The Sixth Sense
This shot is a title sequence stating the title of the movie, the editing and the score help to illustrate the genre of the movie. The audience can build a connection with the sound and editing to the movie genre as the sound is gripping. The repeated slow notes of the violin help to create a sense of mystery and vulnerability. As though the audience are not safe, this instrumental can create fear within the audience. The piano first begins to play when the movie title appears on the screen; it ripples as though something scary has just happened across the screen. The rippling sound which introduces the movie title shocks the audience as they were not expecting it. The piano then changes note to one which creates a calm mood which creates a sense of normality. As though it is attempting to drag the audience back to normality however, the notes of the violin make the audience feel restless. This juxtaposition of instrumental notes can be confusing for the audience and make it hard for the audience to make connections. Though based on the trailer the audience can make connections with their responses to the opening sequence to its narrative as this movie is supposed to be a psychological thriller.
The editing makes it appear as though the title sequence of the movie title pops up three times when in fact it has only popped up once and has lingered on screen. The editing makes the letters fade in and out one by one, in tune with the piano notes. As if the pianist is playing the keys over the letters, as if the pianist’s fingers are running along the words. The audience respond to this by feeling scared and unsettled, not knowing what to expect next. As the editing makes the audience feel unsafe as though there is danger circulating around them.
The Mise –en –scene uses greyish blue writing to create an unwelcoming mood as if the audience are trespassing. The black scene gives no clues; it does not give anything away for the audience to relate to. This makes it difficult for the audience to understand the movie. Which makes the audience question; what is this movie about? Who is going to be in this movie? Are people going to get hurt? Are people going to die? How scary can this movie be?
The lingering close up of the bulb switching on, is a very clever cinematographic technique as it helps to not only connect the scene with the narrative but the setting and the genre. The slow pace of the bulb switching on makes the audience feel like something bad is going to happen or someone is going to hurt someone. The carefulness of the shot helps the audience to make a connection with the person who is about to do something bad as it was very slow and deliberate which could mean that the attacker has planned to hurt a person and has planned the way in which they would do so. In this way the shot has revealed the narrative though the audience is still unaware of who is going to hurt whom, they are sure that something is going to happen and someone will get hurt. The audience ask ‘why is someone getting hurt?’ ‘Who is going to get hurt?’ ‘Who is the attacker?’ ‘What is the motive behind the attack?’ The shot starts off in complete darkness which creates a depressing mood this contrasts to the emotions previously experienced by the audience. It also creates uncertainty as it leaves the audience clueless on what to expect from the movie so the audience ask the following questions: why is the room so dark? Is there something hiding in the dark? Is it scary? Is it bad? The light slowly lighting up illustrates progress and struggle which could be a hint on the plot of the story. The fact that a normal thing such as switching on the light is exaggerated creates a feeling of abnormality. The audience can build a connection with setting, the fact that the background is dark and the light bulb struggles to light up the room, makes the room appear dangerous. Was something there making it hard for the light bulb to light up faster? Is there something bad wrong with the bulb? Is this a clue that a character in that movie is going to have to struggle? The bulb lighting up in a dark room could also mean that something that once was in the dark would become light. Meaning a secret or something that was meant to be kept in secret will be brought to light meaning that it will become known. And so if the light lights up the room this goes to show how far this secret will go. This makes the audience ask; what is the secret? What happened?
The editing used to connect the previous shot to the present one differs from the ones used before because this is a cut not a fade in. The change in editing could mean that something is about to happen, or the action is about to start. The cinematography helps to create a feeling of danger as the shot is taken as a voyeur which makes it seem as though we are trespassing which is why the camera is positioned where the character will not see it or acknowledge its presence. The audience ask; what is the significance of this character? Why can’t we see the person’s face? The director cleverly introduces the character by revealing the heels, which reveals the gender yet conceals the identity of the individual. The audience ask; why is her face not shown? Is the director hiding something? Is there something that the director does not want us to know? Is this character important? Is she the main character?
The mise-en-scene of the character helps to build a connection with the audience based on cinematography. The mise-en-scene shows how the character’s costume does not match the setting as the setting is depressingly dark and filed with shadows. This creates a sense of unwelcoming and a threat. Her costume contrasts to the setting as she is wearing a classy bright coloured (purple) dress. Her costume builds a connection with the audience as both the audience and the character do not match the setting. In addition to that both people appear innocent as the audience are innocently viewing the film and she is innocently in this room. This relationship built between the viewer and the character being viewed makes the audience relate to her position. The significance of the cinematography is that the shot is taken from a voyeur as though the character is not meant to be aware of the fact that she is being watched. This creates desperation within the audience as they want to reach out to her and are unable to because of the shelf; this creates a feeling of being trapped. This makes the audience ask; why is the director doing this? Why can’t we approach the girl? Why can’t we see what’s going through her mind? Why is the director creating and maintaining the distance between us and the character? Is this shot symbolic? Are we witnessing a clue? Perhaps the audience are trapped so they can relate to the feelings and emotions of a character in the movie that will later be revealed? Maybe there was someone in this movie who will be trapped and cannot do anything but watch? The voyeur shot can also be interpreted as the director revealing to the audience their role in this scene. As the character is afraid of this setting because of a crackling nosie that she did not cause. This then perceives the audience as a bad character as if they are indeed trespassing and could have been the ones to cause the crackling noise. The fact that there are two different interpretations for the cinematography can show how cunning the movie is as it has managed to make the audience feel both guilty and compassionate at the same time. The audience feels guilty for watching her when they shouldn’t be. The audience feel compassionate because they can empathise with her situation and relate to the character’s fear of not knowing who else or what else is in the room with her.
The cinematography uses the track in camera movement to zoom into her facial expression. This along with the sound helps to create a sense of dread as the crackling noise startles the woman. Her shocked facial expression confirms that she is afraid. The frown lines on her forehead show that she is trying to identify the noise, to see whether or not it was her. Her shocked expression reveals that she does not know where the noise is coming from or what it is. The fact that she turns her neck slowly shows that she is afraid.This confirms the fact that she did not make the noise. The close up shot changes to long shot to show her body language, her hands clench on the bottle shows how frightened and vulnerable she is, it also shows that she is so afraid that she does not look for the noise but freezes. In this way the cinematography has linked her behaviour to female stereotypes as this woman is too afraid to fight and defend for herself. In this shot she is not placed in the centre but towards one side, most of the space in the image is focussed on her shadow. This gives a sense of mystery and terror as though something is hiding and creeping within the shadows. The audience ask; who is hiding? What is hiding? How many of them are hiding? Why are they hiding? What is going to happen next? Is the thing hiding going to attack her? Is it dangerous? Why is it here? The significance of the costume contrasting with the background helps to emphases her innocence and vulnerably by making her look victimized. The audience fear for her. The silence in this shot makes time stand still, creating suspense as the audience wait to see what happens next.
The cinematography maintains the voyeur shot all through the women’s presence in this room. This is another voyeur shot. The impact of the repeated use of the voyeur shot is that it reveals the different hiding places in the room. This implies that there are several possible places where the person or thing that has just made the noise could be hiding. The fact that the director makes the audience visualise the scene in the perceptive of the trespassers by taking all the shots in places where the female character can’t see them, this conceals the identity of the actual trespasser in this movie. This creates suspense as the audience they wait to see the trespasser. Who the trespasser could be? What the trespasser could want? Why is the trespasser here? Is there a relationship between the woman and the trespasser? Is the woman as innocent as she appears? Who really is the victim? These are the questions running through the mind of the audience.
The mise-en-scene uses the body language to illustrate and emphases how scared the character is. Her arms pressed against her chest, her hand clenching the wine bottle shows how vulnerable she is. The non diegetic sound of her rapid breathing shows that she’s terrified.
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