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The Shining Movie Analysis

The Shining is a psychological horror movie produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, co-written with novelist Diane Johnson, and starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Scatman Crothers, and Danny Lloyd. The film is based on the Stephen King novel The Shining.

When society goes bad, horror films get good, and the 1970s marked a return to the big budget, respectable horror film, dealing with contemporary societal issues, addressing genuine psychological fears. Released in 1980, The Shining was released in the same time period as horror movies such as The Exorcist, Stepford Wives, The Omen, and Carrie. These films were physcological horrors, creating fear that horror could be around you. Whether it be your sister, father or someone you know, they brought horror into the audience's personal lives, creating a more believable storyline. This theme dominates the 1970s, as the crumbling family unit becomes the source of much fear and mistrust. This time around 'the enemy within' is not a shape shifting alien from another planet altogether. This time the enemy is to be found in your own home. Released on the brink of the 1980's, where special effects transformed horror movies with technology, it created the then-largest ever set at Elstree Studios, and spent over a year shooting on it, was filmed in various hotels and in order to give The Overlook a specific identity, Kubrick used Native American designs in the carpets and stained glass windows.


A man, his son and wife become the winter caretakers of an isolated hotel where Danny, the son, sees disturbing visions of the hotel's past using a telepathic gift known as "The Shining". The father, Jack Torrance, is underway in a writing project when he slowly slips into insanity as a result of cabin fever and former guests of the hotel's ghosts. After being convinced by a waiter's ghost to "correct" the family, Jack goes completely insane. The only thing that can save Danny and his mother is "The Shining".

Blakemore takes a predominantly metaphorical approach to the film, arguing that hidden meaning is to be found beneath the surface, and that that hidden meaning, when discovered in an individual scene or character, can then be applied to the film as a whole. For example, he finds the scene immediately after Jack kills Hallorann as particularly significant in a metaphorical sense. Blakemore argues that the long shot showing the grinning Jack standing over Hallorann's bleeding body, which is lying across a rug decorated with an Indian motif, is a metaphor for the violence perpetrated by white people over black people and Indians in America.

Blakemore works to connect different aspects of the film which may not initially seem connected at all. For example, he argues that the reference to Indian burial ground and the river of blood flowing from the elevator are intimately tied together;

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the first and most frequently seen of the film's very real American "ghosts" is the flooding river of blood that wells out of the elevator shaft, which presumably sinks into the Indian burial ground itself. The blood squeezes out in spite of the fact that the red doors are kept firmly shut within their surrounding Indian artwork embellished frames. We never hear the rushing blood. It is a mute nightmare. It is the blood upon which this nation, like most nations, was built, as was the Overlook Hotel.

The Shining was the first film to use Steadicam, creating a spooky stalking-like effect as it follows the little boy around the hotel. The soundtrack of the movie consists of arty, classical, contemporary music, whilst using high pitched screeching sounds to emphasise fearful and mysterious events. In one scene, the sound of a heart beat is used to build tension.

Common iconography used in horror movies feature in The Shining, such as scenes of blood as it gushes through the hall, the haunted setting of the movie and weapons such as knives, bats and axes. Because of these features and the creepy, mysterious and ghostly characters, this film is a prime example of a typical horror movie. It includes blood and graphic injuries as well as presenting the theme of horror psychologically through the possessed and mad characters.

The Shining also uses alot of 'tunnel vision' when Danny (the son) is biking around the hotel. This makes the viewer seem inclosed and small, giving them the view from his lower point of view, and making them feel smaller in stature and trapped.

Mirrors around the hotel are used to progress the plot. The mirrors and their reflections act like another realm, where the truth is revealed. The father is often shown through a mirror, this shows how his insanity is hidden and that his family see something different to what he revealed to be. It also shows the audience that this character, in the beginning of the film, is not really the character he presents himself to be . In one scene, the theme of sex and desire is present as the father watches a naked lady get out of a bath and they begin to kiss.

Looking in the mirror revealed the truth, that the lady was indeed an old mouldy zombie-like body. The most notable use of mirror reflection is when the little boy writes “redrum” on a door, with the mirror exposing the word “murder”. The mirror again reveals the truth and is an object of horror.

The wife becomes the 'final girl' halfway through the film, where she realises Jack's intentions to murder herself and her son. Typically innocent and pure, she services her husbands every whim and need, does not speak out of line, and also has an asexual nature to her; being covered up and not sexually promiscuous. Carol Clover's theory states that the final girl takes a masculine approach as confrontation with the killer is made. This is normally done by the female holding a weapon, such as a knife, against the killer. She is made the hero of the slasher, after surviving and surrounded by her friends’ corpses. This is present in The Shining as she plucks up the courage to defend herself against her husband by the use of a bat, and escapes with her son, leaving the victims behind. She, however, is still throughout portrayed as a weak character, screaming and flailing about, and leaving it till the last minute to come to her son's and her own rescue. This gives the villain, Jack, more power over her and the audience.

Clover expresses her view that many horror movies lead viewers through the killer’s perspective and eventually changes, letting us follow the final girl, which I feel is also shown in the narrative of The Shining.

In The Shining,Stanley Kubrick shoots wide shots from both directions, a 180 degree flip, crossing the line. This makes the viewer feel apart of the shot, as if they are included in between the characters and are able to see the whole picture, without any hidden secrets.

A screen shot The Shining and is used to illustrate a technical topic in cinematography relating to the 180 degree rule. In professional productions, the applied 180-degree rule is an essential element for a style of film editing called continuity editing.

Villain
Jack is portrayed first as a man who puts work before his family, before becoming a villain by becoming a maniac.

Victim/Hero
Jack's wife is firstly a victim of the villain's plot, but also ultimately a hero in the film.

Victim/Donor/Prince
A victim of Jack's plot, but also a donor as he possess physic powers, explained to him by the dispatcher (Hallorann). He is also the prince, as he is the object of the victim's schemes, and his safety is the reward for the mother.

Dispatcher/Helper

Hallorann is the helper as he warns the mother of the hotel's dark past, looks after her, and also starts to warn her about Jack. He is plays the part of the dispatcher as he tells Danny (the son) of his 'shining' powers, and sends him on his way to discovering the secrets of the hotel.

Due to The Shining containing limited character's, they each play several parts in Propp's character type theory. This gives each character more dimensional and more purpose within the narrative.

However, it is arguable who the villain in the narrative is. Some may say that the hotel is the villain because until the family move into the hotel they live a normal life, however others may argue that it is Jack.

The Overlook hotel in flames at the end of the movie - the real villain?

Binary opposition is also present. This film contains the theme of good/evil. The 'good' being presented as the loving, innocent, caring, doting mother who caters for her family's every whim and the innocent, playful son who does what he is told. The 'bad', of course, is played by the workaholic, relapsed alcoholic who has been previously violent towards the son. It also has the opposition of power; the weak characters - the mother and the child - being pitted against the powerful - the father. Females and children are often seen as weaker and defenceless, whereas males are seen as powerful leaders in the stereotypical society at the time when this film was released.

However, the binary oppositions between the living and the dead are blurred in a surreal way, which makes it hard to gauge the relevance of the image of Jack in the aged crowd in the final shot. The distinction between the real and imaginary is also unclear. This makes you think about where the boundaries lie, which therefore makes you consider various interpretations of events depending on how you define the binary oppositions. (eg, in deciding that all of Jack's visions are fake you make decide that Jack is evil). This makes the Levi-Strauss theory very useful when analysing The Shining.

Ending shot

The Shining follows the typical narrative structure outlined by Todorov. It follows the 'classic realist' narrative structure as the equilibrium is shown at the start of the film, the enigma of change/event is introduced in the form of the hotel, followed by the pathway to the resolution (involving the maddening of Jack and the chase) ending with the closure of a funeral (Jack's) and the escape.

However, Jack isn't a typical hero which complicates the part of the theory when the hero meets the agent of change, because Jack himself (although he is the main character) is not the hero, and so it is in fact the villain (or villain-to-be) who meets the agent of change. Plus, not all questions the audience may have had are resolved by the end of the film, therefore it could be said that the audience never reaches closure. This is due to the movie not being able to include everything which is included in the book format, so the audience is left with loose ends.

The Loved Ones trailer analysis

The Loved Ones is the first feature film for short filmmaker Sean Byrne. The Ambience Entertainment production was completely shot in Melbourne, Victoria. The film stars Xavier Samuel,Jessica McNamee, Robin McLeavy and Richard Wilson.

It was originally given an 18+ by the Australian Classification Board, but through an appeal by the Review Board, the rating was successfully overturned and given an 15+ due to the comedy aspect of the film, mitigating the sadistic aspect and impact of the violence.

"Lola Stone asked Brent Mitchell to the prom, but Brent said no, and now he's screwed. What happens when Lola doesn't get what she wants? She enlists Daddy's help to throw a prom of her own where she is queen and Brent is king, whether he likes it or not. The Loved Ones is what happens when puppy love goes horribly, violently wrong. Brent should have said yes." -- (C) Paramount


This trailer consists of roughly 109 shots, which is alot compared to most trailers which average at around 60, but this could be due to it's slightly longer time of 2:33, whereas most other horror trailers come in at around 1:30. I feel this longer trailer is due to it spending half of the trailer appearing as a normal film, using longer shots, and getting you to know the characters, in comparison to the usual horror movie trailer which aims to shock, scare and intrigue the viewer as quickly as possible.

The shots are fast paced from the start, although paired with vibrant music and usual happenings on-screen, this creates an excitement, rather than panic, especially as the subject being discussed is prom night. There is also a sense of comedy in the first half, with scenes such as the guy failing to impress his date by sliding off of his car. This contrasts with the dark, heavy mood usually produced by horror movie trailers.

Comedy element added to first half of film by the 'donor'

Dialogue is heavily present in the first half, with it guiding the trailer through, and introducing you to the main characters. Shots with the dialogue included are typically longer and static, including lots of 'over the shoulder' shots, so the viewer is placed in the third person.

One of the many 'over the shoulder' shots - third person effect.

The fast paced shots are usually flashes, or one second pieces, but it creates a buzz and an excitement, as apposed to the fear usually connotated with horror movies.

The film dramatically changes it's mood when the villain asks the hero to go to the dance with her, and he denies, as he is already going with someone else. Music stops, and then a more typically horror score is played. She is then introduced as the villain stalker as the hero meets up with the heroine (his girlfriend),  and she is caught staring outside of their car at them making out.

A medium close up of the villain standing directly outside the car, with the scene cut right after the couple's intimate exchange.

Propp's character theory emerges heavily in this trailer. We have the hero played by the lead male, the stalker as the villain. These two character roles typically become the main in the film industry and this trailer follows this. The 'princess' is placed in the form of the hero's girlfriend, with the villain/stalker seeking out to hurt her by hurting the hero. The role of the father is placed on the villain's side, with him helping her with her wishes instead of assisting the hero. The donor could of said to be the hero's best friend, with him providing comedy in the trailer and also persuading him to go to the dance, thus prompting on his adventure or path.

'hero'

'donor'

'princess/heroine'

'father'

'villain'

This trailer heavily targets it's film towards the teenage audience market. Within the first few seconds there is a scene of the heroine in her underwear, and it is also firstly set in a school and the characters are teenage, with a teenage event being gossiped about - all things that teenagers can relate to. In the first half of the trailer to draw the male teenage audience members in they have included a shot of the heroine in her underwear, a make-out scene, and also a lingering close up trailing up a female's body to grab their attention. It puts the female's as objects, giving them little dialogue in the trailer, which plays up to the male fantasy.

The heroine is shown in her underwear for no explained reason.

The donor/hero's best friend appears as senselessly drunk, vulnerable and slutty.

This is typical of horror movies, where the female is placed as a side character or object, with the male taking lead, however it is also atypical in the fact that it places the villain as a woman, whereas conventually it is a man. The film hands the power over to the female gender, and therefore scares the male audience entrapped by the enticing scenes in the first half - they get a glimpse of the 'good' side of girls and then are shocked with the 'evil' side of them.

After the kidnapping, shots become longer, leaving the viewer hanging to know what has happened and provoking interest. It also allows time for the side-characters, such as the heroine to see that the hero is missing and dialogue is lastly a main feature in this area.

This is the area where Todorov's narrative theory comes into play. The equilibrium controls the first half of the trailer, and then halfway through the event and the recognition of the event occurs - the kidnapping and the discovery of the missing male lead. Later in the trailer, it shows the character pleading, which could be said as being the attempt to fix the event, and also the heroine playing hero by contacting people to let them know about the abduction.

A blur effect is used to describe the hero's awakening, which gives viewers a feeling of confusion, and being in a drugged and dazed state. The shot is also shown through the characters eyes, which connects them directly with the hero. The shots from here-forth mainly include the audience as part of the scene, making them feel the emotions of the characters, rather than just watching them as a passer by.

Shots putting the viewer in the victims point of view, increasing threat.

Shots stay long and static during this time to allow the viewer to adjust to the transition in mood, scenery
and direction of the trailer. It sets up a completely different story. Dialogue is shortened and consists of orders at this point, slowly increasing the threat. Extreme close ups are used to heighten the terror and focus in on the lead characters emotions to really hammer them into the audience and help share them with the viewers.

The majority of shots in the second half of the trailer are shot from underneath - this makes the audience feel powerless, below the subject on screen and weaker, further placing them in the position of the victim/hero.

The first half of film is a usual movie trailer, with no horror conventions are present, which tricks you into believing that this is a film about prom and a romance. The villain is introduced halfway through, and from that point the music changes, as do the shots and it introduces the usual horror conventions
setting in set early on - school, teenage horror movie. It sets the viewer up for a typical high school horror movie, such as Prom Night, which focuses on the Slasher genre with killings surrounding prom.

Although, it pauses halfway through, changing location and narrowing characters down as to increase tension. This draws it away from the conventional teen slasher movie that the viewer was expecting during the first half of the movie, and they are left shocked by the gory second half, which would attract
 horror fans more to watch this movie, as the teen slasher movie has become overplayed in recent years.

three quarters of the way through the trailer, shots begin to dramatically speed up.

Battle Royale trailer analysis

Battle Royale is a Japanese horror/thriller movie released in 2000. Japan is notoriously known for being critical of their youths, filling their lives with rules and also expecting alot from them. Japan also is a country of vast population in a dense area, so I feel that this trailer (and thus the film) is a backlash to this. It's a story of the people in power going too far with the rules, and also plays on the competition that comes with having a over-populated country. I would argue that this trailer puts the movie into the action horror sub-genre, with it also including on the psychological side by playing on the characters and viewer's fears of the parental figure going askew and the fear of the ones you hold close turning against you. The film aroused both domestic and international controversy, and was either banned outright or deliberately excluded from distribution in several countries

As is usual, the production companies trailers are shown at the beginning. These last less than two seconds as are uninteresting to the audience. However, sometimes these can be reflective of the style of film in the way that they are shown. The second logo, I feel, is representative. It doesn't scream 'horror', but it does signify the strictness of japan, and also the harsh school environment and the rules that are explained in the first half of the trailer.

A production company logo.

I feel that within the first six seconds, there is alot of foreshadowing. It starts by showing the student laughing, enjoying good times, and then they enter a dark tunnel, with no visible light at the end, which ends up becoming the subject of the movie and what becomes obvious to the students at a later time.

The starting equilibrium.

Foreshadowing by the tunnel with no light at the end.

The trailer first introduces us to the equilibrium, the students laughing on the bus; a school field trip. It descends into darkness, and then the event occurs and we are introduced to the main character, who is then knocked out by a parental figure of power. The main character recognises the event before the other student due to this, but the event is explained to the viewer, and the characters, through a teacher telling them that they are to play a game to kill each other. This therefore creates panic, and the trailer proceeds with the characters attempting to fix the event, by shooting and bloodily killing each other in fast succession, or playing the game, in other words. Therefore, this film does follow Todorov's theory of films having a defined narrative structure.

Shots, as with the majority of horror trailers, start out longer; in the first half they are around three seconds long each, as this gives the audience time to identify and get acquainted with the characters and the story. Shots in the first half are mainly either long shots or medium close ups, with them being static in movement. I feel the dramatic change of shots comes when the teacher announces the 'Battle Royale', and the camera pan around him - this gives the viewer a sense of things revolving around that man, and also of him being in power, and of course disorientating the audience.

After this break, a soundtrack is introduced which completely contrasts with the nature of what is being displayed on-screen; a piano classical piece to accompany the story of death. I feel this is to make the movie appear even more creepier, by re-enforcing that to some, this is just a 'game', and it gives an odd sense of calm to the audio, while the visual is dramatic. Shots from this point on become faster, they increase tempo, and also rely more heavily on ECU's to display fear in the character's faces, and there is also alot more movement in the scenes, which again speeds up the drama and threat.

An action shot with the camera tracking the character.

Dialogue is not used during the second half of the movie, with it focusing on the chase and action scenes with the sounds being provided by the soundtrack/score and also by the explosions and gun shots shown on screen through diegetic sound. The break in this comes right before the end, where the score cuts out and it closes in on a scene of two girls promising that they'll always be friends. This, however, is followed by a dramatic use of light in an close up of a female shining a light underneath her chin, and giving the camera a malevolent look, creating a creepy image straight after this heartfelt promise, which makes the viewer think this promise is hopeless, and gives the movie as a whole a desperate, hopeless feel.

Sound is this trailer is mainly non-diegetic, with it being provided by a soundtrack and a score placed on top of the clips to enhance the mood. There is dialogue in the trailer, but it is mainly asynchronous, closing in on the students expressions to the speech than the speaker.

In the trailer, Propp's theory is not fully recognised  In watching the trailer, the villain's are the people in power (teachers and the government), the hero is portrayed as the victim in the first half of the trailer, but is shown as more courageous during the second half, the helper and the princess are the same person, and can be seen in one scene running with held hands, and also the dispatcher is the same person as the villain  the evil teacher also sends them on their 'quest' to kill each other. It seems like these character types can be applied, yet not in the conventional way.

'hero'

'princess'

'victims'

'villian/donor'

The trailer is 1.44 minutes long, and within it contains 64 shots. In the beginning the shots are longer than usual for a trailer, as they set up the equilibrium, and then they get faster and faster as the trailer progresses, getting the viewer's senses heightened. However, throughout the trailer there are several longer shots, for example, a close up of a female raising a gun with a smile on her face, and these are always followed by a rapid succession of shots, in this case the outcome, and this works to disturb and shock the viewer. To slow things down and then speed things up leaves the viewer never knowing what's going to happen. At most, these lingering shots are still only 2 seconds long, as to not lose the viewer's attention.

In this trailer, the Claude Levi-Strauss theory is not completely present. The good/evil argument is not present because the ability to rebel is taken away. If looked at from afar, you could place the teacher at the beginner, who makes the students play the game, as the evil force, however it is still the students who are doing the killing. There is however a binary opposition; student/teachers or the young/old, which further scares the viewer as it takes a parental figure as the villain.

There is no obvious 'final girl' shown in the trailer, only glimpses of a female shown with the main character. However, this film does go against the gender stereotypes of females being the weak character's in horror movies, with several scenes in the trailer showing females killing and smiling whilst doing so, thus becoming the villain.

 It turns the violent slasher movies of the 70s, which contain mainly killings of helpless women on their head, with the females being in equal statures of power as the males. I feel that therefore the audience does not connect with the females in the trailer, but instead with the main male character, as he is the most repeated character in the trailer.

This film portrays the females as equivalent to males, with their being no typical 'male gaze' as commonly associated with horror movies, and the females shown are not shown as sexual objects. However, the females doing the fighting and ones getting injured are the more powerful characters, and also the more sexually attractive and outspoken, which fits in with the theory that those who stray outside of conservatism are the ones first to die.

 The final girl (the princess), shown in the trailer with scenes running with the male, is pure and innocent and so escapes with the aid of the hero, which thus portrays the 'final girl' as weak and helpless, which contrasts with the other strong females shown in the film.

The hero/victim with the weak, innocent 'final girl'/princess.

Scenes/locations are changed during the second half of the trailer in almost every shot, with the result becoming a jumpy effect, jumping from one location and event to another, giving the audience the feeling of multiple events happening at once, and also the feeling of no escape, heightening the fear. This jumpy cut effect however, conflicts with the music used at the time, which is classical. As I explained before, I feel this is done to disturb the audience, and give the feeling of something that's highly unusual and wrong a sense of normality and peace, which also confuses the viewer and leaves them further wanting to watch the movie. Again, during the second half of the movie, the camera is highly mobile. Several of the shots are tracking and panning shots, increasing the speed of the trailer and also the panic. They focus of following the characters through the scene, or following their actions.

An ECU of a character during an action scene.

There is no 'past' shown in this trailer, no dark reason for this game to be happening, nor a reason, which goes against the genre conventions, but makes the audience wonder as to why this is happening, and adds threat to the viewer, who would most likely be teen; the teenage audience is the biggest for the horror genre. The teen connects with the teen characters on screen, and thus senses a real threat. However, the majority of the trailer is shot at night, and on an isolated island so it follows, more than challenges, these conventions.

Throughout the first half of the film, static cuts is used alongside the movie clips about it 'never been seen before' and it being 'controversial', which makes the viewer want to see it to see whether it lives up to the promised hype. The background on these stills is of a broken glass effect tainted in dark red, which runs with the usual horror conventions of pain and darkness.

The halfway point is sectioned by a large period of black in the trailer, immediately after the title of the movie 'Battle Royale' is announced by the villain, connecting the idea of the movie and also of the 'game' with darkness and hopelessness.

The static shots continue through the second half, although with the broken mirror effect instead forming the stamp formation 'BR', the logo for the 'game' and appearing almost military. Quotes and sentence reviews are shown in equal sections again in the second trailer, from famous, trustworthy sources, which again heightens the viewers expectations for the movie.

It ends by explaining the rules of the game, '42 students', '3 days' '1 surviour', to sharply shock the viewer and wind the trailer down, leaving them again with the sense of hopelessness and a feeling of direty to the situation. This is contrasted with the scene played out at the very end, with the two female friends promising to always be friends, of course, which the viewer has learnt will never happen as ultimately at least one of them will have to die or kill the other.

The title of the film is shown at the end, as with typical with horror movies. In capitals the words 'Battle Royale' are presented on a background of black, with the faded 'BR' logo appearing in the background, appearing bright in red against the black. Red and black are commonly the main colours used in conventional horrors as red connotes blood, violence and anger, whereas black connotes evil, sadness and death, which both relate and connect to this movie.