Film Language

I have chosen to analyse an extract form the film The Shining (1980) directed by Stanley Kubrick. A family 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. The extract that I have a chosen is near the end of the film and it involves the child running away from his psychotic father in order to escape from a maze. This extract uses a lot of media techniques to create an atmosphere. The extract covers all main areas of media language and uses it to great effect. The costumes used in the scene are casual clothes, the director could have chosen this to put across the fact that they were once just a normal family, this could also relate to the audience. The father is also wearing a red jacket, as red can connote danger, this can help us distinguish that he is evil. The costumes are also typical of that time period, e.g. the jumper the child is wearing. The lighting is used very cleverly during this extract, in the shots during the maze scene the only lights are the ones at the bottom of the maze hedge. The low key lighting combine well with the setting e.g. the snow and the mist, and creates a dark and menacing atmosphere. The lights also create a under lighting effect on the father and the son, highlighting their contrasting facial expressions. As there is no natural light at all in the sequence, it helps us recognise the genre as horror. The shots with the mother are generally lighter as she is inside the hotel and is light up when she is outside by the hotel lights. This also shows us that she is the good character in comparison with the father. Actor’s expressions are a key element in this scene, shown through the use of close up’s and medium shots.

The various emotions and body language helps us understand each character better. The close up shots of the father shows us his menacing expression, whilst the close up of the child shows us a deeply worried expression. The body language of the father in particular gives us a idea of what his character is like, the way he walks with a limp dragging an axe shows us the menace whilst the mother is running around with her arms flailing and look of horror on her face which could show that she is the victim, the director uses the body language to show the audience the contrasting feelings of the characters. They also use long shots to show us the actor’s expressions and show a large amount of mise-en-scene. Things like make-up would usually be used in this type of horror film to create effects such as cuts and bruises, although in this scene this is not used. The props used in this sequence are iconic, such as the axe that the father is wielding and the knife that the mother is seen with. These props are typical for a horror film, and can be instantly associated with the horror genre. Whilst the women is inside the hotel the walls are red, connoting danger, the director added to signify to the audience that there is danger ahead, the setting adds to the eerie effect, the abandoned hotel and the deserted maze are both used to heighten the sense of atmosphere. Both settings are large in scale helping the audience understand the isolation the characters are feeling, combined with the lighting, the setting helps develop the narrative towards the climax of the child escaping from the father. As the film was made in 1980 the special effects were not as advanced as they are now, but the director makes use of the special effects in the sequence to create the look of blood flowing out of the elevator. The representations of the characters are binary oppositions, with the father being the villain and the mother and child being the victims, this film follows all the traditional codes and conventions of a horror film, this gives it a wide range of audience. The sound in this film creates an eerie atmosphere, a non-diegetic soundtrack is used which consists of high pitched screeches that are used to create suspense, as we don’t know what’s going to happen to the child. The sound is parallel to sequence, helping to create the tension for the audience. This kind of sound track would normally be used in a horror during a scene such as this, like when a killer is pursuing a victim. Diegetic sound is also used for character dialogue, with the father having a sinister tone to his voice and the mothers voice is shaky and fearful.