The Shining aob3 / aob2

The shining is a book written by 'the master of horror' Steven King, it was made in 1980 and directed by Stanley Kubrick.
Jack Nicholson stars and tormented writer Jack Torrance who accepts the job of the winter caretaker at a hotel at the top of a mountain, which always gets snowed in during the winter, when the hotel is closed. While his family looks around the hotel, the psychic hotel chef discovers the psychic abilities of Jack's son Danny, who can detect ghostly presences in the hotel, this ability is called "the shining". When the hotel becomes snowbound, Jack Torrance is driven mad by the ghosts in the hotel, and he tries to murder his wife and son.
the structure of th film is liner like most films. this means that the film has a begining, middle and end or to be more technical it has an exhibition, complication, climax and resolution.
exhibition
the scene where the cook introduces the family to the house gives the chance for us to understand the setting and who the characters are. we learn about how the previous caretaker got cabin fever and killed his family and himself during the long winter in which the hotel is entirely isolated. we also learn that the child has 'the shining'
complication

one of the first complication appears in the start of the film where we discover that the child has an imaginary friend called Tony who lives in his finger.
climax

the climax is the highest point in the film and features near the end before the situation is resolved so the axe scene with the famous heres johnny quote would be this and soon the family will escape to the maze where we have the resolution.

resolution

the story is resolved when the family gets away from the house and jack freezes in the maze. this can be seen as open ended as it is not clear that jack is dead and the family may have got away but they could face another deadly encounter in a sequel. there was not sequel to this film but the ending gave the producers a chance to make another
at the time of making, the steadicam had recently been invented, therefore the directer used it a lot which created a distinctive style. The steadicam is a tool used to make a camera steady when in motion so if there was an uneven surface then the camera would remain still and there would be no wobbling. the fact that the camera is constantly moving creates suspense and discomfort. a dolley track could have been used in the film but it would not work because of the setting. a dolley track is used for such things as car chases and if it was used in a house you would see the track on the floor.

there is a interesting form of film making used in this film

most films do not happen in real time but they cut down the time line so you only see the important parts of the story. in the shining several months are summed up in 2 hours and you are shown this through breaks in the film were you are told the day and you see a long shot of the hotel, you see that every time there is more snow surrounding the hotel each time and when we get the the finally there is a struggle to get through the snow to escape. the use of titles tells us the story before it happens so this can be seen that jacks future has already been determined. stanley kuberics style of direction was influanced by german film maker Max Ophüls who died in 1957

deux ex machina is a plot device in which a surprising or unexpected event occurs in a story's plot and this film is full of these events, one example would be the famous scene where jacks wife sees that all the work that jack has been writing has in fact been the same line over and over "all work and no play makes jack a dull boy" then later the wife has to fend jack off with a baseball bat.

macguffins motivate the characters or advances the story so an example of that is when we see a photograph of jack from 1921 and creates a mystery of if he has always been the caretaker of the hotel the character gets worried and starts to think the same thoughts of the audience, they could believe that jack is a reincarnation of the previous caretaker so the murderous events will just repeat themselves.

the reason why jack nichoson was casted in the film is because the main character has a similar story as his role in the 1975 film one flew over the cookoo's nest and this is because both characters both become made slowly thoughout the film. The casting of jack means that audiences from his other work will be attracted to this film espesially after they hear of the characters connections. Also an audience will be attracted from the fans of steven king and his book that the film is based on. plus fans of the directer will also be attracted.

i have chosen to look chosly at the iconic scene where jack chops through a door with an axe and shoots 'heres jonny!'. his wife has locked herself in the bathoom to get away from the murderous man. once he has made a hole in the door he tries toopen it with the handle but his wife cuts him with a knife, he continues to break down the door so his wife tries to escape through the window. this scene is made with a lot of suspence as the door features as an obsticle for the scene to be longer and keep the audience on the edge of there seat. but the audience would get bored if nothing happened besides the repetitive swinging of the axe so we see the wife trying to escape with her son and transitions to jacks actions. Also jack quotes the nursury ryme of the 3 little pigs and it is showing the scale of madness the situation has escalated to.

there is an interesting use of film making in this scene as there are good camera angled used. instead of getting the action in the shot the director has used good angles to show the fear on the wife's face as the axe comes through the door. also the camera pans as jack swings his axe and this adds to the force and power of the swinging. the camerawork can also be seen as thrashing. I like the shot from outside in which we see a long shot of the house, a large pile of snow, and danny as he escapes through the window. the contrast between the light and darkness looks good and given an interesting atmosphere, which is cold and dark.

the use of sound is good because there is no backing track besides the faint low hum that adds atmosphere. the diegetic sound of screaming and the crackling of wood along with the impact of the axe is the main sound that create sound and it does is so well there is no need for music.

the axe itself is an iconic feature of a horror movie. it is a deadly weapon that has a sinister effect which is shown by jack as he chops down the door.

when watching the scene i see that the wife locks herself in the bathroom which has the word redrum on the door which is murder spelt backwards. the bathroom is small and clostrophobic which can be seen as an iconic micro feature put there by the director. viewer who look closely and notice this would expect the wife to be killed in this room as she is trapped in the small environment.