Analysis of 'The Shining' by Stanley Kubrick

Analysis of ‘The Shining’ by Stanley Kubrick

The Shining is a classic horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick, starring Jack Nicholson. All the way throughout the film, technical conventions and other means are used to create a tense, suspenseful mood and through the use of lighting, colour connotations, editing and music, Kubrick managed to successful invoke a negative reaction in his audiences; the main aim of horror.

The first scene I’ll focus on is the Baseball bat scene. The scene starts off with Jack appearing in the hall where Wendy is and asking what she is doing. After this is said, non diegetic music starts to come in. The music is made of strings and sounds like plucking, and I think that it is very similar to the sound of insects. I think that this music was chosen to start to put the viewers on edge, as they’re not quite sure what to make of it yet.  Then there is a mid shot of Wendy with a bat. She looks very distressed, with her hair wet, which I presume is sweat. This suggests that she is scared. This is backed up by her worried facial expression. I think that this shot was selected to show how defensive she has become around Jack (hence the bat) and to show that she no longer sees him as a husband, but as a threat. In the scene, the lighting has a slight blue cast to it. Some people could say that this is just coincidental, but with Kubrick’s obsessive, perfectionist style of directing, I think that it was purposely given this tint to portray a cold feel, reflective of how Wendy may feel at the time. Towards the end of the scene, the lighting does take on a more orange tone, creating a warmer mood. A common theme in horrors is binary opposites, and this could be linked to the lighting in this scene as it switches between blue and orange, colours which are opposite in their implications. During this part of the scene, Jack looks very sinister, with a devilish grin and his face not being properly lit. I think that these choices were made to show the evil/ possessed side of him coming out, which is accompoanied by the music getting louder. The music is synced with him pushing his hand down on the pages he wrote, which emphasises his action. Then Jack starts to slowly walk towards Wendy, which itself is an action that has negative associations. Because of the way he is speaking to her while this is happening, I think that it is to show him as more of a predator, chasing her down (reminiscent of the opening helicopter shots at the beginning of the film). All of these conventions help to alienate Jack, showing him as more of a possessed animal than a human being. Alienation is a common convention within horror, which links in to the fear of the unknown. Creators will often deliberately show their characters as unhumane or indecipherable because it doesn’t allow the audience to get a proper grasp on them. Then you get a shot of Danny, their son, who is staring off in to the distance, which has been happening a lot in the movie. You hear Jack suggesting that Wendy wanted to talk about Danny, and because of the switch in shots (parallel editing is used to switch between two scenes of action), Jack’s voice takes on a different tone that has been edited. The new sound is warped, and almost sounds evil and unrecognisable from his regular voice. Once again, this is alienation, as his character is being pushed away from being human. I also think that this particular shot and voice edit is linked in with Danny’s “Shining” ability as introduced by a character earlier in the plot. During the shot of Danny, the camera zooms in to his face, conveying the worry or mood of his character. There are also cut away shots of the blood flooding the room that you see earlier, which brings up the idea that Danny is seeing these visions and his panic is being caused by it.

The next scene I looked at was the twin scene in the hallway. It starts off with a slow tracking shot of Danny on his tricycle. The colours within the first shot are very light, almost pastel like and you see Danny go from the corridor (cold colours) to a room with a warmer tone, which may have deliberately been done to suggest him going from a good place to a bad place or mentality. Also, the non diegetic music (which is once again composed of string instruments) builds as he approaches the corner, which signifies to the viewer that there may be danger up ahead. The music continues to build as the camera tracks Danny around a corner (the camera is now closer and actively tracking him) and comes to a crescendo as you see the twins standing at the end of the corridor. A close up of Danny’s face shows his confusion and panic. The music now switches to a low pitch, which creates another binary opposite, with it going from a high pitched sound reflective of scratching nails, to a low sound which is reflective of lurking or stalking. This music was chosen to play in to the viewer’s fears of such topics. Then the twins both say “Hello Danny”. Normally their dialogue wouldn’t be scary or provoke any kind of fear in a person, but over time, young children are being used more and more with themes that you’d normally associate with much older people (like murder, possession etc.). For this reason, their dialogue is eerie, and is adds another binary opposite of innocent children and sinister themes to the film. The scene is compositionally well shot because the narrow corridor acts as leading lines, naturally leading your eyes into the scene and towards the twins, almost forcing you to look at them. Linking to this, the corridor seems small (maybe due to the specific lens used), which could play on people’s claustrophobia. This relates to the main aim of horror; invoke a negative response by playing with people’s fears or by creating new ones. There are very short cut away shots of the twins dead, blood splattered everywhere and an axe on the floor. These shots are only very short, but they immediately invoke fear in the audience, just because of the way they look. You associate blood with death and the colour red also naturally brings up ideas of murder, anger or revenge.

In summary, the two scenes I analysed use a combination of mise-en scene, connotations, technical aspects, genre conventions and actors performance to create a feeling of fear in the audience, and through the conventions the audience subconsciously picks up the directors intended ideas and meanings without much exposition.

Inglorious Basterds Scene Analysis

The scene starts with a backwards tracking shot of a man walking through a corridor. A lot of the scene's meaning is created through the mise-en-scene. For example, the man is dressed in a white army outfit. It is decorated with medals which shows the man's status and also that he is a man of honor. There are red roses at either side of the hallway, which gives a connotation of danger, maybe implying that something bad is about to happen. The colour red is a running theme throughout the scene. The scene then shows a sequence of detail shots that introduce the audience to a female character and also establishes what her role is through the shots of the film being run and her pulling a lever: she is in charge of projecting the film. Throughout the clip, there is music playing that is usually associated with other war films, and there are also diegetic sounds such as the film being played and the woman pulling the lever, which emphasizes the action.

Then there are a few close up shots of a man smoking a cigarette while watching the movie that has just been played by the woman. Due to the mise-en-scene, you can decode that the film is set during World War two, and you can assume that there is racial division during the film. He is alone, which may relate to his race, and not being allowed to see the film at the normal screening. Then there is a back tracking shot of him with the screen in front of him. The shot shows the man in relation to the screen, as we see him gazing up at it. You also see a pile of something, and the man is aware that it is there, so he may have put it there. This is followed up by a bird's eye shot of him with the pile, and he is highlighted by a spotlight, surrounded by darkness. This helps to show his isolation, and how lonely he seems. There is a progression throughout the last few shots, we start out with close up shots of the man, then we progress to mid shots and end up with this final bird's eye view of him, the pile and the screen.

Then we see the man from earlier walking up stairs, accompanied with a tilting shot. This is to show him ascend, and you can say that him walking up stairs shows him in a superior way. There is a red curtain to the man's left, which again you could argue is purposely included to represent love, passion or upcoming danger. The man walks with a very proud posture and gesture, which may indicate that he is a man of power, or of a high position. Also, the man straightens out his jacket before entering the room, which gives you a hint that he wants to make a good impression to whoever is in the room. This suggests that the character cares about the person or cares about his appearance.

Then the film cuts back to a shot of the woman earlier (also in a red dress). The shot is a mid reaction shot, showing how she responds to the door knocking. She looks distressed, which tells me that she either isn't expecting somebody, or is worried about who it could be.

Throughout the duration of the clip, music has been playing, and in this scene it crescendo's and then stops playing, setting up a very tense mood for the clip. This editing technique also allows you to focus solely on the dialogue between the two characters, rather than having to take in and pay attention to the other elements of the scene.

As Fredrick advances towards the woman, the camera tracks the characters movement, imitating it. This shows the movement but doesn't alter the focus on the two characters. Also, it helps to give a sense of how much he is intimidating her. Fredrick speaks in a bitter tone and with a harsh dialogue, suggesting that he is a person that she should be scared of, but the woman maintains a calm, collected tone and demeanor and ultimately it seems like she is more in control of the situation, outwitting him by shooting her. 

Reflection of Short Horror Sequence

The task was to create a horror themed sequence consisting of 10-12 shots with varying shot types and angles. The aim was to utilise the stereotypical genre conventions associated with genre films. My role was to film the shots and help with the editing along with Emily. The whole thing was shot in college and took about an hour and a half to edit.

The film starts with a shot involving the murder, but you just see a shadow of it happening. We decided to use the shadow because it allowed us to imply a murder without actually having to show it. Shadows are generally used a lot in horror films to imply a brutal or harsh action without having it on screen. Then we had a few close up cut away shots of a sign linking to the plot and a painting of a heart and blood, setting the tone for the sequence. These shots were foreshadowing, another feature common in horror films.
Anoher element we implemented in the film was the use of black and white, to add drama and mood to the shots. Black and white is sometimes used within not only horror for films in general to create a mood of eerieness, and to represent the unknown;  the colous aren't represented, therefore not 'painting the entire picture'. I also feel that black and white allows for more contrast between the light and dark areas, which I think worked well in our case.
We used a non linear narrative with flashbacks, which is a common element of modern horror films; somebody thinks about something bad that happened in the past. This also brings up the subject of memories, and adds a psychological element to the films, rather than just making it the run of the mill slasher.
We tried to have mostly long shots, extending past 5 seconds, which is commonly used to build suspense, and tension. During the shots of Emily walking up the stairs and along the corridor, you're not sure what to expect or when something big is going to happen. I feel like this worked in our favour because the aim of horror is to invoke a negative respons through shock, built up suspense and playing on the audiences fear.

Horror Genre

Horror

Horror is a genre that focuses on evoking a negative reaction from the viewer. It does this by trying to scare the audience, often by playing on common fears. The films often contain themes of violence, darkness and mystery.

Horror films are usually set in isolated, run down areas and the majority take place at night. They also may take place in areas with a dark history (like an abandoned hospital or a mansion rumoured to be haunted). The main point is that the settings usually carry the feeling of being alone or helpless so that when there is a bad situation, it is worsened by the fact that they can’t get help.

The way horror films are shot is often unusual and not natural or similar to other genres. Often slanted or low angles are used because they are the most unusual to humans. We are used to seeing the world straight on and from eye level, so going against this makes the viewer uncomfortable and gets them on edge. Another point about the camerawork is that they often incorporate handheld cameras because the natural shake from our hands adds to the ambiguity and may not give a clear picture of the monster, which deepens our fear of it.

The narrative structure of horror films usually contains some familiar components. There is a protagonist, somebody with good intentions who must go against the antagonist who usually has bad intentions. Another usual convention is that the antagonist has gone through an event or experience that has made them the way they are; their method of thinking is often explained and not just random. Sometimes they want revenge, and sometimes they are masterminds who want to release their ideas in a cynical way.

The characters within horror films mostly remain the same. You have the protagonist who is ‘morally good’ who must face their fears and go against the antagonist who is portrayed as ‘evil’. You then have the people who die, often through stupidity and ignorance. Usually these are teenagers and in this sense horror has a negative representation of teenagers, showing them as unwise. Then you have the authority, like police who may be good or bad, and this determines whether they are helpful or not to the protagonist. Another common character in horror is creepy children. They are used because it opposes the usual idea of children; they are sweet and cute.

A theme within horrors is psychology, especially with the more mature films. They raise the questions of whether all of us could become a bad person and also what makes a person go bad, a topic explored by the psychologist Zimbardo. It makes us (the viewers) question ourselves and whether we see parts in the antagonist or whether something like that could never happen to us.

Jurassic World

Jurassic World

Jurassic World was a huge box office success this year, cementing itself as the 3^rd highest grossing film of all time after Avatar and Titanic. Although the original is a classic, and will likely be watched by generations to come for it’s exciting new imagining of extinct creatures, some say that the huge success of Jurassic World is due to the fact that it’s prequels, Jurassic Park 2&3 were under whelming. Compared to the original masterpiece, its two sequels failed to capture audiences like the original and were in this sense, a big let down. So although making a reboot to such a beloved franchise may have seemed like a crazy idea, Jurassic World really only had to surpass it’s more recent predecessors.

Also, you can accredit the success of the film to the huge technological advancements in film making since the first film. With such a bold vision, creating a film about something that no longer exists, Steven Spielberg really did need to pull out all the stops back in 1993 to make the film look as legitimate as possible, so that the film didn’t just look fake. Now, with new cameras, CGI technology and much better editing software, the creators could start to advance and provide a much more realistic looking and coherent imagining to the extinct creatures. Better technology means bigger fights, more believable animals and more high-octane action. These are all big factors in summer movie’s success.

Usually when people are talking about a film’s success, they are talking about how much it grossed in its first week or how well it sold in comparison to its budget. Film success can also be based on reviews, but of course this is variable between people. While the film may satisfy the avid summer film lover who loves action, it may not be quite the same film in the eyes of a harsh film critic who prefers the lower key Oscar nominated films. People tend to focus on the amount the film made because it’s a solid figure, no variables, just facts.

Jurassic World also did well because it has drawn in a very wide audience. As well as being a must watch for the slightly older people who were around when the original hit the cinemas who love the series, it also has a whole new, younger audience that may not have even seen the original films. I think this is evident when you see figures that show the original films having a boost in views after Jurassic World was released. Teenagers may watch the film and like it, and then go back and watch the previous instalments.

As stated on www.cnbc.com, “About half the tickets sold were for 3-D screenings, which cost several dollars more than traditional screenings”. With it being such a big, grand film, people want to see it in the best way possible, 3D. 3D is a popular option with summer blockbusters, as it adds another layer of excitement to the film. Dinosaurs jumping out the screen, bullets flying out of the screen, it all makes for a much more submersive experience that makes the audience feel more impacted by the film and want to re-watch it.

Sources:

http://www.cinemablend.com/reviews/Jurassic-World-66602.html

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/15/why-and-how-jurassic-world-broke-records.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurassic_World

Favourite Film of the Summer

Favourite Summer Film

My favourite film this summer was Straight Outta Compton, directed by F. Gary Gray. The movie is a biopic centred on the former rap group NWA who were making music from 1986 to 1991 and the film covers the period from 1986 to 1996.

The film depicts the rise of gangster rap, police brutality in America, racism, and partially sexism. The first thing that drew me to the film was my interest in the music. Also the fact that it’s a chance to see how two well-known figures in current media (Dr Dre and Ice Cube) came to the spotlight.

When watching the film, I was hit with instant blunt violence and from that point onwards, my attention was held. There are slow points within the film but they are always adding to the story and are followed by a big event. As somebody who knew the story of NWA before seeing the movie, nothing was new but for somebody who is less familiar, some plot points would definitely shock them.

The soundtrack to the film features old school tracks from NWA’s albums and also newer songs from Dr Dre’s albums. It’s a perfect accompaniment to the film and represents not only Compton, but Los Angeles as a whole.

The film is not heavily edited, and where there are chunks of editing, it’s usually to add drama to a scene or to enhance the sequence artistically. An example of this is the opening scene, where Eazy-E is dealing and the police use a battering ram to break down the door. The sequence shows E running through the house frantically trying to escape, and when he does, the title of the film hits with a black screen. The way it’s edited makes it dramatic and portrays a bold statement, ‘This is Compton”.

I thought that the acting was good for the most part, but I thought that Paul Giamatti could have been better. I think that his character was desperate and absolutely needed NWA, and this wasn’t portrayed to its full potential in the film. There are many dynamics to the story and different subplots that branch off the main story.

Coming in to this movie, I was wondering how the cinematographers would attempt to make a movie set in the ghetto look good, but they pulled it off. The movie looks visually very good, while retaining the rough, torn apart feel of Compton.

The film is a story of triumph and friendship. Compton is one of the most dangerous places to live in America and to see people get out of it and become internationally known superstars was very motivating. You leave the cinema smiling, and the film credits incorporates real life clips of NWA and other significant associates (Eminem, Kendrick Lamar), which gives the film a sense of validity.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the film, notably for the cinematography, acting and the fact that it sticks to the facts.