Thriller Opening Analysis

                                                                         The Shining
                               

The thriller that I have chosen to analyse is the Shining. The Shining is a film made in the 1980's by a director called Stanley Kubrick. It is starring Jack Nicholson, Shellet Duvall and Danny Lloyd. The opening begins with a dramatic, eerie trumpet sounds which is then built up with additional instruments such as a xlyaphone. The music in the first couple of minutes already builds up the tension and causes the audience to begin to feel confused already. In contrast to the music, the imagery of the opening scene seems to be quite pleasant scenerey which consists of mountain sides, rivers and roads. The opening begins by going quite quickly throughly the river and round the mountain which then reveals the car which is driving. This makes audience feel as if we are trying to catch up with this character in the car. These action shots are then moved to a birds eye view of the car which is driving to this unknown location. The music and scenery together arise many questions; but the main one is, where is the person that we are following going. However, the bird eye view shot of the car makes us feel for whoever is in the car because they have a sense of vunerability which is built through the sharp edged music. When the credits are first introduced, the contrast between the background and the vibrant colour of the names appearing on screen are quite sharp. This thriller opening is unlike others in the way that it doesn't reveal the characters in the first 2 minutes.