Film of the week- The Shining

COULSDON COLLEGE: MEDIA TEXT INFORMATION SHEET

TITLE:

The Shining

YEAR OF PROD:

1980

TYPE:

FILM

TELEVISION

DOC.

MUSIC

ADVERT

MUSIC VID.

OTHER:

DIRECTOR

Stanley Kubrick

PRODUCER

Stanley Kubrick

WRITER

Stephen King (novel), Stanley Kubrick and Diane Johnson

PRODUCTION COMPANY

Warner Bros, Hauk Films, Peregrine, Producers Circle

KEY CAST /ARTIST

Jack Nicholson (Jack), Shelley Duvall (Wendy), Danny Lloyd (Danny), Scatman Crothers (Dick) and Joe Turkel (Lloyd the bar tender)

KEY CREW

Music: Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind, Cinematography: John Alcott, Editing: Ray Lovejoy, Production Design: Roy Walker

GENRE

Horror, Drama

BUDGET

$19 million

BOX OFFICE

$44.4 million

THEMES

Psychic powers, power, control, outside force, change, manipulation, madness, violence, anger, family, death, betrayal, survival and escape.

AWARDS

Saturn Award: Best Supporting Actor (Scatman Crothers) OFTA Film Hall of Fame- Motion Picture

NARRATIVE: From IMDb: “Signing a contract, Jack Torrance, a normal writer and formal teacher agrees to take care of a hotel which has a long, violent past that puts everyone in the hotel in a nervous situation. While Jack slowly gets more violent and angry of his life, his son, Danny, tries to use a special talent, the “shining”, to inform the people outside about whatever that is going on in the hotel.” My opinion on the shining: I very rarely watch horrors as I don’t enjoy being scared but The Shining was surprisingly enjoyable, although still very scary and tense. The acting, especially from Jack Nicholson, was spectacular and he was able to pull off a very creepy performance and he clearly addressed his changing state throughout the film. I was aware that the cinematography was a noticeable trademark of Stanley Kubrick and from watching this, I can see that he uses long-lasting tracking shots (like the scene of Danny riding the bike through the hallway) and central compositions, so in general, the cinematography for this film was amazing. It reminded me of Wes Anderson, who has clearly been inspired by Kubrick as he mentions in some of his interviews. So great film, just very scary and it doesn’t make me want to watch horrors. I think I will stay clear of them. However, I found the parts when it states the day, e.g. “Monday” made me jump a lot more than anything else in the film which was quite amusing. 8.9/10

KEY SCENES: ·         Bar scene ·         Maze in the snow ·         Riding bike down hallway ·         “Here’s Jonny!” ·         All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy ·         Bathroom scene ·         Twins in corridor

COMPARABLES: The Grand Budapest Hotel (in terms of style), I’m not aware of any horrors it can be compared to as I do not watch them.

PROGRESSION OF KEY CONTRIBUTORS: Stanley Kubrick went on to direct: Full Metal Jacket (1987) and Eyes Wide Shut (1999). He has previously directed films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and A Clockwork Orange (1971) - A film that I’ve heard a lot about and actually really want to watch. Jack Nicholson has gone on to act in many films including: As Good As It Gets (1997) and The Departed (2006).

ANY OTHER BUSINESS? Stephen King was quite disappointed in the final film. While admitting that Kubrick’s visuals were stunning, he said that was surface and not substance. He often described the film as “a fancy car without an engine”.

As mentioned on my sheet, the visual style of Stanley Kubrick reminded me a lot of Wes Anderson and he has clearly been influenced by Kubrick. After doing some research into this, I found a really interesting video that compares The Shining and The Grand Budapest Hotel. Take a look, I love this video so much.