[image:google]
Stanley Kubrick is one of my favourite horror directors, may be it is because we have the same birthday, who knows? His most recognizable work being 2001:A Space Odyssey, The Shinning (one of my favourite movies), Clockwork Orange and Full Metal Jacket. Kubrick is one of the most influential directors in cinema as he created the pan shot, that lingers a little too long, adding to the viewers suspense and the constant feeling of being uncomfortable. The stare that completely dehumanizes his characters and he thinks about every single detail within the frame of his shot (the maise en scene of cinema). The maise en scene means within the frame/front of the camera and or setting the staged, demonstrating every single detail is considered to create the most “meaningful” image, but just like everything else in this world it can be subjective. “Maise en scene in film is the overall effect of how it comes together for the audience” (studio binder,2020).
The elements that form the maise en scene include: styling/costumes, sets, props, lighting, actor blocking and the type of shots and compositions of the chosen shot. When used correctly it transforms simple moving images to an art form.
An analysis of a shot from Kubrick’s film The Shinning using the maise en scene:
The Shinning is based on the book of the same title written by Stephen King, King was inspired to write The Shinning whilst he stayed in the Stanley hotel, which is known to be one of worlds most haunted hotels, any way I’m getting off topic. The film is full of aesthetic horrifying scenes, many with Jack Torrance as the main subject however, the scene that I would like to unravel is the green bathroom of room 237. Perhaps the most unnerving scene in the whole film at this point in the movie Jack is slowly losing his sanity and was specifically told not to enter the infamous room. The scene begins with the door opening and the camera moving into the bathroom. The shot is wide angle and stays completely still for a short while. The bathroom is clean and pastel green, no sign of anyone being in there, until a hand pushes the curtain back and you see a woman sat in the bathtub. She seductively climbs out and walks towards Jack… I’m not spoiling anymore of it, so you’ll have to watch it yourself.
· The movement of the shot is lingering, slow and deliberate - the actors and the camera in the scene are also moving slowly.
· The pastel green colour adds a retro aesthetic showing the decade the film was made and what year the story took place. The colour green also has connotations of family, safety nature and harmony, honour, fertility and growth - which is ironic considering the juxtaposition between Jack spiralling and how his family is affected by this.
· The female is naked and crawling seductively out of the bathtub, this is a common troupe in horror cinema - tends to be a spirit trying to study the living to do what they want, using the female form as a tool to sexualize. Though in later horror movies it is more empowering for the women to be so vulnerable.
· The bathroom itself is an element for multiple reasons. The bath is in the centre that has a pale pink curtain décor current to the time of making the film. There is also a mirror on either side, demonstrating the bathroom is functional. The bath draws the eye straight to it but the wide angle makes the actor small and shows more of the location adding to the narrative. The white paint on some of the walls frames the bath, but also frames the actors. I love how the seeming innocent colours of the bathroom, contrast Jacks mind and the actions taking place in the scene.
The wide angle/framing and shot is used in multiple scenes through out Kubrick's portfolio, more so in the shinning, the subject tends to be central, the location clean but always has a certain aesthetic to it. The subject is small to the location showing the characters isolation an internal monologue, drowning in it almost .The above eyelevel that accompanies the shots gives the characters a flare of innocents in a world of madness.
[found on google]
It’s completely up to you how you interpret the shot, the points I made are merely suggestions. I could honestly go on about horror cinema, the real life ghost stories that inspire the horror genre and how the roles of female characters are changing in horror, but that’s for a another day.
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