The Shining Scene - 'Come Play With Us'

Jack Torrance gets a job as the custodian of the Overlook Hotel, in the mountains of Colorado. The place is closed down during winter, Torrance and his family will be the only occupants of the hotel for a long while. When the snow storms block the Torrance family in the hotel, Jack's son Danny, who has some clairvoyance and telepathy powers, discovers that the hotel is haunted and that the spirits are slowly driving Jack crazy. When Jack meets the ghost of Mr. Grady, the former custodian of the hotel who murdered his wife and his two daughters, things begin to get really nasty.

'Come play with us' scene:
The scene starts with a tracking shot of Danny riding his tricycle down the kitchen hall in the hotel. Before he approaches the first corner he encounters, there is a non-diegetic high pitched sound; this becomes louder as he gets closer. This convention is used to build up suspense and tension. This entire sequence was filmed in a low angle, making Danny appear more small and innocent when riding on his tricycle; this makes me sympathise and fear for him as he has no protection or anyone near to help him, making him more vulnerable. The next scene cuts to Danny riding his tricycle in a different corridor, this now being a hotel room corridor. He turns the next corner to find two girls at the end of the corridor; this immediately creates a sense of shock/suspense as there is only supposed to be himself, Jack and Wendy. This is followed by a close-up/reaction shot of Danny looking extremely shocked; showing that he weren't expecting them either. This then cut backs to the shot of the girls, there is a shot/reverse shot back to Danny's reaction; however, each time this is doing so, the camera becomes closer to the girls. This creates a sense of fear as the girls are also saying 'come play with us'; which subsequently can make me feel as if i'm obeying their request as the camera is moving closer. The girls voices are in unison, regarding their tone and timing, this is a common convention in horror movies as it can make the audience tense and worried for the character in need of help (in this case, it is Danny). Furthermore, the girls say the phrase "forever, and ever and ever", with split second shots in between of the girls laying on the floor, stabbed to death by an axe in the middle of the hotel hall; this tells me that these were the same two girls that were killed by their father in the hotel. This also makes me feel worried for Danny as each time the girls repeat the word "ever", the camera moves closer towards the girls which this makes the viewer (myself in this instance) worried for Danny's safety, as the girls are insinuating that they want to kill him so he can be with them for all eternity. The sequence ends with Danny covering his eyes for approximately 3 seconds and then peaking out to see if the girls are still there, which they weren't; he then admits to his imaginary friend (who he communicates to through his finger) that he is scared. This portrays the innocence of the boy and how he can suspect something is affecting his safety within the hotel; this juxtaposes with the two little girls in the sequence as they themselves were innocent and were living in the hotel alone with just their mother and father, however they were killed for no apparent reason as their father lost his sanity. Maybe Danny can sense that this may happen to him. The shortness of time within the editing as the sequence progresses, increases the suspense for the viewer, as it is similar to other visions Danny has had in the short space of time within being at the hotel; this also creates a sense of mystery of what lies in the hotels history and what else will be uncovered.


Notes when watching the sequence attached -

The Shining

·      Analyse ‘The Shining’ – Choose 2 scenes for a 1,000 word essay.

·      Refer to Camera; Lighting: Editing: Mise-en-scene & sound

The brass played instrument is playing in a minor chord, whilst the camera is displaying an extreme long shot, to establish setting; it also singles out the idea that the camera is a POV shot of a bird, hunting their prey.

Tracking forwards of Jack, following his way around the building; it appears to be a hotel.

The mise en scene of Stuart Allman’s shot, shows a mid shot, we can see his desk an American flag; showing he is a patriot for his country. Tragedy in 1970, common convention of horror as there is a backstory of the place, story tells us that he stabbed his entire family with an axe; this contributes to the fact the place is isolated and small (also a convention). Non-diegetic sound is used to build tension, the boy is looking in the mirror and his eyes open wide with his facial expression looking shocked (like he saw a ghost). Next scene cuts to hotel lift spewing a red-like substance; with a split-second flash of the two little girls.

Boy in games room, starts off as close up then zooms out to mid shot, playing darts with red ends; could symbolize the man who stabbed his entire family.

We hear an eerie sound as the family and the black male enter the kitchen, Danny realizes there is something odd about the male; this is used to build up tension. When the two are eating ice cream, duck mentions that ‘Tony’ is his friend that tells him not to open up to him seeing people that are dead (assumption), this refers back to the scene where the boy is talking in the mirror and becomes shocked as Tony may have told him about the hotel. He mentions room ‘237’, the man reacts badly to this and say nothing is there and to stay out, this makes me feel suspense and makes me feel like he knows or is hiding something. We then see a tracking shot of Danny riding his bike around the hotel, we see that no one is around which leaves himself vulnerable (another typical horror convention).

Birds eye shot of the mother and son in the maze, showing how isolated the two are as the maze is huge and they don’t know their way out. We see an establishing shot of the hotel on ‘Tuesday’, the sky is almost dark, suggesting its becoming late at night (around 9). We see a tracking shot of the boy on his bike, however he passes a particular door and becomes drawn to open it, he stops himself and then gets back on his bike, non-diegetic sound stops. The 1970’s horror links in with the next few scenes as the husband becomes frustrated ad angry with his family when he’s trying to work, there is a close up shot of the man looking demonic, like he is slowly losing his mind (may be becoming the man who applied for the job back in 1970 and kill his family?). The phone lines going down suggest the idea of entrapment. “Forever and ever and ever” referring to what the two little girls said to Danny in the scene where he spots them riding his bike; Danny can sense something is wrong as he asks his dad “you wouldn’t ever hurt me and mummy would you?’ High angle shots suggest he is belittled and enclosed. The boy asks for his mother thinking she is in room 237 (where he asks the black kitchen chef). He dreams about killing his family, which is something you may aspire to do, he mentions he doesn’t sleep often to Danny; this is because all he can dream about is killing his family. Danny comes back into the room with bruises all around his neck/face, mother assumes her husband does it due to the dream he just had and told her about.  His characteristics show that he is becoming mentally unstable, as he laughs at common questions (could also be because of his lack of sleep), he is also talking to a person that appears out of no where, this could be a point of view shot of who he thinks he is talking to, i.e: a ghost which is a common convention of a horror movie. We see a tracking shot going backwards of the woman running into the bar to see her husband, we do not see a man here; she concludes to say there is someone else in the hotel with them. The male from the kitchen and Danny both seem to be locked into a trance/some sort of seizure. When the male goes in to check on the bathroom, we hear a non-diegetic soundtrack of violins, also the sound of his heartbeat, this is to show that he is nervous; we see shot-reverse shot of the kid and his father. We see that the woman is naked and intices the man into kissing him, however he looks in the mirror to see that she is decomposing (Followed by quick shots of her dead in the bath), we also hear her laughing continuously which is connotation to that he is turning mad; we also find out as he leaves that he went to room 237 (linking to the what the head chef warned to the boy). We see further on he enters the gold room, which is full of balloons and people; however the male doesn’t question this. The caretaker spills a drink onto him, they enter the male bathroom, which is red (this portraying blood & death). We realize that the caretaker was the husband who killed his family back in 1970, he tells him that he has always been in the hotel; he mentions his son is trying to ‘bring a nigga into the hotel’ (referring to the head chef), he believes that his wife and son need to be corrected like the caretaker did to his wife and kids as they wouldn’t let him do his duties (referring to killing them). We then cut to the headchef on a plane, leaving the hotel.

We see the Wendy entering the room looking for her husband. We see her look from work to see the words “no play makes Jack a dull boy” repeated on hundreds of pages. This supports the idea that he is losing his mind and is not staying in the hotel for his work.  Following this Jack threatens to bash Wendys head in for looking for him, so she hits him with a bat and locked him in the storage centre. He tells Wendy when he becomes conscious that he has tampered with the snowmobile. The next title includes the time, which is 4pm, this has converted from days to hours (suggesting this is the last few hours before something happens). Jack becomes conscious again and is talking to the old caretaker. The old caretaker promises to let him out if he gives his word that he will kill his family. The next scene cuts to Danny being possessed, writing the words “redrum” on the wall, he also says this repeatedly until Wendy wakes up. This spells murder in the mirror. Further on in the sequence we see Danny enter the maze, trying to escape his father, however he tricks him by putting fake footprints into the maze. We see Wendy discover the elevator, which shows blood pouring out of it (featured in Danny’s visions) when trying to find Danny. She eventually finds him and escapes via the new snowmobile that was found. The final clip shows the camera zooming in to an old photo on the wall, dated: July 4^th 1921, however we see Jack right at the front of the photo.