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.
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.
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