The Shining

One of the sequences I chose to analyse from The Shining was the bathtub scene which is about 5 minutes long. The sequence begins with an extra close up shot of Dick Hallorann, the cook, and the focus of the shot appears to be on the eyes. I think that this is done to hint at the audience that although he is alone he is seeing something that is happening elsewhere. At the same time there is also a non-diegetic high pitch sound in the background which sounds almost like screaming. The use of non-diegetic sound is a typical convention of horror and I believe it was used here to tell the audience that what he was seeing is not good at all and to make you feel very tense and on edge as you do not know what he can see. The idea that he is seeing something happening elsewhere is proved when it cuts to a close up of an open door in the hotel, room 237 to be precise, I think that this is done to tell you that he is seeing what is happening at the hotel at this moment of time, this is use of parallel editing as it is showing us him and then the door in the hotel. There is then a cut to a mid-shot of Danny in his bed in an almost fit like state, the camera slowly zooms in to his face to show that he is looking in one spot and there is foam like saliva coming out of his mouth. I think that this is done to show that he is also seeing what is happening in room 237 like Dick even though he is not there.

The sequence then cuts to a long shot of the living room area inside room 237. The camera is at a slight tilt making the angle look weird, I think that this was done to tell you that the situation is not quite right and that there is something wrong with room 237, this is further proved with the lack of rule of thirds therefore it is not symmetrical which gives you the feeling that something is not right and puts you on edge. The camera pans left to reveal steps leading into the bedroom and slowly tracks forward in the direction of the next room, as this happens a non-diegetic low pitch sound is added to the background with the high pitch sound and there is a diegetic footstep sound. The camera moves forward and it jumps upwards a small amount twice, continuing forwards with the high pitch non diegetic sound coming to a halt. I think that this is done to give the impression that it is you in the room walking around, the camera appears to have been one continuously long shot and the use of the diegetic sound of footsteps gives the impression of someone walking around, the lack of the camera showing a character means that you become the first person and you think that it is you in the room.

The camera halts its movement when it reaches the door, the camera zooms in to a close up on the door and a hand appears on the left which slowly pushes the door open fully. This reveals a long shot of the bathroom and once again the rule of thirds is slightly off, also the non-diegetic sound in the background is very low pitch and sounds almost like an echoing sound which is a typical convention in the horror genre which we know as it is used in the horror film Dracula for example. I think that this is done to hint to the audience that something weird is about to happen and the use of an echo sound suggests that the character who is in the room is a bit out of it and that something is not right which makes you feel very tense as you are waiting for something to happen because you know that this is the room that Danny was in earlier in which he came out bruised. There is a sudden loud non-diegetic low pitch echo sound, which again is a typical horror convention, as a hand appears and pulls back the shower curtain. I think that this was done to scare you and make you jump as the camera did not reveal anything behind the curtain therefore you assume that there is nothing there. The sequence cuts to a mid-shot of Jack, I think that this was done to show the change in his reaction to the woman and his facial expression, when he first sees her he has the typical reaction and looks quite shocked with his jaw hanging open but then you see his facial expression change to a sinister looking slight smirk which suggests that he does believe that she is really there.

The sequence cuts to a point of view long shot of the bathroom again to show the naked lady getting out of the bath, there is a diegetic water running sound which is a typical horror convention, we know this as the diegetic running water sound is also used in the film The Descent. I think the sound of running water is used to symbolise blood and death as when you are killed the blood runs out of your body like the water runs and at the start of The Shining they said there was murder in one of the rooms and it could have been in room 237. There is a close up shot of them kissing and the non-diegetic high and low pitch sound increases in volume when he opens his eyes, the camera quickly pans right to reveal a mid-long shot of their reflection in the mirror and you see that the woman has become really old and has lots of giant holes in her skin and then there is diegetic sinister laughter. I think that the fact that he only sees her real appearance when he looks in the mirror hints that she is possibly a ghost and that he can only see their real appearance in the mirror because later on in the red toilets he is also looking in the mirror whilst talking to Grady who was the past caretaker that shot himself. This makes you question whether Jack is actually seeing ghosts or if he is just hallucinating as he always appears to only see them by looking into the mirror however he looked directly at her earlier on in the sequence.