Mise - En Scene: The Shining 1980

The Shining was released on the 23rd of May 1980 in USA. Directed by Stanley Kubrick this film shows a family which heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future. Of this film I will be analysing the scene ‘here’s Johnny’. This scene shows the father ‘Johnny’ cutting through the door to try and reach the girl that is locked inside the bathroom.

The first part of the clip is a wide shot this sets the scene. The darkness that surrounds the building gives makes it seem spooky. The only light in the scene comes from the lamps on the side of the building; this blue light doesn’t reveal much of the scene as much of the building is still in darkness. Although it is dark the audience can see that it has been snowing as snow drifts had building up alongside the building. The snow connotes coldness, this coldness makes you think that something bad is about to happen.

After the establishing shot the camera moves into the hotel where a man is seen standing outside a locked door. This shows the audience that the scene is set inside a realistic hotel. The male character is shown wearing a shirt and a jacket, because the man is still wearing his jacket it suggests that he shouldn’t be there. As he still has his jacket on it makes the audience think that he isn’t intending on staying long, he is only visiting. His scruffy messy hair and unshaven face implies that he is a hard rough character; it makes him seem evil and scary giving the character an un-easy feel. This man in the shot is in a mid-shot so it only shows him from his waist and above. The mid shot has been used so that the audience can only see the man from the waist upwards, this makes the audience speculate why he is there and what he is doing, making the viewers think that the character might have something to hide.

The light in the first part of the scene seems to be coming from the top left hand side, this light is realistic. The lights casts a shadow of the man on the back wall making the scene look darker than it really is. This reflects the characters dark mood, the unknowing of what he is about to do. Although the man shown on the landing isn’t facing the door to the bathroom his eyes are looking at the door. The angle of his body and his facial expressions make the audience think that he is waiting or he wants the person inside the room. This posture makes him feel very controlling, and makes the audience think that he isn’t very patient.

When the man begins his dialog the tone of his voice is low and husky, his script is very jokey but he says it in a very aggressive way making you think he is about to attack. There is no extra-diagetic sound in the clip, this makes the audience focus in on what the character is saying and adds tension.

After we see the man waiting outside we then she what is behind the locked door, a woman in a bathroom. She is shown in a mid shot. The audience can only see her from the waist and above and the shot doesn’t reveal much about the room that she is in, but from the small amount of detail that is given you can work out that she is a bathroom due to the white tiles and the window covered in condensation. All we can see in the shot is her and the window as the window is covered in condensation this makes the audience think that she has been locked in the room for quite some time. She is wearing a roll neck jumper and a jacket. As she is still wearing her jacket it makes the audience think that she also shouldn’t be there and she isn’t intending to stay. The woman looks petrified and worried as she can hear the man outside talking to her in an aggressive tone but she can’t see what he is about to do as well as the viewers. She has got pale make up on and darker eyes making viewers think that she is sick with worry, it also shows that she may having been crying.

As the camera pans down it is apparent that she is about to pick up a kitchen knife that is sitting on the sink. The camera then tracks round as she moves to the other side of the bathroom, showing her leaning on the wall holding the knife with both hands in front of her, this makes the audience think that is trying to protect herself. The lighting in the room is very bleak; we can see from the window that it is dark outside. This low light makes the audience feel uneasy, it doesn’t create any shadows making you think that she is alone and there is no one there to help her. In this part of the video there is extra- diagetic sound, this is created by strings being played at a very high pitch making it sound like screams. This creates tension and creates the feeling like something is going to happen.

The camera then goes back to the man the other side of the door. The camera is now behind the man, this wide shot shows the room that he is in and the axe that he is holding. This shot denotes that he is in the bedroom that is joined to the bathroom, due to the bed. The camera moves again to the right side of the man. The light in the room is created by a lamp on the left, this creates a soft affect. The juxtaposition between the soft lighting and the sharp edge of the axe makes the audience feel uneasy about what the man is about to do.

The man then starts hitting the door with the axe. The diagetic sound created by the axe hitting the door and the sound of the woman screaming are loud, this alarms the audience showing how violent he is being and how scared the woman is. There is still extra- diagetic sound in the background this also adds tension in the scene. While the man is hitting the door with the axe his facial expressions also show the audience how violent he is being and how much effort he is putting into hitting the door. The camera then goes back to the bathroom where the woman is, the camera shows the whole width of the room. It shows a close up of the axe as it comes through the door and a mid shot of the woman in the corner. At this point the women’s body language shows that she wants the man to stop. She shouts to the man telling him to stop and screams again. Her irritated, scared, panicked tone shows how terrified she is. Her hunched appearance and how she hides her face in the wall shows that she is scared, she is still holding the knife in front of her to try and protect herself.

The last part of the scene shows the man looking though the hole in the door, that he created by attacking the door with the axe. The close shot shows the damaged that he caused the door this shot looking through the hole shows the man standing in the bedroom. As he walks to the door and puts his face in the hole that he created, the audience then see the eagerness of him wanting to get in. He is bearing his teeth in anger like a snarling dog this shows the viewers how vicious he is. The high pitched extra-diagetic sound in the back ground makes the audience feel how brutal and sinister the man was being. At this point the light in the scene is coming through the door; this light was created by the lamp in the bed room. As the camera zooms out we can see that he is about to unlocks the door. The extra-diagetic sound is becoming louder and higher making the audience think that something is going to happen and adding even more stress to the situation. As the man unlocks the door the woman hits him with the knife, her anger had been focused on hurting him to make him go away. Fake blood had been used to show that an injury had taken place, although this was fake it makes the audience think and feel like then man had been hurt.