I find few things more endearing than obsessive readings of film (or game) production design, so you can imagine the glee with which I dove into Rob Ager's meticulous analysis of the spatial design of The Shining. Assorted thoughts, reactions and questions are listed below.
- Leave it to the FPS-modding community to have discovered anomalies in the production design of film from 1980. What would you call porting the Overlook Hotel into gamespace anyway, fictional spatial archeology?
- The primary catchphrase that Ager keeps dropping during his analysis is "spatially impossible" and—as evidenced by the plans he's drawn up—he is correct in his identification of numerous errant windows and doors, but I'm left wondering what his goals are with this cataloguing. Ager's rigour alerts us to enough inconsistencies that it appears these dizzying design decisions are indeed intentional. However, these kind of set tweaks and sly editing are completely commonplace – perhaps Ager and his intended audience are emotionally invested in the notion that Kubrick is a master craftsman rather than grossly negligent.
- Would any of these 'spatial inconsistencies' actually register for anyone but a fireman, architect or contractor on a first viewing of the film?
- With this thorough overview of how the psychological space of the Overlook Hotel inflects its architectural configuration in mind, what other examples of manipulative productive design might deserve similar scrutiny? I know there has been an abundance of scholarship on Hitchcock's set design for Rear Window, and perhaps the contemporary counterpoint is Charlie Kaufman's Synchedoche New York but (German expressionist cinema notwithstanding) what other fictional spaces might we look to here? I wish I could ask Anthony Vidler his thoughts on this question.
- The second video winds down with a great quote from Vincent Lobrutto's book Stanley Kubrick wherein the author describes the frequent occurrences of film crew members losing their way within the iconic hedge maze set: "Garret Brown, steadicam inventor and operator, recalled that if you got lost and called out "Stanley!", Kubrick's laughter seemed to come out from all directions inside the maze."
I'm a little unnerved by Ager's obsessiveness, but I'm thrilled to reap the fruits of his labour. This commentary is essential watching for cinephiles and would be of great benefit to game designers as well – be sure to watch the second video as that is where Ager 'zooms out' and provides some context.
Chema Cobo
Marc Chagall
Chema Madoz
