Final Project
While this may be the worst representation of Stanley Kubrick's genius film projects and quite possibly a shame to even claim that my peer and I tried to remanufacture his cinematic excellence, at least we tried. In choosing the film The Shining to analyze how we can approach making a short video in the stylings of Kubrick himself, we realized that this would be a difficult - honestly, impossible - task to manage. Nonetheless, a lesson was learned in how precise and artistic the process must be in order to deliver to an audience such a brilliantly sculpted horror film that can be appreciated both thematically and visually.
In our video, we tried to make some similarities between shots when the underlying theme was most important. In The Shining, the case may have dealt with sexual abuse, while in our project, it revolved around drug abuse. We also latched onto this theme because of Jack's struggle with alcoholism and how it effected his characteristics, personality, and behavioral development throughout the film. Another fact I'd like to point out was that we actually did not use any real alcohol or drugs within this project. Luckily, my father had an empty bottle of Skol as some sort of lame decoration in my house that we used, and we stock piled empty beer cans after Hannah's brother threw a party the weekend before our filming. I figured it'd be a good idea to give a disclaimer in the event of it seeming inappropriate. I suppose taking all the characteristic I've touched on thus far, primarily creates a binary structure for how I interpreted the film: the structure is composed of repetition and abuse. I feel that the two tie together strongly as is in real life, and Kubrick portrays that in a masterful way throughout the movie. In "Life of the Party" we try and demonstrate the repetitive nature that takes its' course when struggling with substance addiction - the lies and illusions we create or tell others in order to deny the problem in the first place. This is seen in The Shining with the audience's constant battle between looking through the eyes of Jack and looking as an outsider, making it impossible to decide whether what he is seeing is reality or illusion. As he sits with Lloyd, an eerie bartender, we hear Jack's side of the story when it comes to Danny's dislocated shoulder after an encounter with his father. He begins to drink - or at least pretends to drink in delusion - and expresses great contempt towards Wendy (Shelley Duval) and Danny, yet passes off his act as harmless and reasonable - an indication of rationalizing alcoholism.
Our tour was also not as long or played out as the tour Dick (Scatman Crothers) gives Wendy or Danny. This was mostly because we dragged out other scenes for too long to raise discomfort in viewers - one of the many techniques that Kubrick is well known for. Anyways, Angela (Julia's character) sort of played the role of Dick in the sense that they give red flags to the protagonists. The only thing that differs between Angela and Dick is the fact that we know Dick is set in reality while Angela is not. The RV she was located in vanished in the blink of an eye and she is never seen again after her supernaturally fast departure. Dick may have supernatural abilities, but he is very much centered in the physical realm.
The next filming techniques we attempted were the crazier camera angels when taping an intense scene that is supposed to be disorienting or uncomfortable for the audience to watch. Luckily I found a hole in the RV's kitchen table, so I was able to get a shot from a worm-eye view, much like Kubrick's epic shot of Jack stuck in the pantry, reaching his peak of insanity, and threatening Wendy - an angle that makes the audience feel as though they are as scared of this giant-looking psychopath as poor Wendy is. This angle screams intimidation and almost automatically makes me feel nauseous. As for close-ups, Kubrick is also well known for the menacing, evil facial expression that hones in on a character's ability to manifest evil. While I couldn't replicate this expression nearly as well as Jack Nicholson, we made sure to include this at a pivotal point in the story. When the chase scene finally initiates, we try using another lighting technique seen in The Shining. This technique relies heavily on practical lighting and thrives off the contrast that is built around it. The shot illuminates the background while keeping the creeping character that stumbles toward the camera in a shadow that terrifies viewers and leaves them in enough darkness where their whole being remains ambiguous. Out of all the turmoil that revolves around substance abuse, sexual abuse, and the relapse and repetition that go along with it, these chase scenes both end with a sense of hope; It seems as though the good guys have won. In one case Danny charges to the light before exiting the maze and danger that awaits him within it. In the other, Felicity runs off into a cemetery, but lives. In both cases the bad guy seems to be the one that are punished with the consequence of death. In Jack's case, his body was frozen - preserved. In Mallory's case, her body laid in hands that seemed uplifting. Both cases mark death, but they do not rule out the repetition that had been the major theme of the entire plot. This arises with The Shining's baffling ending that everyone asks about: Why was Jack in the photograph at The Overlook from 1921? This indicates a repeating cycle of events - an eternal loop that Jack will forever be stuck in. The same question arises through the symbolism of Mallory dying in the hands of someone or, better yet, something else. The hands are part of the property - the property that ultimately made her go insane - much like Jack's severe case of cabin fever. Other Details and Facts about the Process...
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