The Shining
Genre: Horror / psychological thriller
Narrative: Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) becomes the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel throughout the winter. He is there with his wife and son, Danny. Danny is plagued by psychic premonitions, which get progressively worse. Jack begins to discover the hotel's dark secrets and begins to unravel and become homicidal.
Unique selling point: This film is a classic, and so I think the symbolism in this trailer is what is most powerful; they did not have many special effects or fancy cameras, locations etc. to work with, so instead Kubrick used symbolism, ambiguity and subtlety to build terror. This is very effective, as there is something fundamentally chilling about the simplicity of the horror - it delves deep into primal fear and superstition.
Target audience: over 18s
Music: As this trailer is a fan made modern re-cut, the soundtrack is classic 'horror movie' style music; electronic, with tense build up and deep bass which drives the fear forward. This works well as, compared to the original trailer, sets the pace and enhances the terror.
Shot types / camera angles: My favourite shots are from above, e.g. when Jack is chasing Wendy up the stairs at 1:34, and shots from below, e.g. Jack slamming the door at 1:32. Apart from these, standard wide angle and close up shots are used, but the editing has been done so well that they all appear stylish. This is another advantage of this modern re-cut; more shots have been used, but the clips are much shorter (less than a second in length at times), compared to old trailers which used fewer, longer clips. The quick montage increases the tension while also not giving too much away about the full narrative and 'spoilers'.
Pace: The soundtrack helps set the pace - begins relatively slow and gradually builds to a crescendo at the end. The pace is much faster than the original trailer would have been, which is what I enjoy as I think a fast pace is a lot more engaging for the audience.
Dialogue: Dialogue from the characters in the film has been used to shape the storyline in the trailer. It crosses over to voiceover and is used over the top of silent visuals as well.
Voiceover: Heavily interwoven with the dialogue.
Special effects: As I have mentioned above, hardly any have been used - perhaps only for the blood flooding out of the elevator at 1:25.
Credits and inter-titles: The titles have been put in white against a black screen, again in time with the music. I like the simplicity and clarity of this style.
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