Analysis of the opening title sequence of The Shining

By Olivia Delaney

How is the genre (human monster) constructed?

• The camera is following the car to their destination and is going at all different angles. This could represent how there may be something supernatural following the family.

• It also shows how far away they are travelling from the outside world.

What do the opening titles show? How is narrative enigma created?

• The opening titles show a car going down a road to a building. The car is on small roads in the mountains and it gives the impression that the characters are on their own and are in the middle of nowhere. The audience have developed a lot of questions from this opening title. One of these would be, where are the characters going? This keeps the audience interested and creates a cliff-hanger.

What is the effect of the music?

• The music is very creepy and it’s a low tempo and a very slow pace. This could make the audience agitated. Also, we can hear a quite noise of what seems to be someone screaming but its made to sound like an instrument and it fits well with the music.

How has typography been used?

• The typography is very simple. It moves from the bottom screen to the top of the screen. The typography is also in luminous blue and its in very large writing. This makes the writing stand out from the images in the background.

How is mise-en-scene conveyed?

• Again, the surroundings are all of trees and mountains. This adds to the knowledge that they are excluded from everyone else and again they are in the middle of nowhere. This adds to the adrenaline as if something supernatural does happen there will not be an easy escape for the family.