The Shining

I have chosen for my first scene to analyse the scene where the main character Jack goes to talk about managing the Overlook Hotel.

It opens with a three shot of Jack, Stuart Ullman and another employee. This is a Static shot and it remains static throughout the whole scene. There is high-key lighting. The first shot is a Mise-en-Scene, this is because it shows the viewer the whole of the office. In the Mise-en-scene we can see awards and trophies on the wall, a clock, stationary and a miniature American flag. This American flag can represent the patriotism that Stuart has and how patriotic the country is. This can also refer to the fact of how American society is often messed up and doesn’t make sense. This can be shown by the fact that they are really patriotic however they only have a miniature flag. Jack, Stuart and the other employee are all sitting down this can show that they are all equals. However we only see Stuart at first and we see behind the other employee and Jack.

 

There is then an edited cut which changes the cameras view. This then shows us a mid-shot on Stuart. He is framed in between the window panels and the curtains with an equal distance apart from them.  At the front of the desk there is a name label showing us who he is. By having a mid-shot of Stuart you can look in more detail at what he is wearing. You can see that he is wearing a formal suit for work. His blazer is blue and this can show power and seriousness. He is also wearing a red tie. I think that this shows that he knows the danger of going to the Overlook Hotel and what has happened to everyone that has gone there. I think that it also shows a warning because when he is telling Jack what has happened in the past. However jack ignores this and still ends up going to the Overlook Hotel.

 

Once again there is a straight cut to a mid-shot of Jack sitting in the chair. We can see that like Stuart he is wearing a suit and this shows he is smartly presented and takes his job seriously. His suit consists of a grey blazer and a green tie. The connotations for the colour grey show depression, plain and boring. However grey is also a mixture of black and white which could represent the good and bad inside of jack and his battle between good and evil. His green tie can represent money, ambition and greed. It can also represent sickness and poison I think this can foreshadow to how Jack gets sick and over ruled with evil enough to encourage him to attempt to kill his family.

 

In the same take we can see an old photograph hanging on the wall behind Jack. I think that this photograph is of the Overlook Hotel. I think this is ironic because we see a lot of old photographs of around 1921. We see one when Wendy is in the boiler room and also at the end of the film when we see that Jack has been there all along. I think this is to reference how things have happened in the past and how history will be repeating itself again. This is a Horror Convention as there is usually a back story where something similar has happened before like in The Unborn, Oculus and Dark Skies. Additionally behind Jack we can see a part of the door this could reference to the fact that the door is behind him and it’s too late for him to leave now.

 

For my second scene I’m going to be analysing is when Wendy hits Jack over the head with a baseball bat and locks him in the food storage room. It starts with a fade out from the last scene. We see a low angle shot of Jack laying on the floor. The camera then tracks left following where he is going. There is high key lighting showing the good (Wendy) is overpowering. There is a pause in Jack being dragged and he opens his eyes and then is continued to be dragged this shows tension. Jack is low to the ground and this shows that he is now closer to hell. We then see a mid to long-shot of Wendy dragging Jacks feet towards the storage cupboard. The camera is free hand and follows Wendy.

Wendy reaches the door of the food storage room and she goes to open it but gets stuck on one of the locks. There is then a worm’s eye shot of her trying to do this. This is a typical horror convention as the victim tries to get rid of the evil and cannot undo the lock. This then creates tension and panic for the victim and the audience. This is also shown through a close up on Wendy’s face. By seeing that she is scared can also make the viewer scared. The tension continues as we see Jack is starting to wake up and then finally she manages to undo the lock. At this point I then felt relieved that she managed to undo the lock. There is then a mid-shot where Wendy is dragging Jack into the food storage room. We then see Wendy’s point of view shot as she is dragging Jack into the room. This can show the audience the struggle. It can also show that Wendy is similar to god and she is judging him. The door is then shut and this can show Jacks isolation additionally this is a horror convention. Isolation is a very common horror convention and it shows how being alone is scary. This is a psychological horror so it then plays on peoples basic fears like loneliness, the dark etc.