ShiningTrailer Analysis

The Shining: Trailer Analysis

The opening scene is a wide-angle shot, showing the surrounding forest and rolling hills. This is a common setting in horror films because it gives off the effect of isolation. By using a wide angled, tracking shot we are able to see the family car aswell as the forest. The forest overwhelms the small car and creates the feeling that the family in the car is vulnerable to their surroundings or some sort of paranormal being. Over the footage there is some non-diagetic dialogue, where we here one of the characters tell Jack Torrance [our male lead] the history of the hotel and the fate of the last caretaker. Foreshadowing Jack’s demise. Throughout this there is also multiple jump cuts and flash-forwards, showing Jack’s deterioration into madness. As it climaxes with Jack hacking at the door with an axe, non-diagetic music climaxes then falls silent, showing Jack assuring the hotel owner that this wont happen, they all then laugh. Dramatic irony is used here effectively for we know Jacks fate. Again multiple jump cuts are used, showing different scenes from the film. And the hotel owner, [voice over from before] reveals the main dilemma of the film, self-isolation. It again goes back to the series of jump cuts, now much faster and showing Jacks descent into madness. The speed of the cuts helps build the tension and help portray his unstable mentality to the audience. It climaxes with blood flowing from the elevator and Jack hacking through a door with an axe, and as he breaks though The Shining appears in big bold letters. The last scene shows Jack laughing to himself, clarifying his descent into madness and re-enforcing the psychological element.

The Shining: Trailer Analysis [Re-cut]

The re-cut is clearly fake due to out of sync dialogue and voice overs, but it is still very well put together and really does look like another film. It opens with Jack at the reception, with multiple scenes of him on his typewriter, the added voiceover reveals that he is trying to write a book but is struggling for ideas, and by recycling scenes from the original trailer and adding voice overs, the trailer now has a plot. In the original trailer when Jack is talking to the hotel owner it is about the troubles of looking after the hotel, and the fate of the previous caretaker, but in the re-cut it looks like he is talking about his book We then meet his family, his wife Wendy and step-son Danny. The main dilemma of the film is revealed, Jack is struggling to write his book and does not spend enough time with his family. Scenes of Danny playing on his own are used to highlight the fact he is alone and lacks a father figure. The same goes for Jack, multiple jump cuts are shown, showing him throwing plates in anger, but this time it is due to him struggling to write his book, not going mad because of the self isolation. The trailer then changes, instead of talking about the dilemma more, it shows them spending time as a family, recycling scenes to make it look like they are a happy family going through a rough patch. Then it ends with the same bold writing reading SHINING, by removing THE, the film seems more happy and family based, simple alterations can make a big difference. The Shining, and Shining give two very different representations.