Analysis Paper HUM

“Analysis Paper”
In the film “The Shining” directed by Stanley Kubrick, Kubrick uses camera angles,
lighting and music to enhance the scene which allows the audience to perceive the scene through
the character’s point of view. The scene depicts a little boy riding his tricycle down a hallway
and stopping at a door where he contemplates whether to knock. The director uses an eye level
angle as he follows behind the little boy riding his tricycle, the eye level angle gives the
perception of what the character is experiencing. It creates a feeling of familiarity with the
audience and gives them the illusion as if they are the character feeling/ experiencing the same
situation. During the scene the child stops slightly past a door and the camera shows him looking
back over his shoulder, as he is looking at the door it becomes the focal point as everything else
blurs out. The shallow depth effect creates an emphasis on the room number of the door and the
angle its being looked at makes the door appear very daunting. Using these effects helps the
audience craft some image of what might be behind that door. Not only do the angles contribute
to the eerie tone, but the background music adds to the anticipation that is building up as the
child is slowly approaching the door to knock on it. The music reveals the level of intensity and
works as a narrative since there is no talking, the change of volume and speed in the music
engages the audience’s emotional response to the scene. As the clip is ending the camera is back
to being behind the child, the tracking method is in use as the camera follows behind the tricycle
through the hallway which then follows into a dolly crane shot as the camera moves up and
away. It gives the illusion of the child becoming smaller and smaller and it gives the audience a
new perspective on the setting and reveals the character’s surroundings.

“The Shining” was a novel written by Stephen King which then was created into a movie
in 1980, directed by Stanley Kubrick. It is told to be based off true events that happened in
Colorado, but one suggests that the main messages of the film was to show that “history in
inescapable, a trap we cannot extricate ourselves from.” That the end of the cold war was not the
end, it explains how this hotel was on Native American burial ground which indicates the
connection of a brutal past. That the ghost in the film is more than what meets the eye, they
represent the reflection of a violent past, and the root of the conflict was raging through America
in the 1960/70s. That one of the characters represents most Americans in the way she loves and
treats those around her but is blind to the reality of what is going on around her. Kubrick could
have not only been creating a horror film for entertainment but giving this movie a deeper
meaning. By sending a message to people, during this time in America the Presidency was
debased, the American Dream was being questioned and a lot of people were not seeing America
in a positive manner. Although the depiction of this movie is violent and gruesome in certain
ways it was true in how it reflected certain areas of government and America during the time.
They say the past is behind us, but they also say history always repeats itself, becoming aware of
our reality is key to seeing the truth and taking what’s given to us for what its worth.
One thing the director discussed was reading the novel first and being interested but also
thinking at how much more imaginative it could be if turned into a movie. Kubrick did a good
job of using effects to benefit his ideas and what he displayed on the screen. Before learning
about cinema, I would have never thought about the way a camera angle or the music in the
background truly affects the scene. In a horror movie one of the main goals is to build up the
anticipation to the “main event” and the scenes leading up to that moment are very crucial to
keep the audience engaged. From the moment the clip turned on I was hooked, there didn’t need
to be words, yelling or screaming for it to stimulate my interest. The camera angle from behind
following the child was what really made me feel part of the movie, feeling as if I was right there
in the characters shoes. It opens a new experience to whoever is watching, not only are you
interacting with the character’s thoughts, feelings and emotions but also your own. It stimulates
the imagination; you wonder what the character will do himself and how you would go about the
situation.
“A Historiographical Review of Stanley Kubrick’s the Shining.” The Tyranny of Tradition, 20

Mar. 2012, tyrannyoftradition.com/2012/03/20/a-historiographical-review-of-stanley-
kubricks-the-shining/.

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“Analysis Paper”

new perspective on the setting and reveals the character’s surroundings.

“A Historiographical Review of Stanley Kubrick’s the Shining.” The Tyranny of Tradition, 20

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