This document analyzes and summarizes shots from the trailer of "The Shining". The first shot depicts an empty snowy landscape under a bridge, creating a sense of isolation and suspense. The second shot shows a silhouette of a man holding an axe, drawing attention to him as a potential threat. The third shot depicts a close-up of a frightened child's face, subverting the horror trope of children being the cause of fear rather than the subject of it.

1. The shining
trailer analysis

2. This long shot creates suspense due to the lack of
anything happening within the frame. It looks like we
are under a bridge and as the audience we are
possibly going to see something happen which as a
result leaves us on edge.
I particularly like this shot because of the scenery.
The fact that it is outside and it has been snowing,
gives a sense of isolation. This then leaves the
audience anticipating what might happen.
Interestingly there is little lighting in this shot and the
only light we see is the light in the corner. Light
symbolizes hope and the lack of it gives the
impression that something bad is going to happen

3. In this shot, we get a mid shot of a silhouette of
a man holding an axe. from the silhouette we
can tell it is a grown man who and the element
of horror comes from the fact he is holding the
axe. In contrast to the last shot, there is a lot
more light in this shot which draws our
attention to the man and suggests that he is the
protagonist and is out to kill someone.
Another interesting about this shot is that we
don’t know whether the man is walking towards
us or away from us which contributes to horror
as he might be coming towards us with the axe

4. What I find interesting about this shot is that
the child is the one being scared.
Stereotypically in horror films, children are the
one causing the horror and not the one being
scared. The close up of his face illustrates his
expression and from his expression we can tell
he has seen something terrifying. The lighting
on his face could suggest that something is
coming towards him and we are also joined in
fear of what might happen to him.