AS The shining

The genre of The shining could be argued to be either psychological or thriller horror. It uses clear horror conventions throughout. It is a 1980s film which was directed by Stanley Kubrick. The narrative of the film is based on a man called Jack who becomes the caretaker for an isolated hotel called the Overlook. He moves him and his family there to look after the hotel whilst nobody is there. Jacks son can view the past and future and can see ghosts. During their time here Jack becomes possessed and attempts to kill his family.


The opening scene of The shining is an establishing shot of the isolated location where the film is set. It moved to a bird’s eye view to exaggerate the isolation and hostility. It follows a single car which suggest the vulnerability. Isolation/alienation is a major horror convention so it already sets the genre of the film. The non-diegetic music varies between very extreme low and high pitch tones which is again a clear horror convention as the contrast sets a tense tone and made me feel on edge. The long shot following the car sets the idea of a predator as it moves in closer on the car. As he enters the hotel the mise en scene is a simple hotel with candles as lights. The candles are a horror convention as they could link to religious meanings or to fire and danger. Furthermore the post section behind the front desk is laid out in a cross pattern which again could link to a religious theme. The long shot shows him dressed in a smart suit which portrays him as quite a sensible and professional character. A cross dissolve edit is then used to move to the next scene. This scene shows a basic flat which is fairly empty. The scenery and the cigarettes suggest a lower class situation. The shot reverse shot switches between the mother and the child Danny to give some context to the audience. Parallel editing is used as it now moves back to Jack in the office. The manager of the hotel is wearing a red tie, the iconography of the colour red is danger and could also be linked to blood. The rule of thirds is clearly obeyed within this scene and the close-ups on the faces emphasise the concerned facial expressions being passed between them. The diegetic sound is them talking about the previous caretaker who chopped up his family which gives a huge hint at the horror genre. The iconography and this diegetic sound make me feel like this is a warning of what is yet to come. The cross dissolve edit is then used to focus on Danny in the bathroom talking to himself, the camera begins to zoom in on him as if something is walking towards him before cutting back to a long shot of Jacks wife, and there is low tones of non-diegetic music before a sharp diegetic sound of the phone ringing. Jacks wife is again in red clothing which foreshadows the danger to come, after the parallel editing of a phone call between Jack and his wife there is an over the shoulder the shot of Danny that views him through the mirror as the camera zooms in on his face with low toned non diegetic music in the background. The close up of Danny allows me to see the shock and panic on his face before it moves to a long shot of blood rushing out of the hotel lifts as if it was rushing directly at me. This begins to make me feel uncomfortable before it cuts back to a close up of Danny screaming, this has clearly set the genre as horror.


The next scene I will analyse is near the end. It starts with a long shot of Danny holding a large knife next to where his mum is lay in bed whilst he repeats the word "redrum". There is very sharp high pitch no diegetic music which makes me feel on edge. There is a mid-shot of Danny writing "redrum" on the door in a red lipstick. Again the repetition of the colour red. The over the shoulder shot of Danny then zooms in on the mothers face to emphasise her scared expression before it jumps to a shot of the mirror which shows the word "redrum" as "murder" written on the door before zooming in on it. The non-diegetic high pitch music makes the scene tenser and creates a climax. Clear horror conventions are now portrayed as she screams before it moves to a mid-shot of Danny hitting the door with a classic horror weapon, an axe. This is intertextuality to the film My Bloody Valentine as both films involve the monster/villain smashing the door down with an axe to reach their victims. Jack is wearing a red jacket again leading on with the theme of red throughout. The mother locks her and Danny in the bathroom which is again putting herself in an isolated position which is a horror convention as she cannot escape. There is more parallel editing as it jumps between Jack smashing the hotel door down with the axe and her panicking and trying to lock the bathroom door. The close up of Danny's fearful facial expression makes me feel nervous for what is yet to come. The long shot of the snow slope suggests this is their only way of escaping. The non-diegetic music begins to get higher as Danny is pushed out the window to escape and I know that Jack is not far behind. The parallel editing of her stuck and Danny walking through the room makes me realise that there is more action to come. The close-up of Jack suggests he is possessed with his wide eyes and strange facial expressions. Jack keeps referring to childish things such as links to hide and seek and children stories such as the three little pigs, this suggests that he sees this as a game and that he knows he is the predator.

AS Reflective analysis

My reflective analysis

In film studies we were asked to create a short film of a thriller/horror genre. We were put into groups of three and were told our film needed to include different film techniques such as camera angles. Our film turned out to be more thriller based as it was not very scary. We did not have the right circumstances to film a horror film so we thought a thriller would be an easier route to go down. We set our film at the local graveyard as we thought that was the most interesting spot around. Our narrative was that Lewis was being chased through the graveyard before being killed by a mystery murderer. I took part in the acting, filming and editing. In our film I played the mystery murderer and I was shot from a low angle as I walked off into a creepy alleyway. We made sure we filmed it so that my back was to the camera so that the audience could not see my face. We shot it from a low angle so it was like it was from Lewis' point of view so the audience understood who I was and the role i had played. We used an establishing shot to set the scene of a graveyard, followed by a closeup of Lewis looking around before he began to get chased, we moved into a long shot before we moved into a tracking shot from Lewis' point of view as he fell which overall made the film seem more realistic. Next was the only diegetic sound we used which was Lewis' scream as he was killed, before moving into an extreme closeup, then my scene, then followed by an eye line match of Alex and Emma finding the body which I filmed. After we came back to the computers and edited the film and trimmed down parts of the videos which we did not need and added some creepy non diegetic music in the back which had a bass drop as Lewis started running which further added to the thriller element. All of the group did filming, acting and editing as we all wanted to experience different aspects of the films so they were shared roles.