The Shining (1:14.32 - 1:18.52)

The scene starts with Wendy entering a very large sitting room in the hotel were her husband goes to do his writing. It is a long shot of her and the camera tracks her movement across the room from a distance. By tracking her from a distance, it creates a sense of unease and highlights the spaciousness of the room making me feel like something was watching her. She is holding a baseball bat and her facial expression and body language suggests that she is on edge, which made me feel the same way too. It almost felt like I wanted to go get my own baseball bat. The fact that the mise-en-scene contained low key lighting and the camera was positioned in the darker areas of the scene made me feel as if I was hiding from something, thus adding to the tension. These types of conventions are quite common within the horror genre. It then cuts to a close up of Wendy but uses a wide shot to incorporate the background and show just how vulnerable she is in such an open space. By showing her vulnerability in such a place it made me feel as if I was right next to her due to the camera framing.

Wendy then moves over to the desk to take a look at her husband's work. Once she gets to the work, she is suddenly shot from a low angle. I felt that this represented her new position of power because she is now certain that something is wrong with her husband and, with this proof of his insanity, she can take action against him to protect her child. However, the camera's shot of Jack's work is a high angle, point of view shot. It is shot from where Wendy's head would be and all you can really see is Jack's work and Wendy's hands frantically flipping through the pages. By doing this, it made me feel about as freaked out as Wendy appeared to be because this shot almost made it seem like I was turning the pages of his work and I was suddenly realising that my husband is clearly off the rails. However, the work is zoomed in on in a sort of way that I would associate with a Looney Tunes cartoon as the zoom in was so quick that it bounced slightly towards the end that it reminded me of Bugs Bunny focusing on danger in front of him. Although this zoom effect has a comical connotation with that, it also symbolises danger as for Bugs Bunny, it was usually a rifle he was about to be shot with that had this technique used on it. I felt this zoom was used to show the new found danger Wendy now discovered after reading the work and realizing that her husband is now a psycho. This shot then cuts to a slow tracking shot from behind Wendy as Jack emerges from behind the wall where he has been watching her. This made me slightly panicky as you want to tell her "Run! He's behind you!" but obviously you can't because she won't hear you. This made me feel in a very weak position and the feelings of panic and weakness are also very commonly associated with the horror genre. This shot changes after Jack speaks to Wendy to a mid-shot of Jack. The camera is tracking away from him as he walks towards it and it is centred around his torso. This made me feel like I was in a weaker position than him as I was only chest high but it also made me feel uncomfortable and frightened because it was like he was coming after me, not Wendy. When the shot cuts to Wendy it is at a comfortable mid-shot but is tracking towards her to highlight just how scared she is. It also makes you feel as if she is scared of you, that you're the one chasing her. By cutting between these two tracking sequences, it creates a very slow chase, a common aspect used in the horror genre to build and make the audience scared or frightened. By slowing down this chasing scene, it also builds more tension for the audience and it made me anticipate the action that was to follow.

Parallel editing is then used to cut to Danny, who being discussed at the time by Jack and Wendy. It shows him using his "shining" powers and slowly zooms in on his horrified face. By seeing a scared child, it made me feel worried but also deeply concerned for Danny. It then cuts to show you his visions of the red flooded entrance room and the word "REDRUM" written on a door. The mise-en-scene of the red flooded entrance room could have been used to show the murders that have happened in the past, but also suggest the murders that could take place now. The use of the colour "red" has obvious connotations with murder, blood and anger; which is why it is commonly used in the horror genre. By filming this shot from the floor in a low angle, it puts the audience in a weaker position as their screen is slowly flooded with red. It is quite common for people to have a fear of drowning or suffocation as it is built into our survival instincts and fears are very commonly put into the horror genre to make the audience uncomfortable. So by doing this, I felt scared and confined as the screen started to flood almost as if I were drowning. By also having the tables float across the screen at dutch angles, it made me feel uncomfortable as they appeared at angles I'm not normally used to. The word "REDRUM" was also filmed from a low angle, which suggests a sense of importance about the word and that it foreshadows something to come later on in the film. But by also having it written in red, it has the same connotations as the red flood in the entrance hall and brings with it a sense of danger and fear, which are once more two commonly used conventions of the horror genre.