OPENING TO 'THE SHINING'

The 1999 VHS version of the opening to Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Stephen King's novel 'The Shining', described as a film concerning a "chilling, often baroque journey into madness" (Rotten Tomatoes).

The beginning of this version of the opening is quite gory, and full of tension to begin with. This is because there is a wide shot of the lift in the hotel, with nothing moving or going on. This does not change for approximately a minute and a half, because of the opening credits. The audience would be more concerned or distracted by the names appearing on the screen rather than the scene behind them to begin with. Blood starts to come out of the lift as soon as the credits have finished, which would shock, disgust and disturb the audience, immediately grabbing their attention, quite a conventional way to the opening of a psychological/horror-thriller. The blood actually smears the camera, distorting and eventually blocking the establishing shot of the lift, adding to the initial confusion, this distortion is another common feature.

It then goes black and cuts to a scene of a lake surrounded by mountains, a complete contrast what the audience just saw. This tranquility and apparent calmness of the situation is perplexing to the audience, and intrigues them further. Although it seems unconventional and rather ill fitting to the picture wanting to be create, it is actually quite a conventional technique thriller directors use. The peaceful feel of the scene lures the audience into a false sense of security, only to shock them even more, in this example through music. The long and bird eye shots make the viewer feel small, and could disorientate them slightly, especially with the canted angle shot of the island on the lake. A feeling of awe could be established through these kinds of shots, but in a way they are also quite hypnotizing and visually attractive, a complete juxtaposition of the scene before, again luring the audience into a false sense of security. In the next birds eye shot of the road and forest surrounding it, a car can be seen, and the camera tracking it could increase the viewer's curiousness. The music in this part evokes a sense of possible danger, putting the audience on edge once again, and heightening the suspense. In this case, the soundtrack is a proponent for creating tension and an element of anticipation and nervousness, the orchestral genre of it is another conventional feature of this genre, with a heavy emphasis on strings and the manipulation of the string section as violins (for example) can create an eerie noise, something we see in this example. The rich visuals juxtapose each other, the red of the lift and blood instantly create feelings of danger whereas the blues and greens of the lake, mountains and forest almost act as a tranquilizer, momentarily calming the audience down, only to shock them again.