The Shining, directed by Stanley Kubrick and edited by Ray Lovejoy, is the story of Jack Torrance, a writer who has agreed to be the caretaker of The Overlook Hotel for the winter. When he arrives to the hotel with his family, they slowly discover the demons that live within the walls. Danny Torrance, Jack’s son, possesses powers that are dubbed the “shining”, which allow him to see these spirits and the damage they are inflicting on his family. These demons eventually take over Jack, and things take a sinister turn. Through the power of editing, Lovejoy not only buildups the terror and suspense of the hauntings in The Overlook, but he also allows the audience to enter Danny’s mind and “shine” with him. Throughout this film, Danny is able …show more content…
However, Lovejoy also incorporated master shots right before Danny’s episodes that imply impending disaster. The scene begins with an extremely slow tracking shot of Danny riding his big wheel through the kitchen of the hotel. He is moving faster than the camera, and quickly disappears around a corner, while the camera continues to move forward. The film then cuts to a tracking shot right behind Danny, as if he is being followed. As he turns the corner, he halts when he see the twins from his vision standing at the end of the hall. There are two close ups on Danny, separated by a cut back to the hallway, which is not entirely in Danny’s point of view. This is where the rapid succession of visions begins again, just as in Danny’s first episode. Suddenly, there is a flash of a freeze frame of the little girls dead bodies, followed by an eyeline match cut of the twins from Danny’s point of view, then back to the freeze frame of the bodies. A close up of Danny is then shown, obviously terrified, before there are two more zoom ups on the twins, separated by flashes of the same freeze frame. These shots act almost as jump shots in reverse, instead of cutting forward in time the scene cuts back and forth between past and present multiple times, creating just as much, if not more disorientation for the audience. When the scene finally cuts back to Danny, he covers his eyes and tells Tony that he is scared. In this sequence, Lovejoy implies that Danny’s pervious visions are now tangible and in the present. He combines the shots of the twins that Danny sees before him, with the freeze frame of what the audience can assume happened to the little girls in the past. By using the freeze frames of the little girls bodies simultaneously with them talking to Danny, the timeline of events converge and creates a paradoxical situation, that