The Shining

In this scene "Jack's nightmare" from The Shining, The director uses many cinematic techniques such as lighting, sound and camera shots to build tension and make the audience feel uncomfortable. Firstly we see a long shot of Jack sat on the edge of his chair, This may have been to illustrate how the director wanted us to feel on edge at this moment. In this long shot we can see that on the bottom of the table are banisters shaped like a cross , this may be to convey a sinister mood. Referencing religion is a common convention in the horror genre, that is seen throughout many horror films for example in  the classroom scene in "It Follows"  the window panes look like inverted crosses. The camera then slowly zooms in on Jack, cutting everything else out of the shot other than his face, this concealed his surroundings and created a sense of claustrophobia and played on people's natural fear of being trapped/claustrophobic. This is also a common convention seen throughout the horror genre, playing on people's natural fears. As the camera is zooming in there is a shallow depth of field, which also makes the space feel more confined because every think in the background is out of focus. Whilst the cameras zooming Jack is screaming out in fear, however as an audience we don't know what he is scared of, this made me scared because it plays on my fear of the unknown. At this point in the scene, the director also uses non-diegetic sound as well as diegetic sound. He uses very low music played by only one instrument at the start of the scene, then we start to hear a shrill violin sound as Jack's screams get louder and more disturbing. The use of this music almost convays Jack's dream to us because we know that when his screams get worse his dream is obviously getting worse and at the same time the music gets progressively more disturbing, illustrating that his dream is becoming more disturbing. As a result I became even more scared because I knew that something very bad was going on in his dream due to the progression in the music. This made the scene more dramatic and sinister.

After this it cuts to Wendy running through the kitchen, trying to find Jack. Although she is actually running through the kitchen, I believe that this part of the scene foreshadows Jack's dream. Firstly, the director uses low-key lighting, another common convention of the  horror genre, so low that Wendy has become a silhouette and it almost dehumanises her and makes her look like something out of a dream. Furthermore, the director uses a handheld tracking shot, this shot implies that there is someone following her and she is running away from them, just like she would be doing in Jack's dream and will be doing later on in the film. We also know that later on in the film she managed to escape from Jack and I think this is portrayed through the lights at the end of the corridor that she eventually runs under. Moreover the low-lighting creates contrast between light and dark and showdows. When Wendy is running she looks as though she is being followed by her own shadow as her shadow is directly behind her, due to the lighting in front of her. However her shadow is quite blurred and not very sharp, this could illustrate that her shadow represents a ghost. Throughout the film there have been many references to imply that Jack Will 600 become or was a ghost, therefore this supports my earlier point of the idea that it is Jack who is following her and that this part of the scene represents his dream. 

Later on in the Scene, when Wendy finally finds Jack, she wakes him up and he falls to the floor in fright. It cuts to a mid-shot of them both on the floor, but the camera is positioned under the table and as a result of this we get very strangly angled natural framing. The director uses the table leg and the underneath of the table to naturally frame the shot. This framing almost makes it look like a Dutch angle, which could me to represent how messed up and wrong his dream was. On the other hand the framing could have been done to portray how Jack felt/feels trapped during and after is dream or to represent how the family are trapped in the hotel and are I'm danger, for me it gives a very clostriphobic feeling and a sense of being trapped and not being able to get away. The table leg and face could also depict the idea of a monster hiding under a bed because I've mentioned that perviously Jack could have been the one behind the camera, maybe it is trying to show that Jack is the moster under the bed because that what he is turning into. This also plays in people natural fears of a something being under their beds and playing on natural fears is a conversion often seen in horror. Also as Jack is composing himself and getting ready to tell Wendy his dream the director uses very minimal, deep music, then just as he says "I had a dream that I killed you and Danny," the music once again moves to a very shrill sound of violins. For me this made what he was saying more sinister and disturbing. As he starts getting more upset we being to hear other instruments sliding from one low note to another and the music beings to sound quite cluttered, just like Jack's thoughts would be. 

Lastly, as an aspect of mise-en-scéne, the director has filled the large lobby with many arm chairs and wooden chairs, the fact that they are all unoccupied, other than the one that Jack uses, makes me feel asif it is very lonely and a very uncomfortable situation to be in. The multiple empty chairs are a constant reminders that they are alone and trapped which makes the scene and the film in general more scary for me.