The Shining (Hallway scene)

How tension and terror created in the hallway scene

The scene opens with an extremely long shot following Danny riding his tricycle down the hallway in the Overlook. At this stage tracking shot is used to show Danny riding his tricycle around the hotel this makes audience as though they are following this little boy riding his tricycle in this empty place where we see nobody and this creates tension and terror. The non-deigitic sound which is a very horrific music is used to makes audience feel scared and unsettled because there is no one around and the camera is far away from Danny which makes us feel that something is going to happen in the next hallway. No editing has been used at this stage the camera is still far away from Danny and even when Danny turns the camera is still going slowly which suggest that Danny has entered a dangerous place and the camera is afraid to follow.
After few seconds, it cuts to a close tracking shot following Danny from behind as he approaches a turn into the hallway, this time the camera is so close to Danny it makes audience feel as though they are with him and some is going to happen or something is around the bend because we don't see anything except Danny and his tricycle, everything is going slowly at the beginning of the scene and Danny feels excited about riding his tricycle around the hallway because he looks confident about going around the place which suggest that everything is fine at this stage.
When he turns a corner he stops really quickly and we see two girls standing from far away, the extreme long shot allows us to absorb the shock because we get a feeling that something wrong is going to happened any second, so the whole point of the extreme long shot and the music is to make audience confuse and panic because the extreme long shot and the music which is getting faster at this stage suggest that something terrific is about to happen.

Shot reverse shot is used to show Danny's face the close up shot on Danny’s face shows his reaction, the camera's focusing on Danny’s wide eyes showing his "shining" experience, Danny is breathing fast but he is not moving or screaming this suggest that he is actually shocked and terrified by seeing the girls but he doesn't do any anything because he wants to know who they are and what they want this creates tension because it make audience to watch the scene and find out why these girls are standing there.

Again shot reverse shot is used as part of editing to show the girls and the camera is behind Danny so point of view shot is used to allow viewers to see what Danny’s seeing and also to make audience a part of the experience. this time diegitic and non- diegetic sound is used in the scene, the non- diegetic sound is the horror music which has been used to create tension and horror in the film and also to let audience know that what Danny is seeing is not ordinary, and the diegitic sound is the dialogue, the girls are saying "hello, Danny" this is effective because at the beginning when the girls are shown the audience feel that it is only Danny who witnesses flashbacks because the girls are just standing there doing nothing but this time they're actually talking to Danny which shows that they are there for real and it's not just Danny who sees them but also they see Danny too and they talk to him as well.

Both girls are identical and they are both wearing same clothes. The blue dresses that they're wearing symbolise piety and sincerity, it presents the girls as powerful because Danny is shocked by seeing them and it also represents them as innocent because they are dressing up like two little girls. This effective because it takes hold of audience tension and makes them raise question about why these two little innocent girls would harm Danny.

Again shot reverse shot is used to show the girls before showing another close up of Danny doing anything. The girls are repeating the same line "come and play with us" this means that the girls want to connect with Danny, Before we see Danny again jump cut is used to show a disturbing image of the girls massacred on the floor, with blood splattered across the walls and an axe in the middle of the floor this shot is cut extremely short it is not allowing audience to fully understand the situation but it allows viewers to signify the way in which the horrific images are flashing through Danny’s mind this shot creates tension and horror because it also suggest that the girl were killed, perhaps in the past and they are ghost. The pace of editing picks up speed and make audience confuse, panic, and shock because once we see the girls standing there and after that we see them on the floor as though they have been murdered by someone so these shots makes audience confuse and panic because we actually don’t know how and why this is happening. At this point in the scene, past paced editing is used to cut back to the girls standing at the end of the hallway; however, in this shot, the camera has moved closer to them which shows that the girls are getting closer to Danny and the fast paced editing is used to create tension and horror because everything is going fast and it make audience feel panic and unsettled.

They finish their next line, “Forever,” then shot of the murder repeats, again holding it for only a brief moment before quickly cutting to a reaction shot of Danny’s face, twisted in horror. Another jump cut to the murder scene is directly followed by a medium shot of the girls that, nearer to the viewer than ever. it makes audience feel as though the girls are getting closer to them, the girls are wearing a white make up which creates tension and horror because the white make up suggest illness and death so by now audience know that something happened to these girls along time ago, probably they have been murdered but now they have returned this has been shown by the camera and editing techniques, what is shown on the scene is that some thing disaster happened to these girls but what is left of the scene is who did this thing, how and when this thing happened and this makes the film more effective because it makes audience raise questions about what happened to these girls or why Danny is see these flashbacks.

Danny is shocked by what he is seeing but he doesn't scream or move from where he is which suggest that he hasn't fully understand of what he is seeing so he is forcing him self to watch the girls and understand why they are there but when the girls are getting closer he is dead scared and can’t watch them anymore because the girls are strange. After the girls say their final line, “And ever,” it cuts one last time to the bloody shot of the girls on the floor now Danny is more and more distressed, the reverse angle close-up of Danny, who, with his mouth agape, throws his hands over his eyes suggests that he can't watch the girls anymore or get closer to them because the way they are talking and the way they are getting closer to Danny makes him feel uncomfortable and terrified.

The camera stays with Danny as he slowly lowers one of his hands to see if the girls are still there, suggesting an unbearable feeling of suspense because the viewer, like Danny, is uncertain if the frightening event is over. A reverse angle with a long shot of the empty hallway shows that everything is back to normal. At this stage slow paced editing is used to show that everything is back to normal so the slow paced editing suggest calm mood and it creates a tense of realism, however, the non diegitic sound which is a horrific music still makes us feel unsettle which suggest that the girls might return again because at the end we see Danny talking to his imaginary friend to make himself feel better about what he saw, the shot reverse shot at the end shows that Danny is too scared to move from where he is which creates tension because it makes viewer have a sense of that another terrifying vision might be around the corner.

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