The Shining Opening Scene Analysis

In the Stanley Kubrick’s film, The Shining begins with family goes to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific presentiments from the past and of the future. In this scene there’s a tone of anticipation, suspense and vulnerability. These tones are expressed through the camera angles like extreme close-ups and a long shot of the scene. This infamous scene where the son (Danny) is riding a tricycle throughout the hotel hallways, and losing sight of him in each turn. Danny turns a corner and come to a stop when he sees two little girls. The scene cuts to a close-up of Danny’s face showing the horrified reaction to seeing the two girls; who seem

The long shot of the character being out of sight as he turns into each hallway shows the anticipation of something dangerous coming or lurking each corner. This reminds me of the walking down an unfamiliar hallway and turning to corner to not knowing what to expect, gives me the anticipation of my surrounding. Another long shot is one of the girls where the audience to absorb the shock of their present in the hallway in the supposedly isolated hotel. The extreme close-up in this scene of Danny’s faces emphasizes the horror and almost paralyzed feeling of not being alone. And the fast cuts of shots between the girls being dead and Danny’s face shows he is becoming more distress and shock with horror as scene goes on. Another close-up of Danny’s face is when he is covering his eyes and waiting to see if the girls are real but, to find out it was a flashback. This represents the fear of something being real or not real. The fear of our minds playing tricks on us or something spiritual effect our way of see