Preface:
- For my Adaptation, Literature, and Culture module (EN2079) as part of my English minor for my Film and Screen Media course at University College Cork, I was tasked with writing an essay about the adaptation process of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House to the silver screen with Robert Wise’s The Haunting (1963).
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- In doing so I was tasked to: “analyse the extent to which Wise’s film successfully maintains the ambiguity of Jackson’s novel. Whilst referring to how Wise’s adaptation employs the unique formal conventions of its medium (camerawork, set design, performance, editing, etc.) to reimagine The Haunting of Hill House for the screen.”
Reimaging The Haunting of Hill House for the silver screen
5th November 2023
In Shirley Jackson’s 1959 novel The Haunting of Hill House, readers are left to ponder whether the hauntings depicted within the text are actually happening or are a by-product of Eleanor’s dwindling mental state. This ambiguity that exists in the novel is due to its third-person narration which is focalised through Eleanor’s perspective, with-it making the novel’s narrator unreliable because it blends both an objective and subjective perspectives. However, in the 1963 film adaptation by Robert Wise entitled The Haunting this ambiguity is eroded away. As audiences are shown that the hauntings are not only contained to Eleanor’s psyche, with Wise deciding to portray them from a more objective viewpoint. Consequently, in his translating of the source material to a new medium, Wise utilises the unique cinematic conventions of film to portray the hauntings. Hence, this essay will analyse how Wise employs the use of camerawork, editing and sound design to depict the hauntings within his film adaptation.
In The Haunting, Wise in collaboration with director of photography Davis Boulton, utilises a multitude of Hollywood cinematic conventions such as low, high and Dutch camera angles, stylised lighting alongside whip-pans to delineate the supernatural occurrences within the film. A notable example of Wise using the above-named camera angles in the film happens when Eleanor (Julie Harris) arrives at Hill House. On her initial observation of the house we are presented with low angled shots of Hill House and high angled ones of Eleanor (00:16:50-00:18:25). This was done in order to render Eleanor as being minute whereas on the other hand to make Hill House imposing. The resulting effect is that it allows for Wise to showcase visually the danger that Hill House poses to its inhabitants. Reinforcing this argument is the following excerpt from a journal in which it states that, “prior research has demonstrated that low-angle shots … can convey dominance, strength, and aggression, while high-angle shots … can imply weakness and vulnerability” (Savardi et al 4). Furthermore, throughout the film Wise makes use of Dutch camera angles (which are a staple in the horror genre) to elevate the sense of danger and hauntings within the film. The angle’s unique properties means that it makes audiences feel uncomfortable, as it goes against the grain with its off-kilter effect. An example of it being utilised in the film is when Theodora’s bedroom door is being knocked upon repeatedly (00:43:36). The resulting outcome of this is that it enhances the sense of dread that Theodora (Claire Bloom) and Eleanor are encompassed with during this sequence, as indicted by the respective performances of each actor. Additionally, Wise’s use of stylised lighting contributes to the unnerving tone of his film with it evidently being influenced by German expressionist cinema of the 1920s, and the film-noir genre of the 1940s and 1950s in America. A noteworthy shot that copper-fastens this point is when Dr Markway swings open a door to a darkened room in Hill House (00:26:03). On opening the door, a concentrated shaft of light penetrates through the room, and singles out Eleanor standing in solitude, alone in the middle of the frame. Wise’s decision to combine both stylised lighting and a high camera angle for this shot, demonstrates how he harnesses the unique storytelling conventions of Hollywood cinema to depict the hauntings within his film. The consequence of this is that he is able translate the hauntings from the novel into a new medium, akin to the above-mentioned shot which renders Eleanor as being a prey, hunted by Hill House. Moreover, Wise also makes use of the whip-pan convention throughout the film to emphasise and heighten the tension of the supernatural events within the film. Evidently, this can be observed when Eleanor calls out to Theodora on her second day stay at Hill House (01:12:10). During this sequence in which Eleanor realises that she was grasping some other beings hand and not Theodora’s, Wise utilises the whip-pan to showcase Eleanor’s sudden realisation of this occurrence. The outcome of this is that it makes audiences disoriented due to its fast and sudden movement, which allows for them to embody the terror that Eleanor is encompassed with in this scene. Therefore, with Wise’s skilful use of camera work in The Haunting. It is clear that he has was partially successful in translating the hauntings from the hypotext into his film adaption, with him instead opting for a more objective depiction of the supernatural events.
Shifting the focus to another film convention that Wise utilises is that of editing, in which he predominantly uses the continuity-based strand to express the urgency of the hauntings within the film. To achieve this, he uses the editing conventions of shot-reverse-shot, jump-scare and tonal-montage in The Haunting. An example of Wise utilising but also subverting the shot-reverse-shot convention in his film, happens when Eleanor arrives to Hill House (00:16:50-00:18:25). Whilst Eleanor gazes at the house in this sequence we are presented with shots that cut to and from the two subjects in rapid succession of one another. Traditionally this “editing technique [is only] … used in dialogue sequences and sequences in which characters exchange looks”, but Wise however uses it at as tool to personify Hill House and thus allowing for it become an antagonist to the films protagonist (Kuhn & Westwell). Additionally, in Wise’s film he makes use of the jump-scare editing convention, which is prolific in visual mediums particularly that of films and video games (especially for those who reside in the horror genre). A notable example of a jump-scare in Wise’s film occurs when Grace (Lois Maxwell) juts her head out from the attic in Hill House to Eleanor’s surprise (01:42:39). The result of which creates an intense sense of terror and fear in audiences, hence this supernatural event becomes not only a hunting for Eleanor, but also one for audiences as well. Furthermore, in The Haunting Wise utilises the editing convention of tonal montage to convey the feeling of eeriness to his audience, thereby elevating the emotional impact of the hauntings in his film. An example of this in the film occurs when Eleanor tries to go to sleep during her first night at Hill House (00:40:25-00:40:45). In this particular montage we are presented with an array of shots, with the first being a wide shot of the exterior of Hill House. The second being a close-up shot of a face on a piece of panelling, and third being a wide shot of the empty foyer in Hill House. Wise’s decision to have the second shot in this montage being a face constructed from the house’s panelling personifies Hill House, with it emanating the feeling of it presiding over its inhabitants. Overall, the combination of these unique shots facilitates Wise to conjure his desired emotion for audiences to feel in this sequence, with it highlighting his ability to harness to the power of tonal montage to convey the emptiness and unsettling atmosphere of Hill House. Considering Wise’s proficient use the formal editing conventions as mentioned above in The Haunting, it is fair to say that he was able to semi-faithfully transfer the hauntings from Jackson’s novel into his hypertext.
Moving onto another film convention that Wise utilises to enhance the hauntings in his film is sound design, with him using it to increase the sense of danger and vulnerability that the characters are exposed to in his film. One way that he accomplishes this is by using the film’s score (by composer Humphrey Searle) to emphasise the impending danger that Hill House presents to its visitors. A key scene that supports this is when Eleanor first arrives to Hill House (00:16:45-00:18:25). On seeing the house for the first time both Eleanor and audiences alike are subjected to Searle’s intense score, in which he makes use of a series of audacious sounds from a trumpet to assert the forebodingness of Hill House. Reinforcing this sentiment is the ensuing excerpt from a journal in which it states that, “one of music’s most basic roles in film is to convey emotion to the audience” (Green 82). Wise utilises this convention (that is a staple in Hollywood films) to alert his audience by using Searle’s score to foreshadow to them aurally that something terrible is about to happen, akin to the use of Darth Vader’s theme song in the Star Wars films. Additionally, Wise also utilises sound effects in The Haunting to increase the level of immersion in his film. A noteworthy sequence that reinforces this argument is when Eleanor and Theodora are trapped in the latter’s bedroom during a supernatural phenomenon (00:42:48-00:45:00). During this scene sound effects such as the bedroom door banging violently, the floorboards creaking and the sniffing of a hound are used to heighten audiences auditory senses, in order to raise their sense of horror as they watch this event unfold. On account of this essay’s analysis of the sound design in Wise’s The Haunting, it is obvious that he was moderately successful in grafting Jackson’s audio descriptions of the supernatural hauntings in her novel to his film adaptation.
In conclusion, this essay aimed to analyse how director Robert Wise interpreted and transformed Shirley Jackson’s The Haunted of Hill House into a different medium. In doing so, this essay explored how Wise utilised the unique formal conventions of film to reimagine the movie for the silver-screen. This was achieved by evaluating how Wise harnessed the cinematic conventions unique to this medium, particularly that of camera work, editing and sound design. Whilst investigating these three conventions in this essay, it also made reference to how Wise utilised them to translate the hauntings from Jackson’s novel to his film adaptation. Alongside that it also debated how Wise avoided the ambiguity of the hauntings in the novel, with him instead switching to a more objective perspective for his film adaptation.
Works Cited:
Jackson, Shirley. The Haunting of Hill House. Viking, 1959, Penguin Books.
Wise, Robert, director. The Haunting. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1963, https://archive.org/details/the-haunting-1963_202106 [Accessed 20th October 2023].
Savardi, Mattia, et al. CineScale2: A Dataset of Cinematic Camera Features in Movies. Data in Brief, vol. 51, 2023, pp. 1-6, https://go.exlibris.link/CX4vJsvk [Accessed 27th November 2023].
Kuhn, Annette, and Guy Westwell. A Dictionary of Film Studies, Oxford University Press, 2020, Oxford Reference https://www-oxfordreference-com.ucc.idm.oclc.org/view/10.1093/acref/9780198832096.001.0001/acref-9780198832096-e-0637 [Accessed 27th November 2023].
Green, Jessica. Understanding the Score: Film Music Communicating to and Influencing the Audience. The Journal of Aesthetic Education, vol. 44, no. 4, 2010, pp. 81–94. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.5406/jaesteduc.44.4.0081 [Accessed 27th November 2023].
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