The following extract is from Stanley Kubrick's film The Shining from 1980. As the majority of the shots are taken from the outside of the moving car, and involve very little information on the characters, the primary focus of this analysis is on the use of score to set the mood and the genre of the film.
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Sound puts the otherwise calm and tranquil scene into a different perspective, giving off the idea that what the audience otherwise may think of nature is wrong. The sound contrasts the high-key lighting of the shot.
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The tilt connotes discord, enhancing the sense of foreboding.
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Fade out to next shot. Sinister music continues. Continued silence on the diegetic sound front.
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High angle birds eye view, XLS
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A car is seen driving along the twisted road, among tall trees. The mass collection of trees connote the lack of people and the emptiness. The narrowness of the road could be interpreted as the car driving towards something that cannot be escaped easily, a way with only one way out.
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Fade in from previous shot. Further continuation of the sinister music.
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Cut. XLS. Continued tracking.
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The barren section further connotes the lack of sanity in the emptiness of nature, the tall mountains in the distance signifying the consequences ahead.
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Cut. XLS, tracks closer to the car, long shot car crabs right.
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1:09 to 1:39
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The large cliffside connotes the idea of slipping into insanity or chaos, that danger looms over the story.
The yellow VW Beetle connotes that the characters in the film are most likely a family, a mother, father and child, using the idea of the nuclear family. The yellow colour of the car could potentially have the symbolic means of The helicopter flying by and over the cliffside could connote the speed of which the insanity ensues, and how the characters are driving into insanity. |
The music continues, string instruments are continued, and an added distorted scream-like noise plays. In the meantime, titles appear, showing actors, director and title of the film.
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Cut.
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1:39 to 2:09
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As the music intensifies, the
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Further titles.
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Cut. XLS. Further tracking.
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2:10 to 2:33
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As with the
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Cut. XLS.
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2:33 to 2:44
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Further emphasis of the road to insanity, with the colour symbolism of white signifying death, the green colour of the woodland clashing with
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Cut. XLS. Introduction of the hotel.
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2:44 to 3:00
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The grey roofing of the building
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Overall, the cutting rate is slow, giving the audience time to observe the location, understand the remoteness of the location and the isolation of the characters from society.
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| Camera | Timecode | Mise-en-scene | Sound, editing and effects |
What is most interesting to note is that the previous analysis of Funny Games (Haneke, 1997) is very similar to Stanley Kubrick's opening. It could therefore be discussed whether or not Haneke used a similar convention to The Shining, perhaps to a point where Haneke is paying homage to Kubrick's style of opening. However, what differs from the two is the fact that Haneke uses non-diegetic sound and diegetic sound to establish the characters and the plot of Funny Games, whereas Kubrick focuses simply on the use of a sinister and foreboding score to achieve the same effect.
While the possibility of shooting with a helicopter and creating a similar effect is highly unlikely to be achievable, what we as a group can learn from this opening is that the sense of foreboding can be done through sound alone, and is as important as what is visually present in the shots.
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