As a horror classic, the popularity of "The Shining" has endured for a long time. Recently, the sequel to "The Shining" "Doctor Sleep" exposed the first poster and released the first Chinese character trailer, which triggered warm cheers among fans, which can be called a lifetime series, and once again aroused everyone's attention to the classic "Shining".
"Doctor Sleep" will be released in North America on November 8, and after more than forty years of waiting for a sequel, can the same horror continue without Kubrick? We will wait and see. Before we do that, let's review these secrets about the production behind the scenes of The Shining.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="6" >1. The Shining Origins: From the selection of stories to casting, it has been arduous</h1>
In 1975, after the success of the period film Barry Linden directed by director Stanley Kubrick, he realized that he should make a film with potential commercial value next, and the "supernatural" subject became his favorite direction. It just so happened that Warner Bros. Studios sent the "The Shining" novel to Kubrick, and Kubrick fell into the story at once, very fond of Stephen King's theme of combining "mental state" with "supernatural phenomena" in the novel.
Kubrick worked on the set at Elstree Studios in England, and he wanted to shoot the film chronologically, so to speed up the pre-work, he hired Diane Johnson to help him write the script. Stephen King's traditional ghost story was transformed by the two screenwriters into a more stylistic and terrifying film.
Kubrick chose his old friend Jack Nicholson to play the male protagonist Jack Torrance. "He's a flawed guy, and the film can take advantage of that." Kubrick's biographer John Baxter explains that Nicholson's own problems can be cleverly integrated with film, and that the real side of his life can be revealed to the audience through performance.
Then, in search of "Danny," Kubrick asked Warner Bros. Studios to advertise in a local newspaper: "The film crew solicited boy actors, aged 5-7, and no acting experience required." Since Kubrick was looking for Danny after determining that the male and female protagonists were Jack Nicholson and Shelly Duvall, he specifically looked for children in Chicago, Denver, and Cincinnati, because he had to make sure that the child's accent would be between the accent of the parent character in the play.
Kubrick's assistant spent a total of six months, choosing 5 out of 5,000 boys to make a decision. First, they selected photos, then interviewed individually, and recorded their improvisations, and Kubrick then screened them through the video. Danny Lloyd, who plays Danny, said that it was only after 5-6 auditions and meetings that the role was determined, and was told that the shooting period was about 17 weeks, so the family moved to London, but the final total shooting period was as rumored: more than a whole year.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="72" >2</h1>
The main scene of The Shining took more than a year to shoot, which was a stressful experience for both Jack Nicholson and Shelly Duval. In November 2016, the gaunt Shelly Duval was interviewed on the show, saying that she was in a very bad state, talking about the filming experience of "The Shining", saying that the footage with Jack Nicholson in the staircase stalemate was filmed a total of about 127 times (also said 148 times), she shot a total of 1 year and 1 month, and in the last 9 months, she worked 5-6 days a week and cried 12 hours a day to reach that state.
Kubrick also said in a 1981 interview that only Shelly Duval could make such a superb performance, and it did take a long time to get to this state. However, in Kubrick's interview, it was also mentioned that [the scene] was actually only shot 5 takes, and only the last 2 of them were very good.
Speaking about explosive performances, Kubrick said, "Actors can usually do only one thing at a time, and it's not enough to just memorize the lines." "So he always likes to shoot more than a few times. Kubrick says that when he shoots with the same take many times, it's usually because the actors don't remember their lines or aren't familiar enough with their roles. Kubrick stressed that if the actor just memorizes the lines, it is not enough, because if the actors need to think about whether the lines are correct when performing, it is even less likely to do a good job of emotions, or even to match the movement of the camera.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="73" >3</h1>
Kubrick's exquisite attention to detail has resulted in the most stylish horror film in film history. During filming, he hired Garrett Brown, the inventor of the Steadicam stabilizer, to run the film. In horror films, it is very important for the audience to have a clear concept of "geography", because this can bring the audience nervousness before the character enters the dangerous place. And the audience of "The Shining" can feel the emptiness and strangeness of the big hotel, precisely because of the relationship between Steadicam and the character shooting all the way.
Garrett Brown once said, "I'm not deliberately innovating, but looking for ways to solve problems," which was evident in the filming of The Shining. Before filming The Shining, Brown told Kubrick that Steadicam would have no problem moving the camera from 45 centimeters above the ground to an adult's waist. And that's another reason kubrick chose Steadicam for shooting, because that's the height of Danny Jr.'s perspective.
Brown tried to follow Danny Jr. on a tricycle himself, but within a few minutes he was tired, so the crew used resources to let Brown sit in the wheelchair he used to use in the filming of Clockwork Orange, stabilize the camera with Steadicam, and follow Danny Jr.
In the interior of the hotel, it is very good to follow the camera with a wheelchair, because the carpet can absorb some of the sound of the wheelchair, and it is also because the sound of the tricycle that is only left in the end is little Danny, and the effect of reverberating throughout the huge hotel is so appropriately weird.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="74" >4</h1>
10 months before filming began, Director of Photography Elka began discussing details with director Kubrick, such as whether the scene should have 10 windows or 5 windows. Before the actual set-up, the crew had a cardboard scene model, painted with the actual scene color, and the director of photography Elka would even directly test the difference between 5 windows and 10 windows with light, and then use the Nikon camera, at the same angle, to take a photo, and discuss with the director with a photo.
Four months before the start of filming, the lighting team had already entered the field wiring. For example, the ballroom in The Shining has a total of 25 crystal lights, filled with 1000-watt, 240-volt bulbs, and every 5 bulbs will be connected to a 5-kilowatt dimmer, so that the lights can be adjusted according to different sessions. All the light sources in the scene are connected to the central control board, and there is a remote control room outside the scene, which can be operated by the walkie-talkie in the shooting by remote control of the light source in the field.
Since the entire scene was built at the Elstree Studios in england, the large transparent windows in the hotel are also the effect of a strict lamp cloth by Elka in the field. Another advantage of remote operation is that the light can be changed with the movement of Steadicam; and Ekal also tested the different light sources of each scene with a Nikon camera before shooting, drew the light map in advance, and could remotely control the command during shooting, and the staff could handle 85% of the lights according to the light map.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="75" >5.How much is the blood volume of the blood elevator? </h1>
The most classic blood elevator of "The Shining" has become one of the classic shots in film history. This achievement probably came from a one-year shooting period, a total of 5-6 shootings, each time having to re-set up the scene and arrange the plasma to achieve the effect. In that era when there were no special effects, all the blood had to rely on real props to achieve its purpose.
David Ridlen, a special effects expert abroad, tried to reconstruct the scene with special effects and test the required blood volume, and the results he made proved that it was about 2,928 gallons (11,084 ml) of plasma to achieve the effect. The manufacturer of fake blood used in the film was Kensington Gore, whose ingredients were mixed with sugar glue and water, 2 to 1, and then added corn starch and dye, and Kensington Gore was also a popular fake blood formula used in the film industry at that time.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="76" >6.Fear comes from a combination of paranoia and the supernatural</h1>
Kubrick once explained the film to the famous French film critic Michel Simon: "The Shining strikes an extraordinary balance between psychology and the supernatural, and in this way, the film leads the audience to think that the supernatural can eventually be explained by psychology. So, rather than show horror, Kubrick prefers to create an eerie psychological atmosphere. He doesn't set up dark, quirky corners in a room full of lights, nor does he use suddenly editing horror images to achieve a terrifying effect.
Instead, he uses realistic methods — realistic lighting and detail, clever but not over-exaggerated photography, editing, etc. — to make the world of the male protagonist Jack Torrance seem more real and believable. He uses the juxtaposition of different film elements, frequently using long-range shots, so that the atmosphere of mystery and uneasiness pervades every part of the film, and even the most innocuous dialogue and the brightest scenes feel full of evil.
Kubrick said he once read a story called "The Blue Hotel" about a gambler who was paranoid and often suspicious of others. Once he fought again for accusing others of being out of the woods, and he was killed. The audience may think that he is too paranoid to die, but the truth in the story is: yes, he is indeed out of the way.
So when he conceives this story, he will want everyone to think that these supernatural phenomena may be crazy and paranoid from the protagonist Jack, everything may be just his imagination, but the real situation is indeed .... In fact, this is more pronounced in the manifestation of horror effects.
However, the value of "The Shining" is not only reflected in the peak of the performance of horror films, but also in the fact that he conveys such a message to the majority of film directors: in the framework of existing genre films with a strong personal label, true personality and creativity can create real classics.