Kubrick’s 1980 horror film based on Stephen King’s best-selling horror novel; The Shining. The film is about a dysfunctional family, made up of Jack, Wendy and Danny Torrance, that travel deep into the mountains for a winter of isolation, so that the antagonist, Jack, can kick off his writing career. During the family’s time at the empty Overlook Hotel, Danny (the son of Jack and Wendy) has visions of the Hotel’s horrific past, which slowly begins to happen all over again to the Torrance family. Jack’s sanity begins to deteriorate in the hotel, turning him into a threat towards his wife and son.  |
| Figure 1; The Torrance's (1980) [Film Still] |
An auteur is defined as the author or the artist of the film with a unique visual style that can easily be recognised.
‘The more closely you study a body of work, comparing films by the same director, the more… expression of personality and interior meaning you will find… You will notice greater stylistic continuity… through the repeated use of a particular device…’ (Thompson-Jones. 2008:34). Being an auteur, is being an incredibly strong director with a clear vision whose features appear in several films. Francis Truffaut was a French filmmaker and theorist that wrote ‘A certain Tendency in the French Cinema’, this was the first time that auteurship was mentioned (1954) and then later adapted by Andrew Sarris to become a well-known theory, defining strong directors. In Kubrick’s The Shining, as mentioned prior, there is a recurring theme of violence and the brink of insanity. This can be seen through the way that Jack slowly descends into a state of madness where he wants to harm Danny. This type of violence and madness can be seen running through other Kubrick films such as; A Clockwork Orange (1971), where the main character (Alex) leads a gang who beat up a homeless man and have an orchestrated gang fight within the first 10 minutes. The violence and mental deterioration in A Clockwork Orange was so terrible that it was banned in the UK until Kubrick died in 1999. Another film of Kubrick’s based around violence is Full Metal Jacket (1987), a war film in which all the soldiers are forced to kill and fall into terrible mental states from the pressure, that then leads a character to suicide.  |
| Figure 2; Danny Riding Around The Hotel (1980) [Film Still] |
When looking at cinematography in a Kubrick film, it can easily be recognised as being ‘Kubrick’. This is because of his iconic camera angles. Kubrick uses a lot of tracking shots, which can be seen in The Shining when following Danny riding around the long hotel corridors (figure 2). The tracking shots are used throughout the film, as well as
many other Kubrick films such as Space Odyssey (1968), A Clockwork Orange . But none quite as iconic as the many tracking shots seen in The Shining which Kubrick took full advantage of as the Steadicam was newly developed. (Following Kubrick, CutPrintFilm, 2015). Kubrick also uses a lot of one-point-perspective shots in his films 2 (Kubrick, One-Point Perspective. Kogonada, 2012) throughout many of his films, often focusing the main point in the centre such as a character like Jack in figure 3, or the end of a hallway in figure 4. It helps guide the spectator to look into the centre of the frame, which is used a lot in paintings to help guide a viewer to the focal point. Using one-point perspective allows for more clear composition and allows a viewer to visualise the depth of a scene more clearly. ‘…Most critics have thought this a stylistic preference and noted it alongside his addiction to tracking shots…’ (Wollen. 1969:129). Kubrick uses an abundance of tracking shots throughout his films, making his cinematography very easy to recognise. As well as this, Kubrick uses a lot of something referred to as ‘The Kubrick Stare’, an iconic Kubrick move in cinematography of his films. This is extremely well recognised throughout film and used by many different directors (figure 5). It is used to show the characters intensity to the audience, in The Shining this is through Jack’s insanity and Danny’s fear.  |
| Figure 3; Jack One Point Perspective (1980) [Film Still] |
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| Figure 4; Danny One Point Perspective (1980) [Film Still] |
‘Failure of communication is a theme which runs through a number of my films’ (Kubrick, S. 2003). In a Kubrick film it is not uncommon for a miscommunication to occur, The Shining itself is partially revolved around Danny being able to communicate telepathically to a member of staff from the hotel, with any real forms of communication from the hotel to the outside world being cut off by Jack.  |
| Figure 5; 'The Kubrick Stare' (2014) |
In The Shining mirrors are used to show the parallels between Jack and his urges to kill his family. There is a bathroom scene where Jack is surrounded by mirrors in his delusional state, pushing this idea even further, seen in figure 5. Mirrors are used in this way in Full Metal Jacket as well, to push the idea of duality of man, the idea that there are two sides to everyone and a mirror helps represent this visually. This works in Jack’s case, with his two-sided behaviour, until he falls more and more into insanity by the end of the film.
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| Figure 6; The Bathroom (1980) [Film Still] |
A major part of Kubrick’s auteurship lies behind the film itself and in the making of. Kubrick is a huge perfectionist especially when it came to The Shining, ‘Duvall holds the Guinness World Record for most takes shot of one scene: 127. She later compared making The Shining to Primal Scream therapy.’ (Vincent, A. 2016). Duvall had to cry for 12 hours a day during the making of the film. This caused her to have problems later in life, as she has never recovered from the making of The Shining. This also occurred during A Clockwork Orange, where an on-set doctor was placed in a scene to keep Malcom McDowell safe from eye harm but ended up getting a scratched cornea and went temporarily blind. In conclusion, Kubrick has a unique style proven by his recurring motifs within his films. This visual style is consistent despite all his films having different storylines. Kubrick was clearly confident within his film design and directing style, with his films now being recognised worldwide, as iconic and influential; this could be said to make him an auteur. After watching a few of his films, it can easily be decifered by a viewer as being very 'Kubrick'.
Illustrations:
Figure 1: The Torrance’s (1980) [Film Still]
At: http://mentalfloss.com/article/55893/25- things-you-might-not-know-about-shining (Accessed on 4 December 2018) Figure 2: Danny Riding Around The Hotel (1980) [Film Still] At: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081505/mediaviewer/rm3912186368 (Accessed on 4 December 2018) Figure 3: Jack One Point Perspective (1980) [Film Still] At: http://gigazine.net/gsc_news/en/20120901-kubrick-one-point-perspective (Accessed on 4 December 2018) Figure 4: Danny One Point Perspective (1980) [Film Still] At: http://gigazine.net/gsc_news/en/20120901-kubrick-one-point-perspective (Accessed on 4 December 2018) Figure 5: The Kubrick Stare (2014) At: https://imgur.com/gallery/vZUfrrl (Accessed on 4 December 2018) Figure 6: The Bathroom (1980) [Film Still] At: https://www.tvovermind.com/10- memorable-bathroom-scenes-in-movies/ (Accessed on 4 December 2018) Bibliography: Duncan, Paul. (2003) Stanely Kubrick: Visual Poet (1928-1999). Italy: Taschen (Accessed on 3 December 2018) Thompson-Jones, Katherine (2008) Aesthetics & Film. Continnum Publishing (Accessed on 3 December 2018) Vincent, Alice (2016) From The Shining to Dr Phil: whatever happened to Shelly Duvall? At: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/11/17/from-the-shining-to-dr-phil- whatever-happened-to-shelley-duvall/ (Accessed on 4 December 2018) Wollen, Peter (1969) Signs and Meaning in the Cinema. Great Britain. British Film Insititute. (Accessed on 4 December 2018) Following Kubrick (2015) Edited by CutPrintFilm At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3uOitRaX9s (Accessed on 4 December 2018) Kubrick // One-Point Perspective (2012) From Kogonada At: https://vimeo.com/48425421 (Accessed 3 December 2018)
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