The shining was a film released in 1980, directed by Stanley Kubrick. The shining tells the story of a writer, Jack Torrance, who accepts the job as the winter caretaker at a hotel that always gets snowed in during the winter. Whilst his family look around the hotel during the day, the hotel staff leaves. Danny's psychic abilities, or "shining," are discovered by the hotel chef. The shining is the ability to see things in the future or past, such as the ghosts of murdered people in the hotel. When the hotel becomes snowbound, Jack Torrance trades his soul for a drink, and, on the advice of a ghostly butler who did the same, tries to murder his wife and son.
I watched an extract from the film and analysed the mise-en-scene. At the start of the clip the audience hears extra-diegetic sound of wind. Wind sound denotes the scene as being spooky and eerie to the viewer. The first shot of the clip is a mid shot of a man talking. Throughout this clip the camera does not move making the audience pay full attention to what is being said.
When the audience first sees the male character, he is wearing a blue shirt underneath a red jacket. The red jacket denotes the sign of blood, death and hell to the viewer. This could also tell the viewer that he may have been planning to go out side. The blue colour of the shirt makes the red fabric of the jacket stand out because the colours clash together. In doing this, Kubrick has led the viewer to believe that this could be a bad character.
The lighting in the scene is shown as low, dim and dark giving the impression of menace and fear. Around the male character are shadows. The closed door is illuminated by the lamp, making it lighter than the other objects in the shot. Consequently, when the male character is shown standing in front of the door, his shadow creates a dark and menacing silhouette. The lighting looks realistic; the lighting angle giving the impression that the room is being lit by a lamp.
In the first scene the male character uses large facial expressions to demonstrate his feelings, almost looking like an actor from the silent movies. He uses exaggerated eye brow movement to show the emotions of the character. He does not move his body, just his face. His eyes never leave the door, giving the impression that he his watching the female character behind the closed the door. The male character uses the well know story of the Three Little Pigs to terrorise the female character. He uses a deep voice that is very quite and soft at the begging of the shot but then becomes louder as the scene progresses. His voice and facial expression give this fairy tale a very sinister feeling. The role is completely believable.
The second shot is of the female character that is in the bathroom. The bathroom is a small place but is shown as being very bright. The female character is wearing light coloured clothing to give the impression to the audience of her innocence. The woman is shown to be very pale in the face demonstrating how scared she is of the male character.
The lighting in the bathroom is very even and there are no bold shadows in the location. It is a stark, bright light in comparison to the lighting used in the previous scene. The cold effect of the light and the expression on her face tells the audience that she is terrified. The lighting looks realistic throughout the shot.
The viewer hears very little sound from the woman. The only diegetic sound is of the knife being grabbed from the bathroom sink. The extra diegetic sound of the music becomes very eerie, making the viewer feel anxious. The sound used plays a big role in the scene because it builds tension and atmosphere.
Camera angles play a major part in this shot because they show the fear in the woman. The camera tracks the left hand throughout the shot. Her left hand is in the centre of the scene the whole time. This use of camera angle allows the audience to clearly see the woman use her left hand to snatch the knife from the sink. It uses eye line match between the shots of the male character and the female character on either side of the door.
This bathroom is a very small and confined space. This makes the viewer feel small and trapped by the sound of the man ranting the other side of the door. This scene could have been filmed in a real location as the set used was very realistic.
The female character plays a very realistic role. Her facial expressions and body language make her appear to be terrified through the shot. When she grabs the knife, she is seen to move very fast and with force. The viewer can see the panic in her eyes as she makes a grab the knife. By the end of the shot you can feel her fear and panic as she buries her head into the corner of the wall as if trying to hide herself.
The third shot is a continuation of the first shot showing the male character. The music used in this shot is very unnatural with high and low pitches of musical instruments. The sound gets louder and louder reflecting his voice getting louder and louder. The male characters voice gets deeper in pitch as he talks. This makes the viewer feel small and weak in comparison the male character. When he first swings the axe into the wooden door you can hear the cracking of the wood. As the wood splinters you can hear the woman scream “nooo”. This is repeated another three times in this shot. The wood cracking makes the viewer think the woman has not got a chance of survival and it gives the viewer a feeling of being chased and trapped and of needing to escape – causing an adrenalin rush.
The costume used, along with the use of the prop of an axe, showed the male character dressed as a lumberjack. The costume looks like it has been worn for sometime as it looked un-ironed.
The lighting in this shot is from a bed side lamp making a soft light. The light given off from the bed side lamp is a reddish colour, lighting the walls with red light. This has an impact on the audience because red gives the impression of death, blood and hell. The back lighting from the lamp makes the male character look dark and sinister.
Camera angles are used very effectively in this shot. The first shot is of the male character facing the door; the audience can now see that the character has the intention of smashing through the door. A side shot of the character is used while the camera is panning with the axe as it is travelling through the air. When the axe hits the wood the camera shakes and comes to an abrupt stop to give the impression of how much force is being used to cut through the door.
The male characters’ body language is very aggressive and can be seen as being a psychotic. His eyes are very wide and when he is axing the door his expression makes him look like he is enjoying it. The viewer has no sympathy for the male character because he is being aggressive towards a woman. The role is very believable; the posture of the male character is seen as aiming an axe aggressively.
After the axing of the door we see the female character still in the corner of the bathroom crying for help. The sounds used throughout the shot give the atmosphere of extreme tension. The viewer can hear three multiple sounds. Firstly, the woman was screaming for help; secondly, the sound of wood cracking from the blows of the axe and finally, the music playing. The woman screaming makes the viewer feel scared and upset. The sounds and the images of the wood cracking play a big role in this shot. From the start of the shot the wood cracking is a thud, by the end the wood sounds like its tearing apart. The extra-diegetic sound of the music builds tension in the clip. In doing this the viewer feels more scared about what’s happening.
The woman is evenly lit from one side, to create a more 3D look to the face, and thus making her emotions clearer to the viewer. The lighting is hard - there lots of hard edges in the scene.
The camera does not move at all in this shot which shows just the door and the woman in the frame. The female characters’ body language in the shot is terrifying to watch. Her emotions are very realistic. You can see so much fear in her eyes while she is screaming as the axe smashes through the wood next to her.
In the last shot we return to the male character. After the male character has made the hole in the door, beams of light from the bathroom shine through and this gives a feeling no hope for the woman. Although looking tired the male character walks up to the door. The next shot is in the bathroom where the female character is. The camera does a close up shot of the mans face poking through the hole in the door, his face being illuminated by the brightness of the lighting in the bathroom. As he says his line a close up shot of his facial expressions are seen as terrifying. Although we cannot see the woman in the corner, the viewer is given the sense that he is looking at her by his use of expression and eye movement. The camera does a close up of the male character putting his hand into the bathroom to open the door. As he does so, the female character uses the knife she had grabbed to cut his hand. A great tension was created by the careful use of lighting, camera angle and music, making the viewer anticipate a major injury. Although the audience had been made to expect a deep cut, the injury was very small.
I watched an extract from the film and analysed the mise-en-scene. At the start of the clip the audience hears extra-diegetic sound of wind. Wind sound denotes the scene as being spooky and eerie to the viewer. The first shot of the clip is a mid shot of a man talking. Throughout this clip the camera does not move making the audience pay full attention to what is being said.
When the audience first sees the male character, he is wearing a blue shirt underneath a red jacket. The red jacket denotes the sign of blood, death and hell to the viewer. This could also tell the viewer that he may have been planning to go out side. The blue colour of the shirt makes the red fabric of the jacket stand out because the colours clash together. In doing this, Kubrick has led the viewer to believe that this could be a bad character.
The lighting in the scene is shown as low, dim and dark giving the impression of menace and fear. Around the male character are shadows. The closed door is illuminated by the lamp, making it lighter than the other objects in the shot. Consequently, when the male character is shown standing in front of the door, his shadow creates a dark and menacing silhouette. The lighting looks realistic; the lighting angle giving the impression that the room is being lit by a lamp.
In the first scene the male character uses large facial expressions to demonstrate his feelings, almost looking like an actor from the silent movies. He uses exaggerated eye brow movement to show the emotions of the character. He does not move his body, just his face. His eyes never leave the door, giving the impression that he his watching the female character behind the closed the door. The male character uses the well know story of the Three Little Pigs to terrorise the female character. He uses a deep voice that is very quite and soft at the begging of the shot but then becomes louder as the scene progresses. His voice and facial expression give this fairy tale a very sinister feeling. The role is completely believable.
The second shot is of the female character that is in the bathroom. The bathroom is a small place but is shown as being very bright. The female character is wearing light coloured clothing to give the impression to the audience of her innocence. The woman is shown to be very pale in the face demonstrating how scared she is of the male character.
The lighting in the bathroom is very even and there are no bold shadows in the location. It is a stark, bright light in comparison to the lighting used in the previous scene. The cold effect of the light and the expression on her face tells the audience that she is terrified. The lighting looks realistic throughout the shot.
The viewer hears very little sound from the woman. The only diegetic sound is of the knife being grabbed from the bathroom sink. The extra diegetic sound of the music becomes very eerie, making the viewer feel anxious. The sound used plays a big role in the scene because it builds tension and atmosphere.
Camera angles play a major part in this shot because they show the fear in the woman. The camera tracks the left hand throughout the shot. Her left hand is in the centre of the scene the whole time. This use of camera angle allows the audience to clearly see the woman use her left hand to snatch the knife from the sink. It uses eye line match between the shots of the male character and the female character on either side of the door.
This bathroom is a very small and confined space. This makes the viewer feel small and trapped by the sound of the man ranting the other side of the door. This scene could have been filmed in a real location as the set used was very realistic.
The female character plays a very realistic role. Her facial expressions and body language make her appear to be terrified through the shot. When she grabs the knife, she is seen to move very fast and with force. The viewer can see the panic in her eyes as she makes a grab the knife. By the end of the shot you can feel her fear and panic as she buries her head into the corner of the wall as if trying to hide herself.
The third shot is a continuation of the first shot showing the male character. The music used in this shot is very unnatural with high and low pitches of musical instruments. The sound gets louder and louder reflecting his voice getting louder and louder. The male characters voice gets deeper in pitch as he talks. This makes the viewer feel small and weak in comparison the male character. When he first swings the axe into the wooden door you can hear the cracking of the wood. As the wood splinters you can hear the woman scream “nooo”. This is repeated another three times in this shot. The wood cracking makes the viewer think the woman has not got a chance of survival and it gives the viewer a feeling of being chased and trapped and of needing to escape – causing an adrenalin rush.
The costume used, along with the use of the prop of an axe, showed the male character dressed as a lumberjack. The costume looks like it has been worn for sometime as it looked un-ironed.
The lighting in this shot is from a bed side lamp making a soft light. The light given off from the bed side lamp is a reddish colour, lighting the walls with red light. This has an impact on the audience because red gives the impression of death, blood and hell. The back lighting from the lamp makes the male character look dark and sinister.
Camera angles are used very effectively in this shot. The first shot is of the male character facing the door; the audience can now see that the character has the intention of smashing through the door. A side shot of the character is used while the camera is panning with the axe as it is travelling through the air. When the axe hits the wood the camera shakes and comes to an abrupt stop to give the impression of how much force is being used to cut through the door.
The male characters’ body language is very aggressive and can be seen as being a psychotic. His eyes are very wide and when he is axing the door his expression makes him look like he is enjoying it. The viewer has no sympathy for the male character because he is being aggressive towards a woman. The role is very believable; the posture of the male character is seen as aiming an axe aggressively.
After the axing of the door we see the female character still in the corner of the bathroom crying for help. The sounds used throughout the shot give the atmosphere of extreme tension. The viewer can hear three multiple sounds. Firstly, the woman was screaming for help; secondly, the sound of wood cracking from the blows of the axe and finally, the music playing. The woman screaming makes the viewer feel scared and upset. The sounds and the images of the wood cracking play a big role in this shot. From the start of the shot the wood cracking is a thud, by the end the wood sounds like its tearing apart. The extra-diegetic sound of the music builds tension in the clip. In doing this the viewer feels more scared about what’s happening.
The woman is evenly lit from one side, to create a more 3D look to the face, and thus making her emotions clearer to the viewer. The lighting is hard - there lots of hard edges in the scene.
The camera does not move at all in this shot which shows just the door and the woman in the frame. The female characters’ body language in the shot is terrifying to watch. Her emotions are very realistic. You can see so much fear in her eyes while she is screaming as the axe smashes through the wood next to her.
In the last shot we return to the male character. After the male character has made the hole in the door, beams of light from the bathroom shine through and this gives a feeling no hope for the woman. Although looking tired the male character walks up to the door. The next shot is in the bathroom where the female character is. The camera does a close up shot of the mans face poking through the hole in the door, his face being illuminated by the brightness of the lighting in the bathroom. As he says his line a close up shot of his facial expressions are seen as terrifying. Although we cannot see the woman in the corner, the viewer is given the sense that he is looking at her by his use of expression and eye movement. The camera does a close up of the male character putting his hand into the bathroom to open the door. As he does so, the female character uses the knife she had grabbed to cut his hand. A great tension was created by the careful use of lighting, camera angle and music, making the viewer anticipate a major injury. Although the audience had been made to expect a deep cut, the injury was very small.
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