Mikela Gassert
The Shining Example of Good Cinematography Film is both art and business: fields that strive to innovate. Artists who innovate leave a lasting legacy on their craft, demonstrate their adeptness, and add value to their field. Businesses must adapt constantly to survive in competitive markets; innovation represents a company’s economic lifeblood. One Steadicam film, The Shining, used the new techniques to further the film as a piece of art and as a financial success, particularly over lifetime earnings (Box Office Mojo). The new technology is critical to certain story choices and important for the development of Steadicam itself. Use of Steadicam technology in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining irreplaceably demonstrates the meaning …show more content…
Steadicam enables these scenes filled with other techniques to shape powerful metaphors about a child dealing with confused feelings about an abusive parent. The snow maze at the Overlook literally represents a human mind, because of its twists and turns like the folds of a brain, established far before the chase scene via a bird’s-eye view shot. To establish the brain as Danny’s, one can turn to the first shot, where Danny immediately takes up the center of the frame. He is the first association made with the diegetic space. The rest of the shot focusses on setting up a parallel with Danny and his father by panning directly between the two. Both are centered in their frames and of equal size, a feat nearly impossible to set up with immovable cameras while Jack stalks about cartoonishly. Overall, the scene then proceeds to edit in a way similar to shot/reverse shot editing between parent and child. The view might be on Jack looking upwards, or chasing Danny while pointing downwards, making each step more informative to the story than any of Jack’s rambling cries. …show more content…
Each of these shots requires tight turns to grasp the sense of looking around at an issue, contemplating it, getting caught up in the minutia of the problem – all impossible with normal camera moves. Another use of Steadicam is to parallel Danny and his father when both take a tumble. When Danny trips, the camera does not immediately track him, but lets him drop out of the frame partially. The same thing happens during one of his father’s lurches, Jack drops off from the center of the frame and isn’t tracked. The camera is not afraid to use its movement capabilities to make implications about the characters in ways solid camera moves cannot do; the frame wobbles when Jack stumbles, it gets low to the ground to follow Danny’s short-height eye-sight, the camera approaches Jack at a distance with long shots to create a sense of intimidation. One of the final uses of Steadicam in the scene provides closure. When Wendy and her son are in the snowcap heading rightwards, the Steadicam operator follows them at a distance as they traverse snowy terrain to enter the forest, away from the maze. A different camera system could easily have been tripped up in the snow, or simply followed via pivot rather than give the distinct feel of someone running away. In each of these cases, the camera moves supplement the story by taking on the role of a potential observer in Danny’s mind. Steadicam can convey extra information about
The Shining Example of Good Cinematography Film is both art and business: fields that strive to innovate. Artists who innovate leave a lasting legacy on their craft, demonstrate their adeptness, and add value to their field. Businesses must adapt constantly to survive in competitive markets; innovation represents a company’s economic lifeblood. One Steadicam film, The Shining, used the new techniques to further the film as a piece of art and as a financial success, particularly over lifetime earnings (Box Office Mojo). The new technology is critical to certain story choices and important for the development of Steadicam itself. Use of Steadicam technology in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining irreplaceably demonstrates the meaning …show more content…
Steadicam enables these scenes filled with other techniques to shape powerful metaphors about a child dealing with confused feelings about an abusive parent. The snow maze at the Overlook literally represents a human mind, because of its twists and turns like the folds of a brain, established far before the chase scene via a bird’s-eye view shot. To establish the brain as Danny’s, one can turn to the first shot, where Danny immediately takes up the center of the frame. He is the first association made with the diegetic space. The rest of the shot focusses on setting up a parallel with Danny and his father by panning directly between the two. Both are centered in their frames and of equal size, a feat nearly impossible to set up with immovable cameras while Jack stalks about cartoonishly. Overall, the scene then proceeds to edit in a way similar to shot/reverse shot editing between parent and child. The view might be on Jack looking upwards, or chasing Danny while pointing downwards, making each step more informative to the story than any of Jack’s rambling cries. …show more content…
Each of these shots requires tight turns to grasp the sense of looking around at an issue, contemplating it, getting caught up in the minutia of the problem – all impossible with normal camera moves. Another use of Steadicam is to parallel Danny and his father when both take a tumble. When Danny trips, the camera does not immediately track him, but lets him drop out of the frame partially. The same thing happens during one of his father’s lurches, Jack drops off from the center of the frame and isn’t tracked. The camera is not afraid to use its movement capabilities to make implications about the characters in ways solid camera moves cannot do; the frame wobbles when Jack stumbles, it gets low to the ground to follow Danny’s short-height eye-sight, the camera approaches Jack at a distance with long shots to create a sense of intimidation. One of the final uses of Steadicam in the scene provides closure. When Wendy and her son are in the snowcap heading rightwards, the Steadicam operator follows them at a distance as they traverse snowy terrain to enter the forest, away from the maze. A different camera system could easily have been tripped up in the snow, or simply followed via pivot rather than give the distinct feel of someone running away. In each of these cases, the camera moves supplement the story by taking on the role of a potential observer in Danny’s mind. Steadicam can convey extra information about