The Shining

The shining works well in the way that the directors and characters have taken the everyday fears of their target audience and adapted them with the film in order to play on consumers fears in order to create suspense and tension. For instance the setting of a hotel is highly effective as a hotel is stereotypically a location where people tend to feel safe. The shining took a place that the audience would recognise as place within their comfort zone and inserted their darkest fears to create that gut feeling of fear as the audience are able to relate to the viewers and will end up on the edges of their seats screaming 'no, don't go there; run the other way!'. Also, the director has placed three very vulnerable characters inside this location; a mother, father and young son. This therefore creates victims from the beginning of the film and the audience are able to bond and relate to the characters before the horrid experiences start happening to them. The audience are therefore able to recognise from the beginning of the film that something is going occur later on during the film where these characters are placed within victimising situations.

I believe that this film would classify as a 'horror' rather than an 'ultimate horror' as the fear of the unknown is not used and the film solely relies on the relation between characters and the audience. Another way the the shining utilises the concept of horror is through a clear evil character being created close to the beginning of the film where Jack (the father) is established as becoming a 'little crazy'. The audience are then able to distinguish the good characters away from the bad characters.

Another effective technique used within this film is that the theory of the male gaze is applied at many different points. The most clear use of this technique is when Wendy (the mother) is holding a baseball bat towards Jack whilst slowly backing away from him. This utilises the concept of the male gaze as the female character is being portrayed as a strong woman whilst in a position of vulnerability.

Although i have identified this film as horror movie there are some clear ingredients of thriller that have been used. For example, taking a familiar setting of a hotel and creating a film based on something the audience would not expect. Also, thrillers tend to use limited amounts of blood and gore and 'The Shining' used a very limited amount of bloody scenes during the entire film. Furthermore, the use of normal everyday characters that the audience are able to connect with is a key ingredient that thriller movies tend to include. For example Jack, Wendy and Danny appear as a normal family being placed in a new location until the terror begins.

Elements of the bomb theory are recognisable throughout the film. For example the audience can see jack becoming mentally ill a lot earlier than Wendy and Danny, this relates to the 'knowing more than the characters' ingredient of the bomb theory. False plateau was used towards the end of the film in the scene where Wendy is locked in the bathroom with Jack trying to break his way through the door with an axe. The audience can see Jack approaching the door with the axe and can also interpret Wendy's emotions to embrace her vulnerability. The audience are able to know more than the characters and will want to help the characters after creating an earlier bond with them. This technique is also applied to the scene where Danny is being followed by Jack in the maze.

Sound was used in almost every minute of the film to make the viewers feel specific emotions and feel certain ways about each character. Sound was also important as it was used in parallel to the actions taking place in scenes. For example sound used when jack is on screen tormenting his family members was quite low tempo and fast creating pace and suspense whereas when jack is playing on his bike through the hallways the sound used is a lot more upbeat. Another example of the effective use of sound is in the scene where the camera is tracking Jack through the kitchen towards Danny and there was non-digetic parallel sound being played. The sound being played was deep, loud and fast making the viewer sympathize with Danny who is hiding from jack in the cupboard.

Mise-en-scene throughout the film was used very effectively through the use of prop placement and character costume. This is specifically noticeable in the bathroom scene where the walls are painted red; symbolic of danger and blood. Also, the costume of the bartender and Jack show binary opposites and create realisation to the viewers. This scene was most influential to my group as we felt the colour of the walls and the clinical feel to the room was an effective way to portray the danger quickly approaching the family.

In conclusion I feel that my group has been able to gain a large amount of inspiration from this film from the use of tracking and quick shots through to prop placement and the locations used. I aim to include a location which looks safe and that the viewers believe that characters will be safe in order to create a sense of bonding between characters and the audience. Also, the bathroom scene with Jack and the bartender is my most favourite scene throughout the whole movie as i think the mise-en-scene is aesthetically pleasing to the viewers eye. I believe that by including a a quick shot of a scene which includes a location similar to this will allow my teaser trailer to include a high level of sophistication whilst also creating that clinical feel to the scene.