Cinematography Techniques - An analysis of The Shining - An Introduction to Film Form

In the clip from 'The Shining' we follow the character Danny from behind as he rides his big wheel through a series of corridors leading into a open space then continuing to ride through more corridors until he reaches the room labelled 237. The entirety of this part of the scene is shot with a stabiliser at knee height from behind Danny. But  once he reaches room 237, he stops where for a second or two he looks back at the door, the camera angle changes to a over the shoulder shot, (OTS), showing the rooms number. Immediately after this shot, the camera changes to a close up shot of Danny, showing some discouragement and unease while he stares at the door. It then switches back to another OTS shot of Danny staring at the door until cutting to a full shot of him as he stands up from his big wheel to approach the door. The camera shot moves from the full shot to a medium shot as he grows closer to the door, still staring at the doors number. For the last 20 seconds of the clip the angle and shot stay the same while Danny reaches for the door handle and attempts to open the door, unsuccessfully whilst looking back and forth from the numbers and the door knob. We can still see he is unsteady from the second he reaches the door to the second the camera cuts away to the two girls at the very end of the clip.

The camera focus stays mainly on Danny as he rides through the corridors while keeping his surroundings in focus as well. Until we get his OTS shots, only the door is focused upon during these two OTS shots. When he reaches the door and attempts to open it, the camera is still focused upon Danny and the door whilst his background becomes unfocused, leaving only Danny and the door in focus.

Each of the shot techniques chosen by the director/DOP are used in such a specific way that they capture the scene to be very unsettling and eerie even from the start with Danny riding through each corridor. The effect intended from using this collection of OTS, knee height and medium/close up shots while all being done using a stabiliser intend to create the effect of un-settlement, eerie and suspense for the audience to show a meaning of, Why he has stopped at this specific door? Why is he so uneasy when around it? Why did he try to open the door? What is the significance of this specific door? What does Danny wish to find behind the locked door of room 237? These are all questions the director wants us to think throughout the whole second half of this scene. It creates the effect of wonder for the audience, heightening the fact that we ave such little knowledge about Danny's reasoning behind stopping at the door, and better yet, why he wanted to get into the room. We as the audience are stuck asking questions but not receiving any answers to any of Danny's actions.

The director has made the significance of this door unknown to the audience, therefor creating more suspense around the scene whilst playing on our little knowledge of room 237.