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The Shining


Michael P Clark

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I found this behind the scenes, done by Stanley Kubricks daughter, Vivian, at age 17. I can't help but see the comfort level that the actors have with her, during what would seem to be some tough scenes to have a camera following around. She also edited and covered the show really well. I particularly like the cutting from film to her footage within the scene to be remarkable. I looked her up on IMDB to see if I've seen anything else she has done, and there doesn't seem to be anything listed there. She seemed to have a well understanding at her age, and the pedigree. I'm suprised she never did much else in the business. Then again, maybe she was smart. Enjoy, I know I did. I particularly like how Jack gets his mic off. There are a lot of great things in here. Also, how many times do you see a boom?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4745727919325920852

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I watched some of this film she did and I thought it was amazing. I had the same thought you did, what else has she done? I just watched a DVD documentary that Omar Milano did for his thesis project going for his Masters Degree, the subject being Production Sound (I think it is the first ever documentary that focuses specifically on production sound). In it he interviews several sound mixers including Ivan Sharrock who mixed "The Shinning". Ivan explained that he really couldn't boom most scenes because of the lighting --- no movie lights, everything was from practical light fixtures, overhead chandeliers and such, requiring that for almost every scene the actors had to be wired.

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Holy freakin' wow.

I was in high school when it came out and saw it on a weekend with some friends. On the following Monday morning when I opened my locker, I found a page full of 'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". It had a big impact on all of us.

I particularly like how Jack gets his mic off.

Yeah..... I've never tried a Tx placement like that and probably never will.

Thanks a lot for sharing.

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Michael,

Thank you for posting this. Very cool! Just curious if anyone monitoring this site might have worked on The Shining or know someone who did. Were the actors always wired or were there some boom sequences? What were the brand of wireless and lavs used back in the day?

Vivian did her father justice in this doc!

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I watched some of this film she did and I thought it was amazing. I had the same thought you did, what else has she done? I just watched a DVD documentary that Omar Milano did for his thesis project going for his Masters Degree, the subject being Production Sound (I think it is the first ever documentary that focuses specifically on production sound). In it he interviews several sound mixers including Ivan Sharrock who mixed "The Shinning". Ivan explained that he really couldn't boom most scenes because of the lighting --- no movie lights, everything was from practical light fixtures, overhead chandeliers and such, requiring that for almost every scene the actors had to be wired.

I especially love cutting to Vivian' footage seeing the camera on the ground, with a light bulb and a small piece of diffusion being Hollywooded. That's film for you, right? Can't shoot like that with "video". Well, you can, if that's what you want to do. This reminds me of the behind the scenes of The Conversation. I noticed that Copolla didn't use many lights, either. At least compared to what I'm use to seeing on my jobs. I love seeing these old movies and their behind the scenes footage. It really shows how far production has come, and how large they have become. I know you can't see everybody in these pieces, but it feels small, compared to today's standards. Perhaps it's the lack of background noises we are use to today, on sets. Walkies chirpping, talking, shouting, etc. Seems like a simpler film making process.

I also noticed, in the piece by Vivian, that "Roll Sound" was never called out. I suppose it had to do with Vivian's camera not being a sound friendly camera.

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I know you can't see everybody in these pieces, but it feels small, compared to today's standards. Perhaps it's the lack of background noises we are use to today, on sets. Walkies chirpping, talking, shouting, etc. Seems like a simpler film making process.

The crews were smaller, the equipment was bigger, and no set had all the Walkie chatter or all the horsing around and yelling and stuff you see today, certainly not on a Kubrick set. As for the lighting, The Shining was shot by John Alcott who had for many years worked on shooting at incredibly low light levels. For A Clockwork Orange, John borrowed from my father a very rare Angenieux lens that was a 0.95 stop, allowing for that film to shoot at very low light levels. For Barry Lyndon, Stanley discovered some even faster lenses that were originally designed for NASA and required the Mitchell camera they were using to be modified even to be able to use the lens. On The Shinning, they shot at such low levels the optics in the finder made it difficult to even see what the frame lines were.

Regarding wireless microphones, I believe they would have been Micron transmitters (not sure what lavaliers) which is what Kubrick first used (they had just been released) when they did A Clockwork Orange.

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Good Lord!

...and no, I didn't mix The Thin Man. I'm an old timer but not that old. I did do about 8 movies with rather large BNC Mitchell cameras, and some really low budget movies with un-blimped Arri 2-C in the Cine-60 blimp (a big clumsy fiberglass box with barely enough sound deadening material to make it quiet enough for dialog).

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If you Google Vivian's movie, you can watch it in full screen. (When I paste the link here, it just shows up as embedded video. Jeff, it's working TOO good!) At the very end of Vivian's movie, you can see a good shot of Garrett. You can also clearly see that it's a Micron that Nicholson pulls out of his crotch.

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I did some commercials with Garret Brown in the 1980s, and a demo film on his "SkyCam" project. He had all kinds of fun stories about working on The Shining...

Apparently, there was much horror going on behind the scenes. Kubrick was famous for doing 70, 80, 90 takes before being satisfied. Amazingly beautiful film, though, and a terrific mix.

One of the older Technicolor lab timers told me that Kubrick would sit in the front row of the screening room in order to check focus. An extraordinary man.

--Marc W.

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" really HUGE "

due to a lot of "blimping"...

and notice the crew's dress...

and Kubrik using an old "brick" Motorola walkie (HT220?) -- I remember modifying some of those for HAM radio uses...

Mr. Kubrik always used smaller crews, and worked at a slower pace than most...

Garret still active in the Steadi-Cam biz, gave me a tour of his NAB booth last April and was showing off the new unit for iPhones!!

Edited by studiomprd
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I worked with Ivan Sharrock a few years back and remember him talking about how he got the squeaky bicycle sound with a Micron Tx and ECM50 stuck somewhere in the bike frame.. I think it came up because we were using the same ECM 50 as a plant mic at the time. There were more stories about working with Stanley but details are foggy now.. agreed the BTS is an amazing window into film making way before my time, wish there was more stuff like this to be seen.

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That made my day, and also made me a little sad: films kind of can't be made that way anymore (small crew, director with complete authority, BIG production values--that set!!). She did a great job. Nicholson is just amazing--going from jokey-friendly with the filmmaker right into being so incredibly scary, with an axe no less. It's interesting that even he, at the peak of his fame in those days, was a little intimidated by Kubrick. The set is so QUIET..... Yes, I see no booms. I also see no SLATES! He rolls his video assist guy (way high tech for those days) and the camera kind of turns over whenever, w/ no marks or IDs. On to the business at hand with a minimum of fuss. I love how Kubrick tells Garret Brown, all en-regalia w/ his Steadicam, to put another lens "in his pocket", and a 3rd lens "in someone else's pocket"--he clearly intends to shoot his scene with just himself, the kid actor, and Brown ONLY, no other crew. In a hugely incredible set. Go Stanley!

phil p

PS: in that older black and white shot of "The Thin Man" set, is that James Wong Howe at the left (leaning on the camera)?

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That is a great find Michael, I love these early behind the scenes films, before they got to become such a marketing tool, they really showed glimpses of filmmaking in progress.

The shot I love is when she is outside Nicholson's room and follows him through the many corridors onto the set, a very Kubrick shot. The Shinning was a little of a disappointment for fans of Stephen Kings book, this because in the book the hotel has a topiary that comes to life, instead of the maze in the film. Not so much a disappointment if you only judge the film as itself, which I believe is one of the most intelligent horror films of all time.

The sound of the "Big Wheel" going over the carpet sections and back onto the hardwood flooring, as the young boy rides around the hotel, is a fantastic piece of filmmaking, that may have happened naturally and not intentionally. Jack Nicholson at the top of his game, what more need be said, possibly America's most beloved actor.

One of the thoughts behind Kubrick's propensity for numerous takes is that he wants to break down the "acting" until the actor isn't "acting" any more, surely somewhere amongst fifty takes there must be a "natural" take? On the contrary, Clint Eastwood likes to print the first take, this is to rely strictly on the instincts of the actor and hopefully not capture the actor acting. Two different theories trying to capture the same emotion, too tired to act or too nervous to act?

You'll never hear the words, "Roll Sound...." on a film shot in the U.K., this because our friends like to call out, "Turn over!...." Which you do hear several times during the film, you'll also find a boom working at the end mark of the dolly when they pull back and the young boy hides in the cupboard. I'm only guessing, our U.K. sound friends will tell us, but I imagine you hear them say, "Roll video..." because video assist came about after camera and sound were both being cued by "turn over," so to ensure not rolling both camera and sound by announcing, "Turn over..."

Finally don't forget that Kubrick started his career in still photography in New York, and was published by Life and Look magazines, his films always have an amazing visual style and composition to their frames.

James Wong Howe is the MAN!

Cheers,

RVD

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The Shinning was a little of a disappointment for fans of Stephen Kings book, this because in the book the hotel has a topiary that comes to life, instead of the maze in the film. Not so much a disappointment if you only judge the film as itself, which I believe is one of the most intelligent horror films of all time.

Kubrick tried to get the topiary "animals" to work, but (in the days before CGI) couldn't find a way to do it with physical effects, so discarded that from the film. I'll never understand why he omitted the climax from the novel: the possessed Jack Nicholson accidentally leaves the boiler on, realizes it just as he's about to kill the little boy in the maze, runs back to the house, and the entire building explodes in a huge fireball. Instead... Nicholson gets lost and freezes to death. (???)

--Marc W.

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