The Shining (1980, by Stanley Kubrick) uses symmetry frequently throughout the film. This particular scene is intriguing because the actors are positioned at the center of the frame, serving as an instant focal point. They are the first thing that the audience see when they look at the scene because of the clever positioning. This would have a strange yet eerie impact on the audience, mainly due to the neat yet intense symmetry of the frame. Everything seems so neat and almost perfect, in terms of the framing and balance, which contradicts the riot and chaos within the narrative.

The twins are centered, which takes our focus away from the corridor walls. But when observing them, we can notice the similar symmetry within the hotel decor, which also furthers the creepy atmosphere within the setting.  By showing similarities between the twins’  and the corridor walls symmetry; it is foreshadowed that the twins have become part of the hotel as well, as they are beginning to follow the strange yet intriguing patterns adopted by the ‘Overlook’. Their firm  symmetric positioning suggests their role in the center of Danny’s horror. This  foreshadow’s their later haunting and frequent appearances within his ‘shining’ ability, showing that they are indeed stuck within the hotel spirit forever

Throughout this film the director, Stanley Kubrick, chose to shoot a lot of scenes using a Steadicam. This was new technology at the time, and Kubrick’s ideas helped to develop the camera even more.  One example of a Steadicam shot in The Shining is towards the end of the film, when Wendy is running up the stairs, trying to find Danny after Jack has gone insane.

Here, the Steadicam shot helps the audience to understand Wendy more, as it follows her the whole time without cutting away. It increases her sense of panic, because the shot is sometimes very close to her face which allows the audience to clearly see her emotions and how she’s struggling with the situation that she’s in. Also, the Steadicam shot makes the scene more tense, as the smooth movement seems unnatural to the audience. This immerses the audience, and makes them feel like they don’t know what will be around the corners as Wendy climbs the stairs. The shot lasts for quite a while – longer than what audiences would typically expect from a film. Again, this gives the scene a sense of something not being quite right, which fits perfectly to the story behind the hotel and the strange things that the family have been seeing while living there.The camera does cut away at the end of this scene to focus on the man and the bear in the bedroom, reminding the audience of the weird things that have been occurring throughout the hotel.

In The Shining, Kubrick also focused on making many scenes symmetrical, where the audience’s gaze was directed towards a vanishing point at the center of the screen. This can be seen in this shot with Jack and Grady in the bathroom during the party scene.

The two men in the center of the shot are symmetrically placed, so that they mirror each other. Kubrick has specifically chosen to place the actors here as it creates a slightly unnerving effect due to the symmetry of the whole scene. The walls of the bathroom reflect each other, because of the nearly identical decoration that they both have – red walls and either sinks or urinals coming out of them. There are many others ways that symmetry is used in this scene, which comes together at the vanishing point in the middle, behind the two characters. Using such a symmetrical set has the effect of the audience feeling like something isn’t quite right, as real life isn’t normally structured in this very organised way. It also makes them start to think about how Jack is beginning to copy Grady’s actions, as they are standing in similar poses, and how he might go on to copy him in other ways. With the dialogue used in this scene, it helps the audience to realise that Jack is turning insane, and that he wants to kill his family – just as Grady had done years before. Kubrick has also used a deep focus lens, which means that everything in the scene is in focus at the same time. This makes the audience unsure of where they should be looking, despite the two characters directly in the center.

Camera Movements

This is my work on Camera movements for the film Upgrade.

This scene from The Shining (1980, by Stanley Kubrick) cleverly utilizes the Steadicam to create an atmosphere of tension and unsettle the audience. Since we are following Danny as the camera, verisimilitude is created because we are immersed in the world of The Shining. The Steadicam is effective within this scene because it creates no noise, which ensures that we focus on the unbearable yet eerie whine of the Big Wheels’ which is vital in maintaining this level of tension which helps ensure verisimilitude. Since we are following Danny, we do not know what will happen next. Not only does this add to the tension, but also immerses us in the world; since we cannot physically see what is going to happen next. This helps to create atmosphere, since the audience will be on the edge of their seat and awaiting the next scene. This particular shot is significant to the narrative because it creates a slow, and deliberate heightened tension. Since most of the scenes within the film are typically long and drawn out, perhaps to add to this tension, the audience are always anticipating the next move. This shot shows this greatly because not only can we not physically see what will happen next, but the plot is slowed down to create more of an atmosphere

Danny is centralized, and surrounded by the corridors of the hotel. This suggests that the hotel is alive, because it is physically engulfing him. As this scene is played within the middle section of this film, we are shown the implication of Danny’s involvement with the hotel which can foreshadow his later near murder; which would lead to his implementation within the spirits of the hotel.

This scene from The Shining (1980 , directed by Stanley Kubrick) uses Steadicam in order to create a menacing effect because it makes it feel like something is following Danny , this is compounded when the camera lingers on a space before catching up with Danny  and this helps to increase the level of visceral discomfort that the audience will feel because they will be worried about Danny because it feels like he is being perused by a monster and this creates a contrast with Danny’s childhood innocence. Furthermore ,  the labyrinthine set makes the film feel claustrophobic and as if the people in the film are  trapped in a nightmare that they have to escape and this helps to increase the dramatic tension that continues to escalate throught the film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy7ztJ3NUMI

This scene ,which is also from The Shining is a perfect example of Stanley Kubrick’s attention to symmetry as the actors are standing in front of a door which is the central focal point of the scene and this creates a jarring effect because it forces the audience to look at a scene in a particular way that they don’t usually have to. Furthermore , the fact that the twins are in the center  of the scene increases  the sense of existential foreboding that the audience may feel and it makes the twins seem like a central threat to Danny. Furthermore , the twins represent a past act of violence at the hotel and they  could represent what Danny  has the potential to become and they represent a perversion of the ideas of childhood because it is supposed to be innocent and free of pain and the twins were killed by their father who was supposed to be the person who was protecting them and this connects to one of the recurring  themes of the film which is that legacies of past violence can come back to haunt us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMbI7DmLCNI