Analysis of opening to "The Shining"

"The Shining" is a psychological thriller that is about a family that 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.

In the opening the camera is tracking a little boy on a tricycle at a worms eyeview from behind making us, the audience, follow this boy around the hotel allowing us to have a look and become familiar with the hotel surroundings but also forcing us to go where we don't particularly want to go. Low angles and midshots were also used.

The editing used was mainly a very long continuous shot where the audience are going on a journey with the boy. Then we have a jump cut to the twins which is really effective because you are not expecting it and it literally makes you jump. There are also match cuts when the young boy walks upto the door.

The music in the opening is really effective, there's the diagetic sound of the wheels of the boy's tricycle squeaking continuously throughout. Then there was the non-diagetic soundtrack which was really eerie due to the strings changing in tempo and volume, as the boy got closer to the door the tempo became quicker, the volume got louder and the pitch got higher which created the feeling of suspense.

The lighting is artificial inside the hotel and quite dim which creates a feel of uneasiness. The lighting changes when there is a jump cut to the twins and for the second that you see them the lighting is very harsh, which adds to the shock of seeing the twins and matches the jump cut really well.

The opening is set in a hotel, inside the hotel all you see really is the brightly coloured, heavily patterned carpet which identifies the era in which it is set at the 70s. Everytime the boy turns a corner we see the same thing making it even more powerful when you see these girls in a different environment come out of no where, the audience are necer sure when something's going to happen.

The characters that we see are a little boy on a tricycle which heightens feelings of anxiety within the audience because he is just an innocent and curious child and you don't want anything to happen to him. The second characters we see are the twins who are really pale looking which suggests that they are dead.

The above conventions work really well in making the opening to "The Shining" full of suspense and tension especially the jump cut to the twins, the music and the camera work.