Opening Analysis: The Shining

The Shining (15) Opening Analysis

The lighting in the scene is in high key, which can be seen as a juxtaposition of the tone the movie is setting. The only location settings that the audience has been given is a forest and a snow-capped mountain. The forest is quite a stereotypical loocation for a thriller movie, so showing that and then going to a mountain suggests a difference in this movie. No characters have been introduced yet, so no costume is shown in this scene, however the car in the scene that (presumably) contains the main characters is the only moving thing in the scene, yet it takes up very little of the screen, which suggests helplessness in the following situation.

The two settings introduced in this scene. The contrast between them is obvious also

The car, takes up little space, and is often not the focal point of the scene

Mise En Scene

Camerawork

This scene is composed entirely of extreme long shots, so that the audience knows the location and is aquainted to the setting, and also to help with the small and helpless feeling given to the small sie of the car. The camera is tilted to a high angle shot, to give the feeling of hopelessness to the main characters, and it also uses sweeping shots to give a sense of scale and size to the environment. The scene finally ends on an establishing shot of the main location for the movie, the hotel.

An example of the extreme long shot, showing how large the area is, and also how far the main setting is from other human contact

The establishing shot for the setting

Editing

The scene is completely composed of long shots, this compliments the sweeping shots and the sense of scale, as well as the mood of the scene as it is somewhat serene and tranquil. Otherwise, there is no editing to this scene. This keeps a close connection between the movie and reality, so it makes the movie seem like it could happen in real life, and as such adds an unsafe feeling in the audience.

Soundtrack

The scene is made up entirely of non-diegetic sound, specifically a score. The score is in a minor key, which denotes an evil tone to the setting. The minor key of the music is a juxtaposition of the high key lighting and tranquil setting, which is used to create an uneasy feeling in the audience. Finally, the score goes through a crescendo as the scene goes on, which builds tension throughout the scene and unsettles the audience.

Graphics/Typography

The font that shows up during the credits is a plain, blue, sans-serif font. This connotes normality and real life similarly to the lack of editing, to the same effect as the lack of editing. The blue text is also a juxtaposition of the situation because blue is often depicted as a soft and comforting, which is opposite to the unsettling music. The order that the people are introduced in the credits are as follows: Production Company

Director

Actors of the Main Characters

Movie Title

Rest of the Actors

Executive Producer

Novelist (Dependant on Movie)

Associations

Screenplay Creator(s)

Director Again

Image showing the plain, blue text and the title

The associates. Interestingly, they are smaller in size than the other credits. This shows that these people are less important than the others