scenography | Archfolio

Scenography Project for the reinterpretation of the movie "The Shinning"

2021

Pamplona, Spain

“Main title sequence. Jacks' car driving on high mountain roads in Colorado, ending in a shot from the approach point of view of the Overlock Hotel, which is located below the peak of Mt. Qualo, 40 km from Sidewinder, the nearest town "

- The Shinning (1980)

Jack Torrance becomes a winter sitter at the Overlook Hotel in Colorado, hoping to break his writing block. He settles there along with his wife, Wendy, and their son, Danny, who is plagued with psychic premonitions. As Jack's writing doesn't flow and Danny's visions grow more disturbing, Jack uncovers dark hotel secrets and begins to turn into a homicidal maniac, hell-bent on terrorizing his family.

MOODBOARD

A COMPOSITION OF IDEAS

As described in the script, the plot takes place in a hotel located on top of a snow-covered mountain far from civilization in a remote place (isolation). Access via narrow roads is expensive. This way of setting the scene gives the plot a certain mystery and anguish. We have decided to maintain this type of enclave by choosing to place the scene in an abandoned train station in Canfranc, Huesca built in the 1920s (Canfranc Station). However, we have decided to locate it in Pamplona, Navarra since this is where our story with Ernest Hemingway as the protagonist unfolds.

“We see a page with a glossary photograph attached. It was taken in the crowded ballroom of the hotel. Men and women, dressed in evening wear, have been carefully placed at their tables and sit in front of the camera lens.

Behind them, a large silk banner reads Happy 1919 The camera begins to get closer to the photograph until it is so close that it frames a man: it's Jack! The camera holds his smiling face for some time. "

- The Shinning (1980)

This end of the film shows a Jack trapped in time, who has committed a murder before and who will relive what happened for the first time in the 1920s. It is a hotel where the past and the present coexist. This is what we wanted to represent, a crime that occurs again today (21st century) anchored in a place that survives the passage of time. The character this time is Ernest Hemingway, a famous writer related to the city of Pamplona.

The chosen shades are orange, yellow and blue. The yellow tone refers to the light that the lamp projects in that ancient space in which the protagonist seems to have been trapped. All this environment is reflected with an orange tone. [The color yellow is historically associated with jealousy and lies, a very contradictory color, since it is also used to illustrate childhood and fun. In our case we accept that it is the color of the warning signs; giving prominence to the scenery itself that surrounds the character, trying to warn or alert the viewer of the crimes that will happen inside] On the other hand, the protagonist's personal belongings give off a slightly bluish tone. [In this way it is possible to create a chromatic contrast between subject and space, since orange / yellow and blue are complementary colors. In turn, in terms of the symbolism of this color, it represents cold and distance, which fits both with the personality of the main subject of the scene, and with his loneliness in it. This color also helps us to separate the scene, since the light that new technologies give off is blue light, thus updating its closest environment and enhancing that disparity between the old environment and its modern personality.]

indoor location

As an interior location, the lounge of the Nuevo Principal Casino located in the Plaza del Castillo in Pamplona over the Iruña café. It already has more than 150 years of history, it was born in 1856. It retains all its traditional charm. Inside the premises, time seems to have stopped. Going through the door is discovering a beautiful corner, the Pamplona living room, witness to the main events in the city.

Vintage lamps, large mirrors, polychrome shields, Thonet chairs ... give life to a unique enclave.

As we have already explained, the story of the protagonist begins in the 1920s where the first events occur and time seems to stop. The Nuevo Casino seems to us a good option to set the story with the atmosphere we were looking for.

The decoration elements of the room are kept intact to show the passage of time. However, the elements that the protagonist touches remain current. We can observe a laptop, a glass, a reading lamp, cigarettes, recent newspapers or a pistol.

We have projected a series of plans of the room in which the scene takes place to show where the cameras and the actor should be placed, as well as to indicate where natural light enters (closed windows) and where artificial light is found.