeded in putting me on the edge of my seat, the volume is notably increased ever so slightly at certain points, a later scene in where Jack is seen walking towards the door in where he believes his wife is hiding, the volume becomes much more forward and very apparent.

A cross cut to Wendy, who judging by the mise en scene of this specific shot, is franticly attempting to escape through a narrow window, we see the claustrophobic space in which Wendy is trapped within and then there is a cut to a mid shot of Danny, standing amongst the cold snow with a cross in the background on the building, the director Stanley Kubrick, was an obsessive and persistent in his work, the cross symbolizes Christianity and the nature of good, in a story in which evil and possession takes place, the cross is inverted which represents evil, Kubrick intentionally placed this symbol on the hotel, doors, picture frames and other miscellaneous objects.
There is then a tracking shot of Jack limping towards a door with an inverted cross on it, the audience know that this is where Wendy is hiding and therefore the slow movement provided tension and made me personally feel very unsafe and kept me at the edge of my seat. The scene that follows makes use of the psychological horror aspects, by this I explain that by as Jack playfully says "Come out, come out where ever you are" is a reference to an innocent child game, in this instance it can be seen as much more intimidating as the events that are taking place in the scene but feels almost contrapuntal in this sense.
The next segment of the scene then cross cuts to the bathroom again, in which Wendy attempts to flee via the window again, we see this by another mid close up shot of the outside of the window and Wendy becoming trapped in a claustrophobic scenario.

A long shot of Danny and a trapped Wendy is shortly shown afterwards, amongst the mist it can be cleverly seen that there are multiple crosses on the hotel, whether intentional or not, this shows the motifs and other obsessions of Kubrick and what he would go to in order to make his work relevant, the mist also limits visibility vastly in the shot, this is a common trait of the horror genre in where by limiting the view of the audience, you can cause a much greater form of fear throughout the scene.

A static camera shot with a mid close up of Jack sideways whilst facing the door is presented, upon turning around slightly to face the camera, Jack rehearses a nursery rhyme "Little pig, little pig" this fits with the character of Jack, as with his character in the story he is the Big Bad Wolf that wants to harm innocent pigs, this is relatable due to Wendy and Danny being presented as innocent as the pigs in the tale, it is also shown that Jack knocks gently on the door to the bathroom, again seemingly playing with his play like a spider toying with his fly, during this segment there is a cross cut to Wendy who is shot at a mid level, we see a tilt shot from the camera that focuses on the knife that Wendy grabs, by focusing on this weapon it's iconography is of cuts and pain, linking towards the classic slasher genre that this scene reminds me personally a lot of, it is also a blade that is much smaller than Jack's axe, providing another sense of vulnerability to the victim, Wendy.

Jack then breaks down the door by smashing it with the axe, this is shown by a side mid level shot, but interestingly the camera focuses and follows the movement of the axe, the motion of which the axe is swinging presents a form of realism in the time, it will not take time to break down the door and with each time that Jack hits the door, there is a diegetic sound of Wendy screaming in the next room. This scene then cross cuts to the bathroom again, however we see the camera remaining static focusin on a mid close up shot of a terrified Wendy, the camera is positioned just next to the entry point of where Jack's axe is hitting, we see the axe get deeper and deeper into the door, this made me feel very immersed in the scene and made me feel tense as there seemed to be no actual escape for Wendy.

After repeatedly smashing the door with the axe, the camera switches to a shot in which we see into the bedroom from the bathroom, there is a mid close up shot of Jack as he clears away the edges of the wood of the door, the wood rests in front of camera view, further immersing myself into the scene, we then see a different angle of Jack to the side, mid level to the camera as he has a clear open view into the bathroom, he slowly walks towards the opening as the camera switches once again to the view of the bedroom from the bathroom, the camera shows a close up shot of an enraged Jack as he presents the most iconic scene from The Shining, his face resting in between the broken door segment as he happily but intimidatingly exclaims "Here's Johnny!" as the camera is then shown to be presenting a mid level shot of Wendy with the knife that we had seen earlier in her hand.

Jack then returns to his position beforehand and attempts to open the locked door, we see this by an edit of a close up shot of Jack's hand on the door knob, the next frame is a horrified Wendy in a mid level shot who then swings her blade at Jack's hand, cutting it. A close up of Jack's facial expression of this action is then shown, he looks down in horror and then retreats, ending the scene.

Examples of Kubrick's obsession with certain aspects in his films, these inverted crosses for example in this scene alone.

Group Analysis - Haywire

Group analysis - Haywire

The scene begins with an establishing shot with a blue filter in which two characters are at eye
line match.  The blue filter could set the scene as blue is quite a cold colour and could show sadness and lack of warmth and love in the shot I know this because of the mise-en-scene presented.  There is a eye line match in this reaction shot to show communication between them both.  Also the angle of the camera as it cuts from one to another changes, this could imply that there are barriers between them and they are both very different in personality. 



On the next shot the colour of the shot changed to a sepia filter, to show a much more warmer feel to the film which contrasts with the dead body being dragged and the focus being on the ground and not on the body, therefore showing the body is unimportant and could show that a dead body is not unusual in that situation.  And much the same with next shot where the focus is quite odd and is only focusing on a dead body's shoe, emphasising the above point that the body is not as important as the surroundings.  It could also imply that the most important thing is out of focus in the scene, like the bodies do have significance but the director is purposely trying to make us think they are not relevant to the storyline but instead it makes the audience more aware of he bodies and the control of focus.



The scene then jumps to an establishing close up shot of leather gloves; giving impressions of theft, crime and fingerprints, trousers and a shirt; negotiating the question of where the wearer is, the contents of the clothing are black, this gives connotations of mystery, a relevant theme towards the nature of the clip, this made me personally feel intrigued to the story as well as focus on the shot itself.  Connecting from the last shot there is a low angle shot of the woman suggesting that she is the dominant one of the scene and she is quite an important character.  She also occupies most of the shot so could show that she is the main one to focus on in this scene.  This then cuts to a shot of her on the phone in which there is a mid shot and the camera tracks the phone which shows emphasis and it connects both characters together.  The scene in which the woman is talking to the man over the phone has low key lighting in both clips as there is a parallel edit which could imply that the clip is quite dark and mysterious and it could relate to how the characters are feeling; worried, cold, evil, etc.  There is a contrast with characters and this is represented in their homes.  Mise-en-scene shows the man has a very posh and glamorous warm home whereas she has a flat with hardly any decoration which could imply she is quite a private person and does not like broadcasting her life to others as she has not settled down.



The shot cuts to the woman outside.  Mise-en-scene is presented here as there is a van in the background that says 'think' which could imply to the audience that she needs to think about what she is doing because she may regret it later on.  The impression I get from the scene in where the woman is walking through the street is of an isolation from the rest of the clip, I get this from the mise-en-scene of the scene such as the bland colours of the shot, which all blend together, showing quite a dull and cold piece of scenery, this could be perhaps of the reason that the character may want to be seen as dull, as if she is trying to blend in with everything else around her. There is a heart beat motif alarming noise that could imply the sound of a heartbeat monitor.  This noise is quite slow and calm showing that her heartbeat is calm and she is not worried about what is going to happen later on.  It could also show that she is comfortable in her surroundings but it could contrast with how she is acting as she keeps looking around, showing signs of aggravation and anxiety.



                                                    Rebecca, Fraser and Amy.