THE SIXTH SENSEMedia Opening Analysis

Camera AnglesIn the opening scene you can see a mid shot of a young girl going into a wine cellar in order to take a bottle of wine upstairs; the camera angle stays the same throughout most of the scene. With this angle you can see racks of wine, the girl, the stairs and a dark open door. As soon as the audience sees this door they become suspicious that something could appear.

Camera Angles-Then there is a close up of the girls face. Because of this the door behind her is not visible to the audience. The effect of this is that the audience become scared that when the camera zooms out we will see something in the door. The close up also allows us to see worry on the girls face as she too realises something could be behind her. This makes the audience even more tense.

-In one of the final scenes there is a wide shot of the couple hiding in the corner as a shadow passes over them. This shot allows us to see the fear on their faces, the broken window and the rural location outside that shows they are alone. The angle of the shot makes us think that something is watching them, this is matched by the horror on their faces.

Mise en SceneThe broken phone makes the audience scared because it means that the couple no longer have a way to call for help. This shows them to be vulnerable as the connection with the outside world is gone and they are trapped. Next to the phone there is shattered glass showing that something has been in their room and broken everything. This adds to the anxiety of the audience as it shows that the couple are in danger and, due to the disconnected phone, have no way to get help.

Mise en SceneThe constant darkness throughout the scene makes the audience feel uncomfortable as they can not see what is going on. There are clearly lights around the house but they are all turned off which makes the audience feel unsafe because there is no sense of man made security as the only light is either fire or coming from outside. This adds to the rural feeling of the scene which makes the audience fear for the couple.

The man they find in the bathroom is not wearing any clothes, other than a pair of boxers. As the camera pans to him you can see his discarded clothes on the floor. The clothes discarded look rather smart (shirt and trousers) which implies that he is smart and has a good a job. However, the fact that this person is standing without any clothes in a house he has just broken into makes the audience think that he is crazy and makes them instantly think that something is wrong.

Mise en Scene

SoundThe lack of soundtrack in the scene where they find the man in the bathroom allows the audience to hear the shuffling coming fro that room. To add to that, because there is no sound, we pay more attention to what we can see. This therefore allows us to see all the shadows and hiding places that someone can be in making us more afraid and scared for the situation. The lack of soundtrack fits with the Thriller convention as often before a jump scare there will be silence. This is another reason why the audience are afraid as they think something will jump out and scare them.

SoundThe fact that the girl is shivering at the beginning shows us that it is cold in the basement. This makes us concerned because it is a well known idea that if a ghost is in a room it becomes colder. As we have just heard some ruffling around behind her we start to become scared that there is a ghost in the room and are therefore very tense even when she has left.

The rhyming of Dr Seuss makes us laugh andtherefore relaxes us and stops us feeling tense.Because of this we are not prepared for whenthe man breaks into the house so we react to it more.

EditingThe slow paced editing in the scene with the intruder allows us to study the areas and shadows. Similar to the effect from the lack of music it worries us as we make up fears in all of the shadows and think something will come out to make us jump. It also means that, due to the lack of quick cuts, we focus on the characters and try to make sense of the situation. This is particularly effective when the character pulls a gun out because it shows that the character didn’t need to think about it as tension didn’t rise from fast editing and therefore implies to the audience that he has pre-planned this situation and that the husband is likely to die.

EditingThe whole of the first scene is one shot with no cuts or editing. This allows time continuity throughout the scene making it real time. Because of this the scene is more realistic and the audience are more likely to believe it. This is effective because, due to the open door and the darkness behind it plus the title of the film “Sixth Sense”, the audience start to believe that ghosts are real making them scared before the film has properly started.

The gunshot has been sonically boosted in order to make it louder and to add bass to it. This therefore makes the audience jump when the gun is fired and, because of the bass and volume, makes it sound more powerful. Because of this we are almost certain that the man is dead; this is a hint that he is actually dead and that in the next scene he is a ghost.