The Shining - Analysis of a film opening

The Shining

The opening sequence of the shining begins with an extreme long shot which shows the audience where the setting is. It shows mainly nature in a wide empty space, this can present the affect of no no one being around so being very isolated. In this shot there is non-diegetic music being played, there are instruments such as guitars, piano and violins. With the echoes these instruments make it helps to emphasise the loneliness and horror genre. The setting is surrounded by mountains which can give a creepy intention as they are high up and very dark between the trees and valleys. This builds up tension for what is going to happen later on in the film. As the genre of the film is horror it is quite unusual for the title sequence to be in daylight but this can relieve the audiences tension in the beginning therefore making the horror and gore that is yet to come more shocking and intense. There is a high angle shot of the car driving up the mountain roads which are empty, this again enforces the feeling of isolation. Further on in the sequence we see lots of fog, this is used in horror films to help hide something or someone. This will help build up tension for the viewer. Later on in the sequence there is snow on the ground, the white of the snow can be seen as innocence and may refer to the victim later on in the film. At the end of the sequence there is an establishing shot of a big house with the mountains in the background. With this shot it can suggest that this will be the main setting for the killing and horror to go on at.