THE SHINING // TITLE SEQUENCE

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brief + concept

My teammate Kate and I reimagined The Shining’s title sequence with a focus on circular imagery.

Inspired by the film’s eerie, slow-building tension, we used footage of clocks, wheels, and other circular objects to symbolize how the narrative traps its characters in a strange, looping cycle of dread and unsettling occurrences.

We needed to determine how The Shining tells its story, and how we could do it too.

film research

We then were tasked with breaking down the film more thoroughly, and picking apart themes to dive into with our title sequence. Both Kate and I did a thorough analysis on The Shining and the many different storytelling techniques used in the film.Everything in this story, from the characters to the themes and historical context of the hotel, is meticulously crafted to be based in themes of horror between those of humanity and those of the supernatural.

visual symbolism

This board is my personal deep dive into certain scenes and moments from the film with significant visual symbolism, which later became a key method of storytelling to explore in our title sequence. Kubrick used a variety of methods, from intentional continuity errors to the framing of objects to the famous Kubrick Stare.

How did Kubrick visually express the spiral downwards into insanity?

deeper themes

HORRORS OF ISOLATION

Isolation over time leads Jack to lose a grip on his sanity and attempt to murder his wife and son. As the movie goes on, the weather becomes colder and more sinister - this could be symbolic of his personality change.

HORRORS OF THE SUPERNATURAL
The Hotel itself is an entity that does impossible things, with otherworldly psychic power derived from the unresolved trauma of the past events of the hotel.

HORRORS OF HUMAN NATURE
Themes of domestic, spousal, and child abuse are also heavily implied throughout The Shining, as well as a feeling of turmoil within the family’s pre-established dynamic.

moodboard

With these themes in mind, we began to think about how to express them visually. We explored ideas for texture, color grading, and typography, and this is also where the concept of the wheel became more clear.

Circles in this context represent the cyclical feeling of isolation, insanity, and building tension in The Shining’s narrative, and our title sequence will use several different circular symbols to tell a snippet of the story as a preview to the film.

kate’s storyboards

Next steps were storyboarding and getting visual with style frames. Kate drew storyboards, and Lauren composited them into an animatic.

style frames

Our original filming idea would be to incorporate typography into the enviornment, hiding behind doorknobs, wheels, and clock hands.

kate’s bike and image scouting!

Objects used came from a variety of sources. Kate used her bike, I used my snowglobe and clock, and we rented the rotary phone from the CCS prop room. We filmed in the Audio Visual Center’s white cove for a consistent background and to focus on the objects.

I’ve got to give Kate a ton of credit for handling most of the technical and filming side—she rented the studio space, got the equipment, and sequenced the footage, which let me focus on the research and creative/conceptual side of it.

major insights // what i learned

This project was different for me in two big ways: 1) it was a duo project, and 2) it involved a lot more filming than I was used to. Working on this taught me how crucial communication is, especially in a team setting.

You’ve got to keep things moving and make sure everyone’s on the same page. I also learned that you can’t just give up halfway because there’s someone else relying on you—and vice versa.

Having that support from your teammate makes a huge difference. Shoutout to the very awesome and cool Kate Dembowski for the great partnership and cooperation for making this project happen!

LAUREN MEHL

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