Comparing Two Sequences

Film 1: The Nutty Professor (1963), directed by Jerry Lewis

Film 2: The Shining (1980), directed by Stanley Kubrick

The two locations are very different in these scenes and they are projecting very different genres. The Nutty Professor (Film1) is in a busy, crowded club, whilst The Shining (Film2) is in an abandoned hotel, with this scene in the kitchen. The set on Film1 is very bright and colourful, along with the vibrant costume worn by the characters. In contrast to this, Film2’s colour scheme is more, greys, browns and whites. I think this was intended so the audience would pay more attention to things like music and dialogue in Film2. Also, the lighting in Film1 is much very bright purposely to bring attention to the colours of the scene. I think the lighting  in Film2 was made to seem like florescent kitchen lights, as there wasn’t meant to be any windows in the store room, which makes the audience more on edge and feel more enclosed.

In Film1, there is a zoom in on Jerry Lewis as he is smoking. This emphasises how important he is as he is being zoomed in on specifically, but also shows he can’t smoke, so he is still Jerry Lewis’ previous character. There’s also a shot which shows the whole room looking up at Buddy, showing he is being looked up upon, but it’s not a low angle, as he’s not meant to be intimidating to them. There is also a long tracking shot that lasts for 19 seconds, following Buddy walking round the club with everyone watching him. In Film2, a clearly intentional angle was the low angle on Jack Nicholson when he’s leaning against the door and speaking, intentionally to make him seem more intimidating. Another noticeable shot is when a fig rig was used to film Jack across the floor whilst being dragged. This shot was very long in the scene, lasting 26 seconds on just this. Another shot in this sequence was the low angle, close-up of Wendy trying to unlock the door and clearly struggling. This is a stereotype of Kubrick’s, close-ups of characters being very emotional and struggling.

The sequence in Film1 begins with very short, quick shots of various people in the club looking very shocked, which happens after the music stops. It then continues with long, more drawn out shots, specifically on Buddy. This is to let the audience fully take in what he’s like and how he almost deserves more screen time than the other people in the club. However, in Film2 it’s a lot of long takes as there’s more dialogue and, for example the dragging scene, Kubrick wanted to show how long it would’ve really taken Wendy to drag him along, adding suspense and realism.

In Film1, when the club is first shown they are playing very fast, upbeat music that everyone is dancing to. However, after Buddy is noticed the music cuts out completely, with complete silence, except for the women dropping things from shock. This shows complete contrast between the loud environment to one now of shock. There was also lots of loud voices at first, but it seemed like everyone was afraid to talk after. Also, when they started playing music again after, it’s a lot slower, as if they are trying to get back into what they used to do but are too confused. In Film2, throughout the scene there is constant music in the background, even if it’s just a bassy noise to add subtle suspense. There is also the noise of the lock trying to be opened and both of Jack and Wendy’s struggle during the dragging scene. Also, as Jack becomes clearly more and more crazy the music starts to intensify and the noise turns into screeching sounds in the background