The Shinning
During the afternoon session we watched “The Shinning” made in 1980, the first film to be shown during this project, relating to the theme of ‘Psychological Terror’. ‘The Shinning’ directed by Stanley Kubrick inhabits supernatural presences with the undertone of seclusion and isolation creating this physiological disturbing physcote tale.The Hotel set creates an eerie atmosphere through the unwillingness of people moving away for the winter months, as if to suggest all is not quite right. The characters are introduced to the audience in their stereotypical form and function within the family unit. However, throughout the film the individuals separate, dispersing into their conscious and unconscious states of their psyche.  After the family are increasingly becoming more at home within the grand hotel, a presence of a darker nature becomes apparent to the audience and the child. His increasing psychotic fathers intentions of causing him and his mother harm is apparent through a series of disturbing revelations. The boy becomes aware of his fathers change and his extremely unnatural behavior when he asks if he would harm him and his father replies rather agitatedly creating an undertone of violence. This invokes a powerful sense of betrayal of trust between the father and the son making suggestive hints there is a darker presence at work here.Exploring through the hotel, a sense of another presence is made clear through the eeriness and the repeated psychotic image of a set of twins. These endless corridors are the perfect setting for these supernatural weird coherences.  I found the image of the women in the bath extremely disturbing as she metamorphosis from her rotting form. This powerful imagery shows the direct emphasis on the importance of the shock factor of this Psychological Horror. The endless corridors create an isolated atmosphere and suggest entrapment within the set. I also found the image of the father’s build up to a killing as if the character is trying to achieve a state of fear, before murdering his victims.  

As I was in group one I read the extremely symbolic text of Franz Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’ (1915). The brief stated, that the two rooms we were required to make were, Gregor’s bedroom and the living room. The stylistic brief was Constructivism and Expressionism. My after thoughts were that we needed to create a presence of normality, physically still within the set, representing the disturbing narrative context. His transformation symbolises the empty, insignificant and outcast life Gregor leads and makes apparent in his lack of motivation that particular morning which the story starts off with. His mental state becomes apparent as he embassies his metamorphosis as his preferences becomes more insect like and his natural trail of thoughts begin to disappear as he thinks less. His characters lack of rational thinking shows the character questioning his reason for existence and plays around with his distion to carry on with his pre-planned daily routine.  

The families attitudes and attention devoted to Gregor after his change is apparent increasingly shows them trying to avoid the situation through their abandonment of their son as he wastes away without any social interactions, isolating him physiologically.

Towards the end of Gregor’s story his instinctive insect nature is extremely present by this time in his mental and physical actions. This change in his physical and mental life causes him to set in to a state of depression as he refuses to eat and slowly wastes away in his bedroom behind locked doors. However the reason for his change is never answered or made clear just suggested through the present, it is taking over him, changing his natural nature into something unnatural and unrecognisable, suggestions of a set destiny and path.