Fourth Post- Chapter 2: Stanley Kubrick and One-Point Perspective

     Link: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/455919162271169689/

Recurring patterns, or motifs, help identify the theme of a film or director’s style. Sound design, including music and dialogue, narrative structure, and mise-en-scene showcase motifs. Mise-en-scene analyzes a production’s visuals such as set design, costumes, and make-up (Sharman). The one-point perspective is a set design and recurring pattern employed by filmmakers to focus our attention on a scene’s subject in relation to a vanishing point and horizontal line (Nguyen). Stanley Kubrick was a filmmaker known for his consistent use of one-point perspective, especially in horror films. In the above picture from Kubrick’s The Shining, we see the vanishing point as a circle serving as the point of intersection for all the horizontal lines. Danny, the kid in the picture, is sitting on the floor. Our eyes move past Danny and all the way to the barrier, the door, at the end of the hallway. No further sightline is provided past the door. The hallway narrows the viewer’s attention to a long strip and the symmetry along the walls enhances our eyes to the back door or Danny sitting on the floor. Danny’s placement on the floor is too near the camera to be the subject of the vanishing point, but the image of Danny and the entirety of the hallway allows the audience to experience the scene with him. I watched The Shining my senior year of high school in an English class, and I felt tense watching the above frame. Kubrick desired the viewer to enter scenes from behind the camera and experience the suspense an action was going to occur (even though a hallway is the frame’s focal point) (Antunes).

A long shot typically makes us feel further away from the character(s), negating the ability to feel connected to the character’s situation. Kubrick’s use of a long shot is different. The character is not placed at the edge of the frame or the very back of the shot. Danny is near the front of the shot, with a sizable amount of open space behind him. One-point perspectives allow the viewer to see the scene from the character’s perspective and guess whether an act will occur to break the frame’s calm sense (Tibbs). Miguel Para, a filmmaking instructor at the New York Film Academy, emphasized: “Kubrick and his one-point perspective shots force you to look at the world differently. When you crouch down, you’re looking at the world from the point of view of somebody of that height – a child perhaps” (Tibbs). Para encapsulates the photo shown, as the camera is located right above Danny’s head as he squats down. The location of the vanishing point will determine a viewer’s perspective. A vanishing point located on the same side as the main actor of object will restrict the depth created (NG Production Films). The actor or object can be on one of frame’s sides and the vanishing point on the same side and positioned in the back. Most filmmakers, including Kubrick, decided on centering the actor/object and the vanishing point (as in the picture), with the point a bit higher in the horizon line (NG Production Films). The photo I used is one example of Kubrick’s penchant for one-point perspective. As shown in the collage in the chapter, he uses the perspective many times in The Shining and his other films.

As Sharman explains, a film’s form and content allow for a cinematic experience larger than the summation of its parts (Sharman). My biggest takeaway from the chapter is the importance of an implicit theme in film- a message the viewer will take away no matter how well of an understanding he or she may have of the plotline. Individual shots alone cannot create a film, multiple shots need to be juxtaposed and edited so a pattern can be established. Patterns provide viewers an opportunity to engage with a film and allow for cinematic language to evolve. Sharman highlights the difference in composition between cinema and art forms such as painting and photography. Painting and photography frame the images and objects inside the border (the camera or the material being drawn upon). The frame in painting and photography is fixed, as the artist cannot move the content after taking the picture or creating the painting. Cinema allows for movement in composition. Movement occurs within the camera frame of characters and objects (Sharman) and of the frame by allowing the viewer to see different aspects of a set and a mutiple viewpoints of a character's inner thoughts and physical characteristics. Many shows I have watched utilize a close-up or medium shot. The object or character in the scene covers most area in the frame. The one-point perspective is a technique I do not see frequently, but the perspective allows the viewer to see a larger portion of the set and experience the character's surroundings.