The Shining film analysis

The Shining
The classic horror film The Shining was produced by Stanley Kubrick in 1980. The film is
based on the 1977 Stephen King novel, The Shining. Unlike most horror films, The Shining
decides to focus on building tension using fear and the characters emotional instability, which categories it as a psychological horror.

The film opens up as a long shot of landscapes which suggest that there is travel involved in the film. The camera seems to be following the car which turns out to be the main character driving to the main location of the film. As the opening clips and titles come to an end there is a final long shot of a hotel in the mountains, which we find out later on in the film that this is the main location, Overlook hotel.

After the introduction there is a meeting in which the story appears, the father Jack Torrance
takes on the job of staying and looking after the hotel over the winter season. Jack brings his family along, his wife and only son. It is hinted during the beginning of the stay at the hotel, that his son Danny Torrance has psychic abilities. The family end up trapped in the hotel due to a snowstorm. Jack starts to go mad and try's to kill his family, because of the supernatural presence that haunt the hotel.

During the film there are some artistic, supernatural shots to show off Danny's psychic abilities and the madness that is happening inside of Jack's head. These shots consist of Jack seeing people who are not actually there, talking to them and encountering physically touching them. Danny is wondering around the hotel and discovers twin girls, who he had seen previously seen in a vision he had in a bathroom looking into a mirror at his own parallel reflection. This too me seemed like Stanley Kubrick was suggesting something, at the time of this vision he is also talking to his imaginary friend Tony, imaginary friends are sometimes representations of our ideal self, as Carl Rogers theory states our ideal self is who we want to be. One of my favourite shots is the slow motion river of blood that comes from the elevators. This scene can be linked to so many different things, like the blood representing murder and madness. Focusing on the artistic side of this scene, it's surreal and simply an impossible thing to happen, but The Shining is a psychological horror so it shows the madness and insanity that is happening in the characters head.

Whilst watching the film I noticed that this films structure mostly followed all of Todorov's
Narrative Theory. The film's setting is in an isolated hotel that the family also get trapped in.
Due to the snowstorm that traps the family inside and the hotel being located in the mountains, the hotel is a struggle to get to, and if the family were to try and escape they would risk freezing to death. Until the chase scenes at the end of the film, the characters movements are slow and calm. But once Jack starts trying to kill his family, the movements are still slow to begin with but only because Wendy and Danny are scared. They are hiding and trying to be as quiet as possible, but once spotted, they run for their lives so the characters movement and the camera shots become fast and short cuts. The music they use for this film is orchestra based with other instruments edited and used as effects, they start off with quiet subtle instrumentals almost like an introduction, which then progresses to high loud instrumentals for the fast tense scenes. They only use music during these types of scene, the silence itself can create a great atmosphere for those scenes where the audience can notice Jack going mad. The Shining contains one of the most famous horror scenes, the 'here's Jonny' axe scene. From this scene it's obvious that it follows Todorov's theory, it contains a sharp weapon that is being used to murder someone. One thing that didn't follow Todorov's theory in this horror film which I consider a twist. Jack the villain ends up dying and the mother and son escape unharmed. Unless you would consider the mother to be the final girl, and the son to be the hero; possessing a psychic ability that he uses to keep them away from death.

In conclusion, The Shining is a perfect example of a psychological horror, it builds tension that keeps the audience on the edge of their seat, and most importantly keeps the view entertained and interested in the film. The film has a basic but strong storyline, and uses creative artistic shots to show how powerful the mind can be. The film contains puzzles that leave the viewer thinking, and linking to other parts of the film, which is what made me personally want to watch it again. The reason this film became so big is because of it's surreal and artistic play with filming, the off-beat and out of tune music that has the ability to make the audience feel uneasy and anxious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b726feAhdU Here is the official trailer for The Shining.

Dracula trailer analysis

Dracula trailer analysis

I chose to analysis Dracula because it is a familiar horror classic that everyone is aware of, if not the original then one of the remakes or similar based film. The original Dracula movie was made in 1931 and is one of the first vampire-horror films to record. This film Dracula was produced by Universal and is based on a 1924 stage play.
 

The opening clip is Dracula rising from a coffin but has titles over the clip saying "In all the annals of living horror..." from this text I have noticed that the word horror is in bold, and is  biggest font size on this clip, this informs the viewer straight away that it's a horror genre film. I also like the play on words "...of living horror" as Dracula is then opening the coffin and sticks his arm out so it is visible that he is alive. The next clip states "one names stands out as the epitome of evil!". Epitome means A person that is a perfect example of a particular quality, so in this case they mean that Dracula is a perfect example of evil and horror. I also notice that evil is in the biggest font and has an explanation mark to show as if it's being shouted and brings attention to the word. Straight after this clip there is a mid shot of Dracula by himself standing in the shadows because sunlight can kill a vampire, Dracula introduces himself "I am, Dracula". This clip then fades into a close up of Dracula and then the movie title "Dracula" appears over the clip. As there is a close up of Dracula and the movie title appears I noticed that the music increased and took over any existing sounds that were on the clip. The typography in the titles that have just been shown are very creepy and it looks like the colour in the text is bleeding down it and dripping off, or the bottom of the text has been torn and worn away. Either way the typography goes really well with the horror genre theme. Between all of these clips there was a slow fading to bring in the next clip, this is because trailers usually start off slow and then build up towards the ending of the trailer.
 

Throughout the trailer there is a voiceover explaining the background of Dracula and promoting the film. One thing the voiceover said that stood out to me most is when he talks about Dracula "lived after death, lived on human blood and took the form of a vampire bat" this tells you a bit about Dracula, and what you will be expecting to see in the film. For me the voiceover made the trailer less scary/frightening, I am aware that the year this was made, they didn't have the equipment and programmes we have now, but personally I think that just more text on clips would have been better. Throughout the trailer there is no blood or gore clips, I haven't seen the film but they may have left them out of the trailer because they were too gruesome or because there isn't any visible gore scenes. They used an orchestra for the music in this trailer due the date it was made when they didn't have sound affects or any other type of horror related music. I think orchestra music suits old black and white films because it's iconic and expected. Even though this is another thing that wasn't intended due to the year, I think that Dracula in black and white works because Dracula is often in dark places anyway, also because it makes it look more sinister. At the very end of the trailer on the last clip the title Dracula appears again, I've noticed this is the second time in the trailer; once near the beginning and once at the end, they also mention the name Dracula a lot in the trailer. They have done this so it stands out from everything else in the clip, and so there is no way of forgetting the film name.
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UehobGtSnOk

Sinister trailer analysis

Sinister trailer analysis

I chose to analysis this trailer because it's a recently released film and has been recommended by some friends. Whilst watching this trailer first time round it generally gave me Goosebumps, it made me feel anxious and the ending made me jump.
 

The first thing which the audience will notice when the horror trailer begins is that there is a young child's voice which instantly gives the viewer a feeling of insecurity and vulnerability. It also gives the viewer a sense of the setting in the film, that the family have recently moved into a new house which also gives a feeling of the unknown. There is an equilibrium at the beginning of the film as the atmosphere is calm which is created by the slow editing and fades between clips. The trailer begins to become scary when the father of the family goes into the loft and discovers a large box. After watching a film reel where it appears the previous family are being hanged, the film gradually becomes more scary as the father investigates the story behind the film tapes. Once he begins to investigate the tapes in his loft he finds that they are all serial murders dating back to the 60’s, all containing a symbol from a man named Bogore who eats the souls of children and lives in images of himself, children who were exposed of the images would often experience Bogore’s wrath. He then discovers his children have seen the images and are being attacked by Bogore too. Once his children become exposed to Bogore’s tapes he notices they are acting very strange, drawing images on the wall and coming to stand stills for numerous periods, he realises they have seen the tapes too. Just before this happens in the trailer the text “Nothing can save you” which gives us the information that once you see the photos, nothing can save you. He also has Bogore’s symbol start to appear in blood all over his house.
 

At the end of the trailer you hear the tape reel turning over and over again in the background along with clips of the family being attacked by someone, with weapons such as axes and knives, also numerous illustrations of death around the house too, it then cuts to Ellison looking in his loft to find 5 children covered in paint, whispering to him as they watch Bogore, then to be attacked by him, the credits then show and leave the viewer on a cliff hanger wanting to know more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtlAW-T0ScE

Chernobyl Diaries trailer analysis

Chernobyl Diaries Trailer Analysis

I chose to analysis this film because the storyline fascinates me and most importantly it’s realistic and believable which makes me as the audience more interested in the film. Chernobyl was abandoned over night after one of the four nuclear reactors exploded in 1986, “the reaction was worse than 400 atomic bombs” as it states at the beginning of the trailer. Using facts and figures grabs the viewers’ attention and makes the story line more convincing.

The title of this film is shown at the end of the trailer, I think they do this because it’s the last thing you see, so you’re more likely to see it and remember it. In this trailer you get most of the storyline and doesn't really give a cliff-hanger, only who survives and who doesn't . In the beginning you see some clips of the characters backgrounds, the reason is to show why they go on this trip, why they become stranded there and what is after them. In trailers they often show the most entertaining clip that is most likely to persuade the audience to go and watch the film. In this trailer they don’t actually show you a clear shot of what is chasing them, this makes the trailer much scarier. At the start of the trailer the clips are long, calm and slow, but towards the end as they start to show the action clips, I noticed the clips started to speed up and become shorter. I think they do this to make the audience tense up and feel uneasy, and if that works they are more likely to go and see the film. In this trailer they use alarms and sirens to build suspense with the clips. I also heard a child’s laughter a few times during the first encounter with what ever is chasing them, this made me tense up when I was watching it. A child is harmless and innocent, we love and care about them and trust them because they are our young. So when I heard the child’s playful laughter in a dark abandoned environment, it frightened me because the once thought innocent children, are not as innocent as it seems.

Straight away the setting in the trailer falls under one of the typical codes and conventions; the film is set in an abandoned and run down environment. At the beginning of the trailer the clips show off the group of friends in their normal everyday life’s before they encounter this surprise experience. The clips used in this trailer seems to follow a normal day routine; from morning to night. There isn't any mixing clips from different days or times of the day, this makes the trailer more of a short story than a trailer. The music used for the beginning of the trailer match the type of clips that are being shown, the music is upbeat and pop influenced, like something you would hear in the charts on the radio. The music then suddenly drops to a siren alarm when “Chernobyl” is mentioned, and the clips go from the group of friends to old footage of the Chernobyl disaster. I think another reason they’ve used a siren alarm in this trailer is because it is a typical sign of danger, and it makes us feel anxious when we hear it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp9xuquibQc