The second movie we watched was Stanley Kubrick’s take on The Shining, the movie uses a lot of shots that involve symmetry and center composition which is a well-known trademark of his work, this technique allows the overlook hotel to have its own character-ism and the use of symmetry gives more detailed establishing shots. Many people speculate that Kubrick’s use of mirrors throughout the entirety of the movie reflects how Jacks personality is changing with the appearance of the ghost.
Kubrick uses space to isolate the situation and show us how the overlook hotel is very similar to the maze in the backyard, again using mirroring in a different format. The use of space allows the viewer to visualize all the details, with carefully placed Indian decorations and the endless amounts of photos, he allows us to remember the tragic fact that is was built on an Indian burial ground only mentioned once at the beginning of the movie.
With it’s Gothic feel, the overlook has it’s own character-ism much is empathized in every room and decoration through the building, this allows the set to grow from the homey place it was introduced as near the start, to a dark building with the introduction to the spirits. The weather also implies this feeling of unsafe and isolation from society by building the outdoors into an eerie location buried in snow.
The character of Jack changes drastically through the movie, when we first meet him we see he is like a caterpillar, bound from drinking alcohol by his wife after hurting his child and trying everything to keep his crumbling relationship together. But as the movie processes, we see Jacks true colours come through. Jack represents any person in society, which is what made him so scary as he begins to crack under the pressure of isolation, this new technique of film making allows the audience to compare themselves to Jack and be self in his shoes.
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