Time Codes and Durations.

Some clarification on how I timed the shots.

It’s interesting how Stanley Kubrick was able to get all the scenes in this two and one-half hour movie to fall together at precisely the right times. It had to be a massive undertaking as shots from beginning to end have specific precise time codes accurate down to within 60 seconds. With the equipment I have it was very hard for me to precisely measure shots that are only several seconds long. What I did was use the time code on the screen along with my stopwatch. Some of the shots like the first and last have fade ins and outs making it even more difficult. Since reading some of the comments on this blog I decided to spend a little more time on the project and count the frames of some of the shots I mentioned to see exactly what’s happening, and how accurate I was. Although I knew my original data was correct I regret not doing this in the first place. Stanley Kubrick’s sophisticated editing equipment made his job a lot easier as I’m sure that my first assumption that he was counting frames by hand was totally wrong.

Here are some of the shots that I checked by hand. To my surprise the very first one I counted came out exact. Danny’s first vision of the blood coming out of the elevator (00:12 minutes) is exactly 576 frames and on my machine there are 24 frames/second, which makes it exactly :24 seconds long, right down to the frame.



Other shots were several frames over. When he speaks to Tony in the mirror at :11 minutes it’s :24 seconds plus 17 frames.



The “Great party isn’t it” segment (2:12 hours) is :12 seconds plus 8 frames.


I've frozen each shot at the first and last frame. If you subtract the top number from the bottom on each time code you'll see that the duration adds up to the same numbers even if the frames are not exact. This was done on purpose and can’t be manipulated in any way.

Wendy’s vision of the two men in the room (2:10 hours) is :12 seconds plus 17 frames. Other shots are much more difficult to calculate like Danny writing Redrum on the bathroom door (2:00 hours, and which had to be orchestrated from off camera) that is several frames over :24 seconds but it’s impossible to know exactly where to start counting. Danny’s first vision of the two girls (00:21 minutes) is 23 seconds long from when we first see them standing there, but if you count the extra second that Danny looks at them before they leave his field of view it is :24 seconds. The first time we see the Overlook is at 2:43 minutes if you look at the time code but the movie doesn’t start until the after the first second which is black screen. His editing equipment must have read off time codes in minutes and seconds and after a :12 or :24 second on a shot pops up it stays on that number for 24 frames until the next number comes up. I stand by my statement that these time durations are accurate to the second and intentional. There’s no thought in my mind that this could have happened by chance.

Here are a few more.


Exactly 42 seconds, from the first hit we see to when the ax is pulled out.



Accurate to the second from when they walk in to the last frame (2 minutes 12 seconds).



Even dissolves are included. Here it is exactly 1 minute and 21 seconds.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the cast or crew knew nothing about what he was doing with these time codes and shot durations, least of all the editor. He may not have let anyone in on his secret as all of the time clues in the movie are well under the radar screen and have never been eluded to or talked about anywhere before. I wonder if he ever expected any one to find any of this as people watching the movie in a theater couldn't possibly known about how long each shot or scene is.

1. 00:12 Danny’s first vision of the blood coming out of the elevator (:24 seconds).
2. 00:21 Danny’s first vision of the two girls from when we see them to when they go out of his view(:24 seconds).
3. 00:24 Jack’s first trip to the Gold Room (1:24 minutes).
4. 00:42 Danny looks up and we see the door of room 237 to the end of the scene (1:12 minutes).
5. 1:12 Jack’s vision of the woman from seeing the tub to his slamming the door of room 237 (3:24 minutes).
6. 1:21 Jack’s vision of balloons during the party (:24 seconds from when he first sees the balloons and we see them for :12 seconds).
7. 1:24 The Party scene when Jack meets Delbert Grady (the entire scene 9:21 minutes).
8. 1:42 Wendy finds Jack’s novel (:24 seconds from when we first see “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” to when she looks at the entire novel in the box).
9. 2:12 Wendy sees the vision of the old bloodied gentleman saying, “Great party isn’t it” (:12 seconds).
10. 2:21 The very last shot in the movie “Overlook Hotel July 4th Ball 1921” where we may be seeing a vision as the pictures that are there now are not the same ones that were there earlier in the movie (:24 seconds).

I’ve found a few more and most just happen to have a duration ending exactly to the second with :12, :21, :24, or :42.

1. 00:02:42 Our first look at The Overlook.
2. 00:38 Wendy and Danny are in the hedge maze (2:12 minutes).
3. 00:45 We see Jack typing after he scolds Wendy (:12 seconds).
4. 00:49 Girls say “Hello Danny, come and play with us” to when we see that they’ve disappeared (:42 seconds).
5. 00:51 Wendy and Danny watch the Summer of 42 (1:21 minutes).
6. 00:52 Danny with Jack in the bedroom (4:21 minutes).
7. 00:57 Danny plays with his toys near room 237 (1:24 minutes).
8. 1:04 Jack’s first visit with Lloyd the bartender, from when we see Lloyd to hear Wendy scream (4:21 minutes).
9. 1:10 Dick Halorann “Shines” and has a vision of room 237 from his home in Florida (:42 seconds).
10. 1:12 Jack walks into room 237 at the exact halfway point of the movie.
11. 1:15 Jack kisses the woman in room 237 (:21 seconds).
12. 1:19 Danny’s first vision of “Redrum” to the end of the vision of the elevator doors (:42 seconds)
13. 1:22 Jack goes to Gold Room party and talks to Lloyd the bartender up to seeing Delbert Grady (2:21 minutes).
14. 1:33 Jack breaks the radio (spends :42 seconds in Mr. Ullman’s office).
15. 1:35 Dick Hallorann’s second call to the forest rangers (:42 seconds).
16. 2:00 Danny writes Redrum on the bathroom door (:24 seconds).
17. 2:01 It takes Jack :42 seconds to breakdown their apartment door. (The ax scene till we see Dick Hallorann approach is 3:24 minutes).
18. 2:09 Wendy’s vision of the two men in the room (:12 seconds).
19. 2:13 From Wendy’s scream to the end of the lobby skeleton vision (:12 seconds).
20. 2:14 Wendy spots the two bloody elevators to the end of that vision (:21 seconds).

There’s probably much more as I’ve just noted the obvious. The next level may even be more intense. Look what shots I came up, and how they relate to Danny, if you multiply time codes by seven.

1. 7 times 1= :7 Jack mentions Danny to Mr. Ullman.
2. 7 times 2= :14 Danny “Shines” and his Smurf disappears from his bedroom door.
3. 7 times 3= :21 Danny sees a vision of the girls.
4. 7 times 4= :28 Danny goes off to talk with Dick Hallorann about “Shining”.
5. 7 times 5= :28 Danny takes his first tryk ride around The Overlook.
6. 7 times 6= :42 Danny walks up to room 237 for the first time.
7. 7 times 7= :49 Danny sees the girls in the hall and they say to him “Hollow Danny, come and play with us”.
8. 7 times 8= :56 Danny says, “Dad, you would never hurt mommy or me, would’ya?”.

He may be editing the durations of entire scenes, and they may be tied together somehow with other scenes. Each character or related action, like visions or “Shining”, may have a number associated with it. The possibilities are mind-boggling and the durations of shots ending with :12, :21, :24, or :42 may form a larger pattern as there are so many of them.


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