DW Technical Analysis of "The Shining"

	Camera	Duration	Mise-en-scene	Sound & FX
1)	Extreme long shot, tracking in, handicam	16 seconds	Shows a pale green hallway, that looks like a hospital corridor, connoting illness and mortality. Our eyes are drawn to the centre of the screen where a small child, wearing a red jumper, connoting blood and energy, is riding a trike to the end of the corridor before turning off.	There is a powerful crescendo, as a string section plays chromatic slurs, followed by a sharp burst from a horn section. This is really useful in building dissonance and setting the mood for the sequence.
2)	Medium long shot, tracking in, handicam	10 seconds	Shows a warm colored corridor that looks like a hotel or apartment block of the time, which adds realism and a domestic feel. The child is still in the centre, lower third. The fact he is riding his trike round a corridor is slightly odd, and adds a sense of mystery to his character. We are still shown the back of the child’s head which hides his identity. As he turns the corner at the end of the corridor, he stops, and we see two little girls standing in the distance.	As he is cycling along, the strings continue to play a chromatic slur, very quietly in the sound mix, which keeps the suspense on edge. As he turns the corner and sees the two girls, a gong strikes, a classic sound effect for a climax, and sharp rise in tension.
3)	Medium close up, stationary, tripod	2 seconds	Shows the child's face in full view in the centre of the screen, revealing his identity as a young boy aged around 5/6. His facial expression is very important, as he looks quite shocked and intimidated by the two girls standing at the end of the hallway. This gives us the connotation of a naïve, innocent child.	The fading of the gong can still be heard, and there is then a sharp bang. This connotes a realisation in the child’s mind as to what is going to happen, and that the two girls are dangerous, because it is as if he knows them from a previous event.
4)	Medium long shot, stationary, tripod	6 seconds	The shot is the same as the latter part of shot 2, showing the back of the boy’s head in the foreground, and the two girls in the distance at the end of the hallway.	There is a low pitched sustained string part that is heard over this shot, which builds tension and creates a fear factor around the two girls. The girls then say “Hello Danny” to the boy, which is heard in a weird voice that has clearly had effects added to it to make it sound ghost-like, and as if they are possessed. The use of first name terms implies they know each other, like suggested by the “bang” heard in the previous shot.

5)	Medium close up, stationary, tripod	9 seconds	Shows Danny’s face in the centre of the shot again. Except this time he is breathing very heavily, showing his fear of the two girls. There is also a distinct look of fear in his eyes, further reinforcing this point.	The same low pitched strings can be heard. The girls then say “Come and play with us” in the same weird tone of voice. This is as if they are trying to entice him in, and encourage him to come closer. At the end of the shot before the cut, there is a chromatic string chord that adds a level of disruption and fear.
6)	Medium long shot, stationary, tripod	6 seconds	This shot is the same as shot 4.	A smaller gong sounds at the start of this clip, again connoting the start of a battle or something climatic. The girls then repeat, “Come and play with us, Danny”, enticing him in further. Using first names makes it more personal and is a false reassurance for Danny.
7)	Long shot, stationary, tripod	0.5 second	This shot flashes up, and is of the two girls lying in a pool of blood, with blood splattered up the walls, a chair overturned, and a bloodied axe in the foreground. This is a shock to the audience as we are not expecting it at all. The way the girls talk to him infer he killed them himself and is having a flashback to when he did it.	A chromatic chord played by a number of different instruments is heard, and rings out through the next few shots to emphasise the shock of the two girls dead.
8)	Extreme long shot of girls, although closer than before, as camera is in front of Danny, stationary, tripod	2 seconds	This shot shows the hallway with the two girls standing at the far end, standing together. We see them better than before, and they are wearing matching mint green dresses with white ribbons. This shows them to be very innocent.	The chromatic chord can still be heard. The girls say “Forever”. By them saying they want Danny to play with them forever, implies they are trying to seek revenge on him, and if he dies he will be with them forever in the after life. This has a religious connotation attached to it, further representing the girls as innocent in the sequence, as a dominant ideological discourse on religion is that it is peaceful and loving.
9)	Long shot, stationary, tripod	0.5 second	Same as shot 7.	All that can be heard is the dying out chromatic chord.

10)	Close up, stationary, tripod	0.5 second	This shot is of Danny’s face, and him reacting to shot 9, the second flash of the dead girls. He throws his head back in shock and again there is a distinct look of fear in his eyes.	All that can be heard is the dying out chromatic chord.
11)	Long shot, stationary, tripod	2 seconds	Same as shot 8, we see the girls standing together, except slightly closer in this time, although no more detail is shown that in shot 8.	As well as the chord dying out still, the girls repeat, “And ever”, implying that they wont leave without what they came for, and they are angry at Danny for what he has done.
12)	Long shot, stationary, tripod	0.5 second	Same as shot 7.	There is a really fast run played up the chromatic scale on all the instruments, which creates a chaotic feel.
13)	Mid shot, stationary, tripod	2 seconds	Same as shot 8, we see the girls standing together, except slightly closer in again, that we can clearly see their faces. They are both very pale, and their facial expressions are lifeless and have no emotion, implying they are dead or some type of ghost.	There is a low drone note left from the run that plays, keeping the suspense there. The girls say “And ever” one last time, further reinforcing their urgency for revenge on Danny.
14)	Long shot, stationary, tripod	2 seconds	Same as shot 7.	In the first half of this shot only the low drone note is heard. In the second half, another fast chromatic run is played, again connoting the chaotic atmosphere.
15)	Close up, stationary, handicam	12 seconds	This is another reaction shot of Danny, after him seeing the previous shots of the girls dead. As like shot 10, his head is thrown back, his mouth wide open, and he has a distinct look of fear in his eyes, reflecting what he has just seen. He then covers his eyes with his hands, as if to block out everything for a moment, until he gets the courage to move them away and see again. This shows us his fear towards the two girls, and his pain for what might have happened.	Another fast chromatic run is heard, but this time it sustains on a minor chord and holds it for several seconds, before dying off. This builds up the tension and leaves it hanging, before falling away as Danny brings his hands down to reveal the girls have gone.
16)	Long shot, stationary, tripod	3 seconds	This shot is of the corridor on its own, without the girls at the end. It’s done to show that Danny was imagining the previous sequence, and reinforce the idea of a flashback.	All that can be heard is the dying out minor chord.

17)	Close up, stationary, handicam	8 seconds	This is another reaction shot of Danny, and we see him take his hands away from his face, in realisation that the girls aren’t there anymore and he’s safe again. His facial expressions convey that he is still scared, but heavily relieved.	The dying out of the minor chord turns into a low drone, that plays underneath this shot. There is also a slight crescendo in the high strings, playing a dissonant chord, but quickly fades out again to the drone.
18)	Extreme long shot, high angle, stationary, tripod	3 seconds	This is a shot from a high angle, behind Danny, looking down the corridor to where the girls were standing. This conveys the emptiness of the hallway and reinforced the flashback that Danny has just had.	All that can be heard is the low drone.
19)	Close up, stationary, handicam	29 seconds	In this shot, Danny realises what’s just happened and calms himself by talking to “Tony”, by moving his index finger up and down. This shows us that Danny can comfort himself in hard times, portraying him as calm and mature for his age. When he talks as Tony, his eyes stare at his finger in an evil manner, as if he has been possessed by an inner demon. Because of this we assume there may be something psychologically wrong with Danny due to the manner in which he acts as Tony.	In this shot, Danny says “Tony, I’m scared.” He the moves his finger and starts talking to himself as Tony, however puts on a deeper, croaky voice that you would stereotype with an antagonist in horror. In conclusion, this represents him as somewhat mentally unstable, what with the graphic flashbacks and talking to himself.

What did you learn from the process that has informed your concept development?

From my technical analysis of "The Shining", I have got an understanding of how camera, shot length, mise-en-scene and sound are combined to create an effect on the audience. Camera is effective by using tracking shots following Danny up the hall, this is a technique we plan to use at some point. Duration is key, for example in the vision shots where Danny sees the dead girls with blood everywhere. This is also good as we intend to use flashbacks in our opening sequence, to convey the past happenings in the house. Mise-en-scene is useful here, as we plan to have an old abandoned house, so we can take ideas of old fashioned mise-en-scene from this clip. Sound is also a big factor when it comes to building tension, as the use of crescendos and diminuendos have an effect on the audience. The use of instrumentation is also important as different instruments can have a different effect on audience, e.g. sustained strings will cause suspense.